Wildeswil to Vevey

In the morning, we visited a memorial site to the July 1999 Canyoning tragedy in which 21 people were killed, including many Australians. It was just up the road from where we were staying. It was very moving as it was a wall covered with letters and photographs from friends and family dedicated to the people who were killed. It was really emotional for each of us, even though we didn’t know anyone who was killed, but just to think that they were having the times of their lives not realising the danger they were in.
Following this we drove further up the mountain on a pretty narrow road and got amazing views over the town and towards Interlaken. Even up this high, there were houses dotted along the mountainside. We had decided to head towards Lake Geneva and arranged to meet Nev and Beth later in the day. Our drive took us through some more fantastic countryside, once again mostly farming communities, and I am guessing in Winter some skiing resorts as you could see chairlifts nearly everywhere we went.

We stopped in a small village and bought some Swiss Cheese and biccies that we ate on the road (cutting the cheese using my credit card as we didn’t have a knife). Coming down the mountain, the road wound us though these incredible vineyards growing on the side of the mountain. The photos do not capture the slope on which these vineyards were, and how they utilize every inch of space they have available.

Unfortunately when we reached Lake Geneva it was pretty misty so the extensive views I was looking forward to weren’t as great as I had hoped. It was beautiful nonetheless. We stayed the night in a town called Vevey, on the Swiss side of Lake Geneva, looking out over the lake to France. We stayed in a B & B that was very fancy, and apparently a historic hotel, the oldest in the area. Nev and Beth had the ‘honeymoon suite’ complete with large balcony, so we decided to have dinner on the balcony and maybe save some money on dinner as we weren’t very hungry. Nev and I drove into town to get some food, and as we couldn’t find a supermarket bought a selection of cheeses, biscuits and salamis from a petrol station. Of course this was pretty expensive, and as they didn’t sell alcohol we asked for directions to a shop, which was just around the block, selling the same things we had just bought, only at supermarket prices. It was a fun night and very relaxing.