Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[Doobs]

Have a relaxing break. Hope the negotiations with FIFA are fruitful.

Tal is crushing in your absence, btw

FYP. 

[Tal]

Have a relaxing break. Hope the negotiations with FIFA are fruitful.

Tal is crushing in your absence, btw

FYP. 

Lol. Hardly. We need Judy Murray out and Magnus Carlsen to win comfortably before that happens.

[Redsgirl]

Have a nice time, and try to enjoy that lovely alpine air, and less fags.
Your old lungs will thank you for it.  ;

[tikay]

I was reading on the BBC website that soon you will be able to get a train all the way from St Pancras to Geneva daily.

Really?

My original plan this weekend was to go to Lille from St Pancras on Eurostar, but Eurostar is incredibly expensive compared to Easy Jet & Ryanair.

Anyway, it's booked now, Geneva it is.

Gonna get a train on Sunday from Geneva up to Montreux, the track runs right alongside Lake Geneva, with the Alps (mountain things) visible in the distance. I'll take the camera, too, so you won't miss a thing.

Click to see full-size image.

Then, from Montreux, this little jobbie which is a cog railway, & goes right up the mountain.

Click to see full-size image.

When I was around eleven or twelve I went to Switzerland with my parents for the only winter/skiing holiday of my life and we took a train up the mountain from Geneva iirc, it's a really steep climb too. We went to a place called Chateau D'Oeux(sp?) I would imagine that you might pass through there.

Very close Ralph, judging by the sign on this locomotive.


 

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Have a nice time, and try to enjoy that lovely alpine air, and less fags.
Your old lungs will thank you for it.  ;

Had a wonderful time, thank you, & decided to ride two horses at once - had a ciggie on top of a mountain, whilst sampling the Alpine air.

Can't say fairer than that.

[tikay]

Enjoy and plenty of photographs.

Might just be the first time anyone has asked to see my photographs. You won't regret it, my photography skills are unrivalled.

Photos follow.

[tikay]

Spent Saturday in Geneva, unforch, it tipped down with rain the entire day, so sightseeing was limited.

Did venture out to sample a latte & a "ham & tomato" pannini, but had to send it back, as the ham was raw, it had not been cooked. 

That apart, it was a lovely little pavement cafe in the Old Town, right opposite the imposing Palais de Justice, presumably Geneva's answer to the Hammersmith Palais.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

The Swiss railway system is awesome, incredibly modern, clean, reliable & punctual.

When you first arrive in Geneva, at the airport, there is a machine which dispenses free tickets to the Central Station, Cornavin. (A Taxi charges €35). The Hotel - all hotels, I gather - also give all Guests free tickets for all "inter-Geneva" Transpport - trains, buses, trams, trolleybuses, water taxis, everything. How good is that?

The trains are mostly double-deckers, too. 

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Sunday was better weather, so a train to Lausanne from Geneva was the starting point.

Click to see full-size image.

The train right right along the shores of Lake Geneva the whole way. Some Lake that, too, around 50 miles long & up to 8 miles wide in places, & fringed by beautiful houses right on the Lake shore, with vineyards on the other side, & the whole scene framed by the snow-topped Alps (I assume?) in the background.

Lausanne took around 30 minutes to reach, & the Statioin was a typical Swiss affair, solid, functional & really quite grand.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

At Lausanne, changed trains & caught this beauty to Montreaux.

Click to see full-size image.

Again, right along the shores of Lake Geneva, with the mountain things across the Lake.

Click to see full-size image.

[tikay]

Gotta go to a Meeting, more stunning photos of the Swiss countryside later. 

[Rod Paradise]

At Lausanne, changed trains & caught this beauty to Montreaux.

Click to see full-size image.

Again, right along the shores of Lake Geneva, with the mountain things across the Lake.

Click to see full-size image.

Did you have a smoke on the water?

[Redsgirl]

Have a nice time, and try to enjoy that lovely alpine air, and less fags.
Your old lungs will thank you for it.  ;

Had a wonderful time, thank you, & decided to ride two horses at once - had a ciggie on top of a mountain, whilst sampling the Alpine air.

Can't say fairer than that.

You are such a badass Mr Kendall!

[tikay]

At Lausanne, changed trains & caught this beauty to Montreaux.

Click to see full-size image.

Again, right along the shores of Lake Geneva, with the mountain things across the Lake.

Click to see full-size image.

Did you have a smoke on the water?

Ooh, very good.


The lyrics of the song tell a true story: on 4 December 1971 Deep Purple were in Montreux, Switzerland, where they had set up camp to record an album using a mobile recording studio (rented from the Rolling Stones and known as the Rolling Stones Mobile Studio—referred to as the "Rolling truck Stones thing" and "a mobile" in the song lyrics) at the entertainment complex that was part of the Montreux Casino (referred to as "the gambling house" in the song lyric). On the eve of the recording session a Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention concert was held in the casino's theatre. In the middle of Don Preston's synthesizer solo on "King Kong", the place suddenly caught fire when somebody in the audience fired a flare gun into the rattan covered ceiling, as mentioned in the "some stupid with a flare gun" line.[9][10] The resulting fire destroyed the entire casino complex, along with all the Mothers' equipment. The "smoke on the water" that became the title of the song (credited to bass guitarist Roger Glover, who related how the title occurred to him when he suddenly woke from a dream a few days later) referred to the smoke from the fire spreading over Lake Geneva from the burning casino as the members of Deep Purple watched the fire from their hotel. The "Funky Claude" running in and out is referring to Claude Nobs, the director of the Montreux Jazz Festival who helped some of the audience escape the fire.



I'm not sure all that is true, sounds like bollox to me, but I'm reasonably sure Mr Glover was smoking something rather stronger than Embassy # 1.

[tikay]

Eventually alighted at this most pictureque of Railway Stations.


Proper "Picture Postcard" scene that, the Station beautifully simplistic, perfectly scaled in every way - untul they plonked that blue ticket machine in front of it, which totally ruins the whole scene. The visual intrusion of that ticket machine is so bad it's almost comical, almost like some piece of abstract art shite.  

Click to see full-size image.