Merhaba!

Switzerland

Last weekend in Turkey it was on-dokus Mayiz (May 19th- Ataturk Youth and Sports Day) which meant we got a 4 day weekend. True to Davis style, I used the opportunity to visit a fellow international teacher in Switzerland. I arrived in Geneva first thing on Saturday morning and we spent the day touring the hub of many international organizations, including the United Nations and the Red Cross. Geneva sits at one end of Lake Geneva, the second largest body of freshwater in Europe who's coastline is split between Switzerland and France. I have to say climbing to the top of one of the city church's bell towers the lake makes quite the backdrop for the Alps which surround it.

We used the day to visit Geneva and in the morning made our way toward Mike's school in Leysin which is on the opposite end of the lake. Stopping in the small cities around the lake I didn't think anything could be more beautiful. However, it continued to surprise me and every time we rounded a corner a valley or different part of the lake would open up in front of us and it was always more beautiful than the last. The small cities were really sweet, with both a lively waterfront and then uphill an old town section. Finally, we reached the stop at the base of the mountain where we would proceed with our journey up to Leysin. To get there you have to take the cutest little cog train up the mountain and the view along the way is stunning of course. Around Lake Geneva is a big wine producing region so on the way up the mountain, there was terrace after terrace was cut into the hillside holding grape vines. When I woke up in the morning, it was so foggy and I was so high up it felt a bit like being the clouds. Luckily, the mist burned off and I spent the whole day out hiking by myself and loving every minute of it. I had the mountain to myself and I felt a little bit like singing "The Hills are Alive" but stopped myself just short of that level of cheesiness. I can't promise that I didn't hold out my arms and spin around though.

The next day I went down the mountain to visit Vevey and Montreax, which are both absolutely lovely towns around Lake Geneva. Montreax is famous for it's jazz festival every summer where many of the greats have played since the first festival in 1967- including Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Ella Fitzgerald. Besides the festival, Monteax is also famous for the song "Smoke on the Water" which Deep Purple penned there after Frank Zappa lit a flare gun in the casino thus setting it on fire.

We all came out to montreux

On the lake geneva shoreline

To make records with a mobile

We didnt have much time

Frank zappa and the mothers

Were at the best place around

But some stupid with a flare gun

Burned the place to the ground

Smoke on the water, fire in the sky