The Family O' Blevins

This last Saturday marked our first out-of-Geneva experience since our arrival almost two weeks ago. The interns at the University of Geneva planned an outing for the Duke Students (plus tag-alongs like me and Henry). We traveled to Montreux, then took a train specifically used for mountain climbing, and climbed the Swiss Alps from the comfort of our train seats. The scenery was stunning, with Lake Geneva below and mountains all around. We spent a few good hours on the top of one mount, and ate our lunch with jutting peaks, sloping fields of wildflowers and two mountain cottages as our view. Our mood music was clanking cow bells from a small herd of cattle. Needless to say, our "daily bread" was not the breathtaking part of our meal.



After our mountainous adventure, we chugged back down to Montreux where we visited our first European castle, the famous Chateau de Chillon. By this time Henry was beyond exhausted, hot, and poopy, so our visit may have been a little distracted. But even with a squirmy boy I felt like we could appreciate our visit. This chateau was built on a little island of rock just beyond the natural beach line, with an idyllic mote surrounding it's thick stone walls. Our guided tour took us through the gallows, storage areas, bedrooms, great halls, and even a two-seater toilet where many a medieval hiney addressed it's needs while its owner chatted with their potty mate. Built over 1000 years ago, I believe it's the oldest structure I've ever entered.

Saturday was not our day for picture taking. We took heaps of pictures on the Alps, but the camera only remembers us taking about 8. And after a 1/2 hour video of Ethan's pocket, our battery had had enough. We've been promised some pictures from friends, but until then, here is a pic of the Chateau from the internet!


http://193.105.21.101/image?id=6985&hsearch=chateau