Alpina & Savoy Crans-Montana

... control recently has broken down, this was the perfect sign to follow, where I planed to cross the border to Switzerland.<br><br>Just arrived in late afternoon to Aosta, I was not only already entered to the italian part of the alps but also to the point of good bye. Here I decided not to spend another night in Italy and crossed the border to my homecountry Switzerland a hour later at Calle del Gran San Bernardo. <br><br>BIENVENUE EN SUISSE - WELCOME TO SWITZERLAND

I am only stayin the night just to see the Matterhorn. The sun is out and I took a hike up nearby hill. It was about an hour and a half uphill walk with regular short stops to catch my breath. I think I have had enough of hiking now, I did 4 hours of it at Montreux as well, I must have the best **** at the moment. Spectacular view of the mountain at the hilltop though. It's less of a mountain and more of a giant pinnacle of rock. It looks menacing, to prove it there is a nearby graveyard full ...

... room, toilets and showers to myself. I rarely saw anyone and reception was really nice. I then headed to Cully to try the famous Lavaux walk but caught a train that didn't make all the stops so I ended up at Lausanne again. I decided to take a bit of a walk, making my way through Pully and then to Letvy where I caught the train to Cully. The view was great but the vineyards that I stumbled across in Letvey were better because there was noone around and you could really smell the wine.<br>

So my theory of.."you just turn on the gas stove and the van gets warm"...um no Emma. Not when its freezing - literally - outside.<br>I managed to get a waterproof jacket our first night which was a blessing!!! <br>Woke up Tuesday at 6.30am! It was still dark but the skies had finally cleared up and as I ran out in the cold to the toilet blocks I was rewarded by a sky full of stars.. so pretty! It was SO cold tho! I had all my clothes on! If I hadnt ...

I wasn't sure where in Switzerland I wanted to go after Zurich, but I knew I wanted it to be near some mountains and away from crowds. The hostel I found was highly recommended and was in a valley in the mountains near Interlaken, so that&#8217;s what made my decision. Turns out my somewhat random choice was a good one, putting me in one of the most beautiful areas in Switzerland, according to some ...

... two lakes, the Brienz and the Thun. It has a beautiful azure green river running through the town joining the two lakes. It is quite a pretty town with lots of traditional Swiss houses next to very funky modern buildings. The main street has an amazing number of watch shops and I almost had to put Matt on a leash to stop him adding to his already impressive collection of Swiss watches. There is clearly some money splashed around in this town, as there are ...

... furniture and farm implements. The houses are from every class from middle and upper class houses to lower and labourer houses. The best bit was that the interiors were pretty much hands on. You could wander around just about every room in the house and sit at the table and run your hand over the bed spread. As part of the experience they also had professional people doing handicrafts in the way that they would have been done 2 or 3 or even 400 ...

... cheap Kuchen (cake) for dessert and it turned out to be like a custard pie sort of deal, but very tasty. We met up with Mike and Marla at the restaurant after they had finished their meal.  Gabrielle and Marla shared a dessert while Mike got his own.  Nate and I were both stuffed and passed, but stayed for the company.  Gabrielle and Marla got a Mocha Flambe which came out as a shaped bit of Mocha ice cream covered in chocolate.  The waiter ...

... I was taking care of the 'climbing' I was super excited... c'mon climbing int he swiss alps, who wouldn't be excited about that... climbing here at camp consists of a 10m high artificial climbing wall :) So a little different to my expectation!!! I'll write more soon CESAR

www.elodie50a.com<br><br>Here is a video (sorry for the very bad quality)<br>http://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=R5_9hODsqgs<br><br><br>