Zermatt to Montreux

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Bags out by 7:15am, breakfast starts at 7, departure at 8:30am. For 3 of us the morning started much earlier and more spectacularly though. Mom and Clay and I went back to the Kirch Bruche to see the sun rise on the Matterhorn. We left the Monte Rosa at 5:30am. We could see the Matterhorn and the sky were completely free of clouds for the first time. Today's sunrise was different than yesterday's with some clouds but both were just incredible for about 15 minutes. The mountain seems to glow from within when that low angle light hits it! Clay said there were fewer than half as many people today as yesterday. It still seemed like a good crowd to me. We went back to our rooms arouond 6:30am and showered and carried on the itinerary. We had a mid-morning pee break in Martigny/St. Bernard at a road side place. We had a quick photo stop about 11:30am at Chillon Castle. We arrived at the Eurotel Riviera by noon. There was about a half hour or so to stow hand luggage and use the restrooms before Carol and about 30 of the group left for their optional Lake Geneva cruise with lunch. Mom & Clay & I had found this online and left to find it since you could order tickets online, but they didn't show a schedule so we didn't. We walked down the promenade and found the departure point but no red tram or signs. The tourist information office was there though so we went in. Clay showed her the website linked above on his phone. She had a brochure for them with a 2-hour timetable from 10 to 4 everyday. She and her colleague both swore it only ran on Sundays and if "prebooked" other days. They said it basically didn't ever run on a weekday. They referred us to the Petit Train. It was a fraction of the time and price. It was leaving within 10 minutes of our spotting it. We were directed to board and we did and then we paid 5 CHF each for a 20-25 minute ride between the covered market and Port de Territet roundtrip. There was no narration or commentary but that was fine. It covered more of the promenade than we'd have been willing to walk in the heat of the blazing sun. The flower beds were stunning. Most amazing were dinner plate-sized hibiscus. After our return outside tourist info, we went to McDonald's! We had French fries with herb mayo, Clay had a Royal burger and Mom had an iced vanilla latte. We sat on their shady terrace with our lunch. After we entered the attached 3-story mall with grocery store. Clay bought a Coke Zero. We strolled the street front back to the hotel studying menus for dinner and it looks grim. It is excessively expensive here and nothing we read sounded too appealing. Mom is walking OK today from her pulled muscle, but Carol is balking from much walking. So the Italian place we picked may be too far away for her. We really didn't find anything else. Clay says he has an Italian place in the other direction with a 3 minute walk so even though we didn't check it that is probably where we'll go. We're back. We ate at Clay's Il Brigantino. We shared an appetizer and 2 different sausage pizzas and it was more than we could finish. They gave us a small plate of bruschetta to start and when we asked, a pitcher of ice water. Our room tonight has a 180 degree view over Lake Geneva. Stunning!

The end is in sight. We have 2 more days before we fly home.

Our time in Zermatt has been the highlight for us, I think. We were in a fantastic hotel for 2 nights and had all free time except our 1st night's dinner.So far, we are not enjoying the French part of Switzerland nearly as much.

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