Switzerlandy

Miles from Home - 5242.7
Firsts / Highlights - Gruyeres, Gruyere & ham sandwich at XXX, a last visit to the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Miles Ridden - Fri – 21.06, Sat - 64.06 miles
Vertical Feet - Fri – 1,685, Sat - 4,828 ft.
Route - View Friday’s Route Here, View Saturday’s Route Here
People - Just me.

This post is from July 10-11, 2009.



Yesterday, I took a short ride back through the steep Lavaux vineyards between Lausanne and Montreux. The vineyards are inspiring, but it was a fairly light day for riding. I have posted a couple of additional pictures of the vineyards, but this post is really about Saturday, July 11.



I waited until my last day of riding in Europe to discover a brand new beautiful area. I had ridden in the direction of Gruyeres twice before, but never gone all the way there. Today, I did. Since I had ridden the farm country leading up to it before, I did not expect it to be as pretty as it was. It is located right at the foot of the Alps.



I discovered along the way that one of the roads I selected for my route is going to be part of the Tour de France a week from tomorrow. You can bet the tour organizers would not include a road in Switzerland unless it was plenty Switzerlandy. Since that’s my word, it can mean whatever I want it to. It had a castle, mountains, green fields. You know, Switzerlandy.



If I had my Lausanne stay to do over again, I would use the train to get up to that area and start a ride from Gruyeres rather than use it as a turnaround point. For future reference, the road that will be on the Tour de France looked very inviting. You can see a little stub on my GPS data where I rode out and turned around. I suspect it lead to a substantial climb. It’s going to have to wait for next time. Watch next Sunday’s stage and find out what I missed.







In the town of Gruyeres, I thought it was appropriate to try a little cheese. I couldn’t buy a pound to carry back on my bike, so I found a place where I could order a sandwich. This was the strangest bar I have ever seen. The town itself is typically quaint Switzerland, but right in the middle is the HR Giger Museum. Giger was the Visual Effects artist for the movie Alien and created the creatures in those movies. Actually, Giger used some of the money he won from his Oscar and bought the Chateau St. Germain in Gruyeres. He now uses it as his museum and bar. He has a scary imagination. Across the road from the museum is the bar that he designed. It was a little like walking onto the set for Alien and ordering a grilled cheese sandwich. A bit surreal - partially mechanical, partially biologic. The pictures don’t really show it very well, but you can tell it isn’t your normal corner bar. The sculpture to the left is called “Birth Machine” and the other must have been one of the prototypes for the Alien creature.



After leaving Gruyeres, I had a surplus of elevation that I had built up from the earlier climbs. That made for an enjoyable ride back to Montreux where I was able to carry some speed, but still enjoy the spectacular day.



I decided to make Montreux my final stop so that I could take one more pass through the festival and get some economical food like this enormous vat of paella.

With about five miles to go on the ride today, I started checking off my European “lasts”. Finished my last water bottle. Descended my last hill. Rounded my last traffic circle. Turned my last pedal stroke. It was over. Given such an invigorating 65-mile ride, I was sad for it to end, but thankful that it ended on a perfect day and a great ride.

I will be leaving tomorrow wanting more. Just as I had hoped.