Spending Time with Residents of Vevey

Lovely spring morning. 61º

Once you stand at the shore of Lake Geneva, there is nowhere to go, but up. And so we do, shoving our little Mitsubishi rental car along for our visit to Michel and Silke, who promised to take us on a little hike, and visit around the hills before heading to Zurich.

We originally met Michel and Silke almost exactly a year earlier in Fez, Morocco (that story to come). We hardly had passed half an hour together with them over coffee and fruit in the same Ryad before they were off, but felt an instant connection and remained in touch throughout the year. Both are serious travelers, having covered much of South America and Morocco and most of Europe in the RV they outfitted and took with them around the world. (For South America, they rolled the car onto a cargo ship and crossed the Atlantic that way.) Both of them also sailed a catamaran from New Zealand to New Caledonia, just the two of them. "Almost killed us ... twice," said Silke.

Michel also has a blog that he has shared for years, revealing the scattered places and unique journeys that they have made. You can find the details at http://milke.fr/blog. It's written in French but you can attempt to have it translated (sort of) through your browser. They have been, it seems, everywhere, true vagabonds.

The view from Michel and Silke's recently purchased home is panoramic. From the big glass windows, you can see everything from the crescent shape of Lake Geneva to the serrated snowy peaks of the Alps deep along the Rhône valley.

They are so new to the home, even they are a little stunned by it. After some coffee (Nespresso, a project Silke worked on when at Nestle), we close up the house, and begin our hike down to the lake, sometimes through steep switchbacks of rock and grass, and sometimes narrow paved road. The lake is close to 2000 vertical feet below us so I'm glad we're going down and not up. All the time we are passing through vineyards 500 years old. They have been preserved, though there was a time whenever developers wanted to fill the hills with hotels, condos, houses and restaurants.

Michel is 75 years old and after decades climbing mountains all around the world, this seems like nothing to him or Silke but he explained he was moving a little slower than usual because his upper left ventricular heart valve was giving him problems and that was why we were hiking the 4 miles downhill not up.

After he has open-heart surgery next week, he says, he expects to be hiking up mountains again, just as fast as he did before.

"I was always used to going up the mountain faster than Silke," he says sliding his eyes to Silke. "I've got to get back in front of her again."

She smiles of warm smile and rolls her eyes. "We'll see!" But she admits once he is out of the hospital, and he begins rehab, she’ll have to up her game, and she’s 20 years younger than he is!

Exploring the Village of Vevey

From La Suisse the day before we could see these magnificent vineyards we've been parading through. The area is called the Laveaux Vineyards – 800 hectares of grapes that will eventually grace the pallets of millions of wine drinkers throughout the world. The area has been preserved as a UNESCO world heritage site and it is a spectacular sight.

Once we arrived at the bottom of the vineyards, we hopped Switzerland's excellent train system, covered a couple of miles in a heartbeat and debarked in the village of Vevey.

Lake Geneva is studied with gems like these villages. In the United States, it would likely all be folded into one city. But these villages have a history so each maintains its name, each has a train station, each its own parks along the broad lake where locals and visitors, during the summer, walk, eat, sit sipping wine or coffee, and generally sample Switzerland's famous chocolate like we did at Läderach, another of Switzerland’s fine chocolatiers. It’s well-known that the Swiss eat more chocolate per capita than any other people in the world. It’s easy to see why.

Planning for Zurich and Zermatt

While enjoying one of the local wines, I asked to pick their brains for our next leg of travel. We've decided that since we’re so close to the Alps, we must see the Matterhorn, one of the most famous mountain peaks in the world. But what was the best route? They suggested we drive through the Rhone Valley to Zürich (our next destination) then take the high-speed train to Zermatt, gateway to the Matterhorn. Cars are verboten in Zermatt so there is no use driving, says Michel.

"And make sure the weather in Zermatt is good," he adds with a smile. "If it isn't, you won't see a thing." That included the Matterhorn itself.

After wine, we walk to the funicular (what we Pittsburghers would call the incline - we have two) that will take us back up the mountain. It's quite an engineering marvel and rolls on smooth rails that haul us to the top of the small mountain, while passengers on the other side, provide the gravity for us as they head down to the lake. The whole thing rides on one rail, except when the two cars are about to collide. Then they separate momentarily, pass one another on their own rails, and return again to the single track.

Once at the top of the hill, we're soon enjoying the beautiful view again. At their beautiful home, we sample some of the Läderach chocolates and sadly say goodbye to our fellow vagabonds. We're running out of daylight and need to make it to Zurich.

It's not easy, saying goodbye. We hug too many times and promise to check in on Michel once his ticker has been repaired. (It was and he's doing well!) Soon we find our way to the highway past Gruyere and north into the broad rolling hills of forest green and a dying sun.