Clocks, bears, flowers, and francs

Last weekend I went to Switzerland to visit my friend Carmen who worked at Camp Orkila with me a few years ago. She lives with her family in an adorable Swiss village called Reiden in the middle of the country. I took the train from Grenoble to Olten where I met her. It was so nice of her to have me over and I really enjoyed spending time with her and seeing Switzerland.

I had an hour in Geneva, so I walked around for a bit and found this clock made out of flowers. 

Part of Lake Léman and the pier

The Swiss countryside is so beautiful, and this is what I saw when I looked out the train window: tranqual pastures, many of them in bloom with yellow folwers used to make a cooking oil. 

The next day Carmen's friend Nadia, Carman, and I took the train to various cities and villages west of where we were. We had a couple hours in Bern and then took the train north to a village. There we caught a boat to Neuchâtel and walked around a bit.

Nadia, Carmen, and I in Bern

Food market outside a government building

Woman buying flowers at the market

 Famous street with a bunch of regional Swiss flags. I think I was just about the only tourist, which isn't normal.

Famous clock in Bern. There really are lots of clocks in Switerland. 

Another view of Bern

The symbol of Bern is the bear, and they actually have 3 or 4 real bears in a place along the river. Here is one of them!

Murten: where we caught the boat to Neuchâtel. It was nice and sunny along with a beautiful view of the water.

Little boy who has already mastered sailing. He was near one of the docks the boat stopped at. 

View from the boat

Neuchâtel

Rooftops in Neauchâtel

Can you see the similarities between my photo and the postcard I bought in Neuchâtel?

On Saturday evening, we ate dinner with some of Carmen's good friends. It was a beautiful evening and it was really fun just hanging out. I learned maybe one or two words in Swiss German :)

Carmen's friend Tina and the beautiful evening

On Easter Sunday, we had a super delicious brunch with tasty cheese, meat, eggs, and really good bread that I had never had before. In the afternoon we drove to Lucern, a Swiss town on a lake. 

Old tower and bridge in Lucern

Famous lion scuplture in Lucern

Carmen said that Lucern is "the most beautiful city in Switzerland"

On Monday morning before I left, Carmen and I went for a bike ride to a village close to Reiden. It was so beautiful! I love Switerland!

Flannel is best

 Today a few friends and I went for a short hike near Sassenage, a town just northwest of Grenoble. There is a really beautiful waterfall there, and the spring leaves on the trees were a bright green in the sunlight. It could have been a little warmer, but it was a wonderful afternoon adventure!

Hiking along the river to the waterfall 

Everyone excited to be at the river, even if the water was pretty freezing

Flannel is best

So beautiful!

Caves along the hike

Fountain in town walking to and from the trail head

The lovely smelling Wisteria blooming over a door to someone's garden in Sassenage

Cross and fountain in town

Oh, when we stopped in Annecy on the way to Chamonix last weekend, I bought an Opinel knife with mountain goats carved on it! I am quite a fan. The Opinel company is a French brand that makes the knives in here in France with French materials.

12,602 ft. up

Yesterday I took a bus up to the Chamonix valley with a couple American and Brazilian friends. The area is quite famous as Mont Blanc, one of the highest peaks in Europe, is there. You can actaually take a téléphérique (gondola) up to a peak just next to Mont Blanc, which is exactly what we did. We spent the majority of the afternoon looking out over the alps to Italy, sun bathing on the warm, clear day, and just enjoying another day in France. 

L'Aiguille du Midi; this is where we caught the gondola up to the top of the mountain. It was a long ride!

Looking out the window in the téléphérique

Mountains!

This person is gliding/skiing down the mountain. There were a ton of people doing this all day. 

Tip of Aiguille du Midi

The far mountains are Italy

Me at 12602 ft. altitude

Mont Blanc

More mountains

The top of the téléphérique

At the bottom of the mountain in the town of Chamonix

Charmant Som and glacial melt

Yesterday I went hiking in the Massif de Chartreuse on the most beautiful day in Grenoble since early October. It was so nice to get some fresh air, sunshine, and see all of the new wild flowers blooming. The stream was a clear blue, but freezing cold from glacier melt, and there were a few patches of snow I walked through in my tennis shoes and shorts. It was the perfect day for a hike and I am loving the change in weather!

This is where the bus from Grenoble dropped us off

Map of the region on the side of a building in St. Pierre-de-Chartreuse

Wildflowers in a field on the way up

What hiking signs in France look like

House built in 1880

View of Charmant Som on a clear spring afternoon

Mark of the Chartreuse monks on the side of a rock at a viewpoint. I could see the Monastery that I visited in the fall and the winter from there. This is the same symbol that is on the Chartreuse liquor. 

The stream from glacial melt. Freezing but refreshing on a warm day.

 And don't forget, it was April Fool's Day a couple days ago, which the French call Poissons d'Avril. Back in Grenoble, this what I found on the column of one of the buildings: fish stickers!