Montreux and Santa

We here at the SCR try to provide our dedicated readers with a sense of what life is like in the Helvetic Confederation. We think we have done a reasonable job so far, but we acknowledge that we have let some things slip. In particular, we have noted the growing collective impatience with which you demand: "what about the Christmas markets and festive grottos??".

This is, frankly, a rather inexcusable oversight given the fact that Christmas markets are as Swiss as floral cow parades and twice as crowded. We hit a few but the big show was Montreux, home of the jazz festival of the same name and Freddy Mercury's old stomping grounds (for you boomers in the audience). Fun as a day of fighting massive crowds to get to stalls full of cinnamon-smelling knick-knacks sounds, Sam and I pushed for a combo outing. Fortunately Freddy isn't the only person to call Montreux home -- the big man in the red suit also keeps a little place up in the mountains for tax purposes and he just happened to be in town.

The View Above Montreux

As you might expect from a fellow who keeps his principal residence at the North Pole, Santa appreciates his privacy and his Swiss pied-a-terre is 6700 ft. above town at the top of Rochers-de-Naye. You have to take a cog-wheel train from Montreux to the peak, which while stifflingly hot, provides lovely views of the far end of Lac Leman.

Horsing Around on the Train: Fun With Hats

Santa knows a thing or two about showmanship, so he's not just going to wait for you at the top of the mountain. Oh no, you have to walk a half a kilometre through some festively lit cave to reach the grotto.

The Slightly Spooky Subterranean Path to Santa's Grotto

Sam was quite a big boy in this second encounter with the Claus, and was very happy to explain to the jolly old philanthropist that he wanted "a blue one" for Christmas. He'd been telling us the same thing for weeks, but Santa, being an old hand at this sort of thing, managed to extract that it was "a blue one with wings"... so that helped a lot.

Sam Inspecting His Certificate From Santa

Santa actually manages to run a pretty efficient operation out of his grotto, with assistant elves running here and there keeping the throngs moving. Sam got a nice little parting gift from Santa's helper which he very much enjoyed.

Sam Applies for a Position as Santa's Payroll Clerk

On the way down we stopped in Caux to visit its Christmas village. Caux offered some really great views in addition to lots of fun sights and sounds for Sam.

The Gang

Sam At Santa's Village

There were also lots of furry friends for Sam, including bunnies, chickens, lambs, ponies and.... reindeer! The kid was over the moon and had some pretty deep conversations with the livestock.

"Hello Bunnies!"

Sam Meets Rudolph, A Bit Star-Struck

(Note shifty man in background -- caught!)

We tuckered ourselves out and we still hadn't made it to the Christmas market. So we were very excited to catch the train the rest of the way down the mountain. We waited at the packed station for our ride and when the train pulled in and everyone else hopped on we, for some reason, persuaded ourselves that the train was heading up rather than down and, confident in our ability to judge Swiss rail timetables by instinct alone, stood slack-jawed as the train proceeded down the hill after all. Boo.

Fortunately, Swiss trains are like old cliches and there was another along in twenty minutes.

Worn Out From The Adventure

We then spent what was left of the day wandering through the famous Montreux Christmas market. We shopped, we bought (not much), we tried on hats and sweaters. We drank mulled wine and cider and ate various Swiss treats. And then, at last, on the water's edge, there he was. The King of Queen, the Champion of the World: Freddy!

Finally at the Montreux Christmas Market: Food, Fun and Freddy Mercury