Post 27: Rochers de Nayes

On Tuesday, April 30th, I went to the top of a mountain: Rochers de Nayes. I think that is how it is spelled. I decided to walk and find the Montreux station. I did! I had to back track a little bit to do so.

It turned out that I was going to be on time to catch the 10:17 train up the hill. It was a dinky train, and I could not figure out how to get in.

The back door did not have a button to open it, and the front was the seat of the driver. The driver was standing around on the phone. When I saw the door, I figured that I was wrong so I started to head back to the back door. The guy called out “madame! Madame!”.....and then point to the front door. I went in and sat down.

I had time to spare! Turned out I was not the only one that had this problem. Two other young ladies came on, and he was mulch nicer to them....and watched their butts as they got on. No shame, man.....no shame. Lolol. Then another American came on and she did the same thing as I. She sat in the seat across the aisle. I told her that I did the same thing.

It was really pretty going up. The train was loud and slow...so we can see everything. The train tracks had this extra bit in the middle that looked like an unraveled gear. and when you looked out the front, it looked like we were on a rollercoaster. There were also two metal carts in front, I assume to take any necessities up there....I assume.

It got progressively snowy as we climbed higher and higher. We got to the top and it was just this one building. That’s it. We got out....i, of course, went to the restroom, then up and out to walk the grounds. There was not much to walk, and the next train down is not due for an hour.

it it was not nearly as cold as Ohio or Aomori, but I am sure when it gets dark, it likely gets beastly cold. I took a bunch of pictures, as it really was breathtaking and an amazing view.

I then went in to grab an ovaltine and a soup.

I did not get a picture of the soup….but here is the Ovaltine in a fancy cracked mug.

He said that it was vegetable soup. I did notice he forgot to bring the soup, as he then served everyone their stuff, and when I just made gentle eye contact, he made the universal gesture of, “ah fuck, I forgot.” My soup came out with a chance of cheese and a slice of stale bread. The soup was not vegetable. There were not vegetables. What there WAS, was hot orange water with pumpkin seeds. The pumpkin seeds were the only chewable item in the soup. It was more like pumpkin tea...... and. It was hot AF.

i went to the restroom and left the “restaurant”....after paying of course. The soup was 12CHF.....which is like $12. Fuck that…it is more expensive for soup than it is to get in the Chillon Castle.

They did did have a gift shop which consisted of a very expensive totebag, some shitty shirts, and a marmot keychain that yodels at you for about a minute and a half. Purchases made by me = 0....though the marmot was tempting. it was 10 CHF.....that is about $2 CHEAPER than my “soup”.

Fucking marmot.

Anyway, I went out to wait for the train, since it was cooler out there, having just burned my insides and mouth with the hot pumpkin tea. Then The other american came came down to the platform with a vague Germanic tune coming from her bag and everyone fell silent to enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of muffled marmot yodeling.

It was just a beautiful view coming down the mountain. After leaving the train, I went to find the queen studio experience. I could not find it the first time I walked around Montreux. It turns out that it is part of a casino. I went in, and then up stairs to the Queen Studio Experience. They had some hand written notes, some of the outfits Freddie wore, and some music you could listen to. It had the history and timeline of the band as well.

It was pretty small, but I think the coolest thing was the actual sound board. It was just a cool 3-D image with only a small section you could play and mix the tracks. You had 2 song options. And it was marked as to what was Drums, Vocals, Effects, etc.

Before heading home, I decided to go to a chocolate cafe. It was really nice….super rich chocolate that made my face break out, but totally worth it.

I walked back to the AirBnB and took a little nap since it was still early.

On the way, I noticed how clear the water was.

After waking up, I decided to take a walk in the other direction along the lake. And decided that the next day, I would head over to Vevey walking along the lake.