Montreux
Montreux is a small town on the Northern shore of lake Geneva (at the Eastern end of the lake near Villeneve) which is probably best know for it's Jazz festival and it's tribute to Freddy Mercury. The Jazz festival is in spring so we didn't get to experience any of that (I'm sure my Dad's disappointed about that) but it does also have a quite large Christmas Market - like the ones in Munich, Zurich and Berlin. The night we arrived into Montreux coincides with the terrible tragedy at the Berlin Christmas Market where a loon with a truck killed nine innocent victims by ramming his vehicle into the crowds. Our hearts go out to the families of those victims. The tragic news form Berlin made me think about our Christmas market experience which thankfully was much more enjoyable.
Christmas Market
When walking around the Christmas Market and looking at the different stalls which sold products ranging from Jewellery to Bake-ware to Perfume to Lollies to Nougat to Toys to Nick Nacks to Wine to food, we were struck by the extensive decoration of stalls and the number of people walking around with a glass of wine in their hands - most of it 'Vin Chaud' which is served hot to warm you up on a cold day.
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| Max & Jemima |
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| Lollies! |
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| More Lollies |
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| Some of the decoration inside the stall |
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| more lollies |
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| more lollies |
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| A temporary structure - this one had a bar and was serving food as well |
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| more lollies! |
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| Some of the external decorations were amazing |
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| Christmas Stalls |
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| Near the Freddy Mercury memorial, there were floating lanterns on Lake Geneva |
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| The floating lanterns on Lake Geneva |
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| The floating lanterns on Lake Geneva |
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| Waffles (Gaufres) |
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| For our Canadian friends - there even had Poutine! Not a scratch on Poutine in Montreal, but at least we gave it a go! |
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| Poutine for Sharon! |
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| Canadians ay! |
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| Chocolates in the shape of tools, bolts, nuts and cheese - ALL chocolate! |
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| Chocolate bottle tops |
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| Chocolate Nuts and Bolts |
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| Laser-cut MDF amazing machine |
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| Kits were available to build all forts of models from Stem Trains to Headers to Tractors to incredible machines. |
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| The incredible machine running |
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| Christmas lights |
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| Christmas Tree |
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| BeeHomes - mini hives so that home bee keepers can produce their own honey. |
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| Bath roses |
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| Bath roses |
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| Pixie Slippers |
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| Candles |
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| Inside a temporary log cabin - hosing a bar and pizzaria |
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| Looking Westward along the shores of the lake |
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| Shore-front on Lake Geneva |
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| Lots of food stalls inside the large wooden cabin (I think this structure is permanent unlike a lot of the others along the shoreline) |
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| A temporary structure serving food |
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| Street decorations in Montreux |
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| Ferris wheel at the Christmas Market - Jemima and I did a few circuits - and just about froze our buts off! |
The Elves Village (Le Village des Lutins)
Sharon looked up the Elves Village on the Internet and it looked really good, sadly it turned out to be really lame! Set up in the grounds of the Monteux Casino, it promised much then left those promises hanging.... Here are some highlights...
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| Max & Jemima with a nervous reindeer.... |
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| Another nervy reindeer.. |
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| Max with a Penguin... wait.... a Penguin??? They only live in the Southern hemisphere don't they? What's with the geographical inaccuracies? Clearly we need to have a word with the Swiss education department!!! |
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| Sharon with a Yeti... oh come on! Yetis don't exist!!! |
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| And now Jemima is cuddling a mythical beast.... |
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| Gangsta! |
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| Max and the friendly reindeer |
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| Face-painting |
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| One of the better things at the village - chocolate making. The kids got to assemble their own chocolate character. |
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| Max and his 'Lamb' |
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| Chocolate Lamb! |
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| Jemima making her chocolate bunny |
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| Chocolate Bunny! |
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| Jemima showing her homicidal tenancies |
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| or maybe it's ok and she's not going to eat the bunny... |
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| In between snorts, the reindeer were a little curious... |
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View from the hotel of Lake Geneva
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| A panoramic view of Lake Geneva looking East to Southerly (towards Zermatt) |
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