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Hi Everyone, back again this time from my trip to Switzerland. I had a great time and would like to share some of my pictures and experiences. My husband’s mother lives in a small town near Geneva, on the French side. I had heard of Switzerland’s natural beauty but I was stunned by the looming mountains and the brilliant greenish-blue, jeweled lakes. living largely in London the past few years I forget how diverse and amazing Europe is and wish I had a chance to travel more. The air there was so delicious – flowers, mountain air and fresh smell of the lakes. My London abused lungs found the air nicely rejuvinating and the weather was perfect for exploring the little villages around the lakes.

Here is a picture of Maya, my mother-in-law’s cat (pictured here with our travel pet Gordon). She is a tiny and sweet siamese cat who loves to talk and snuggle under warm blankets.

Our trip began exploring the town of Geneva, home of the United Nations and CERN laboratory. It is situated on Lac Léman also called Lake Geneva. The water as mentioned above is just so beautiful, a light blue green which is crystal clear. It reminded me of the glacial lakes in Canada however much warmer and even on a mild day in September people were still swimming. Geneva itself is a smallish but interesting town. We only had time to visit the Natural History museum (super amazing) and the local botanic gardens.

The famous Geneva Landmark, Jet d’Eau (left) and a young swan (right).

Botanic gardens, amazing lilypads (left) and one of the many wild lizards we saw running around the park (right).

The Next day we visited Chateau de Chillon near Montreaux. This is on the other side of Lac Léman. The castle itself was well worth the visit but I was especially impressed by the nearby village and how it sprawled up the steep cliffs.. I am really in love with French architecture and really adored how the german style also influenced the buildings here into something uniquely Swiss. It also really reminded me of the fantasy village featured in Hayao Miyazaki’s Kiki’s Delivery Service (one of my favourite of all time movies) and I kept thinking of that while the little villages passed me by.

Chateau de Chillon

Probably my favourite part of the trip was visiting the picturesque town of Annecy on the French side. The little village with its own castle and little canals on another brilliant green lake. The mountains are beautiful here and it was the first day where they were not partially covered by mist… I love the houses here and was sure to pick up a couple of local french interior design magazines that featured residencies in Annecy.. The people that live here are truly to be envied.

Me and the Canals (Top left), Birds flying over (Top Right), a curious little hole in the wall (bottom), I couldnt help but wonder if the water ever rises above the top step that looks like someones front door there.

All in all it was a beautiful trip and I can’t wait to go back to Switzerland again to explore more. As usual we took hundreds of photos so sorting through them is going to take some time. More posts shortly and I will be adding new items to my shop!

take care, ^_^

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Blog Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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