Today was a travel day. First we took the train from Wengen down to Lauterbunnen. Then we climbed onto the motor coach where our large suitcases had been taken down. (We had to lift our carry-ons ourselves.) After that, we traveled in the direction of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman) with various stops along the way.
The first stop was in Gruyères which I last visited twelve years ago in 2014. This time we didn’t visit the castle. Nor did we eat at a restaurant on the square. I spent the hour we were there snapping photos and trying to find a piece of cheese to take home to Georges. But all of them were about half a pound, far too much for my poor suitcase.
After that, we went to a nearby village to have a fondue lunch. Of course it was delicious as the fondue was made the French way with cheese melted into something alcoholic. The tour guide had my gluten-free bread in her purse, but I only accepted two slices. I broke them into four, and speared each with the long fork, twirled it in the delicious gooeyness, before taking the long fork out and eating with an ordinary knife and fork. Unfortunately, no alcohol was offered with this dish. Unfortunately, dessert turned out to be home-made meringues (no problem with that). But the thick double-cream spooned over it was too much for me. Shockingly,.I declined this enticing dessert!
After that we drove to the terraced vineyards of Lavaux on the shores of Lake Geneva. They date back to the 1100s, consist of around 2,000 acres and have been granted the UNESCO World Heritage designation. We were shown around by a couple of bubbly women. But it was getting hot, and the wine I’d tasted was making me dizzy.
After that, Alessandro drove us to the Hotel Angleterre. Of course (this being the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and thus culturally almost identical to France) Hotel Angleterre has no ramps to help those with disabilities. Of course it has an elevator that only goes up to the third floor. (I and another couple were on the fourth floor.) Of course it actually consists of about five buildings (“pavilions”) that you have to figure out how to navigate.
Sigh.
I am going to have to walk around it early tomorrow morning to figure out how in the world I am going to get my large suitcase and carryon down to the reception at 2:45 am, the following morning. I will need to have everything completely packed before I go to bed, so that all I have to do is put my clothes on, and get myself downstairs.
