On My Own...

Mrs. TBF and Jeanette had to work on Friday. So, my first full day in Nyon was a spent on my own. After helping myself to a few things out of Jeanette's fridge, I walked to the shores of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) - after a quick stop at the Nyon Region Tourist Office - and boarded a boat. I had decided to head toward Vevey.
The boat took off, and after about five minutes I realized that I had made a major logistical error. I thought the trip to Vevey would take about 90 minutes. However, I mis-read the schedule and discovered that the journey would take....three-hours and fifty-three minutes!!!!! No worries. I wasn't on any sort of schedule, so I just decided that I'd take it all in stride.
I turned on the iPod Shuffle and enjoyed the sunshine and scenery. After about an hour of sunshine and scenery, my stomach began to talk to me - I was hungry! I went down to the restaurant and enjoyed a very good meal. The highlight of the meal came when I actually had to do some French to English translation for a table full of Swedish tourists. The waitress didn't know how to say poireaux in English, and I miraculously knew that it was "leeks"!. The waitress, unfortunately for me, then assumed that I spoke French and I ended up understanding very little of what she said to me for the rest of the meal.
Finally, the boat made it to Vevey. I made my way to the Musée suisse de l'appareil photographique, and spent about an hour or so checking out the history of photography.
After having my fill of all things photographic, I decided to park my Big Finn Butt on one of Vevey's many park benches (something sorely lacking in Basel), light up a cigar (sorry dad!), and observe Vevey's "Walk of Life"! It was the kind of day I enjoy - no plan...no schedule...no hurry. I was just enjoying the experience of the Suisse-Romande. After puffing away for about an hour, I mosied on over to the Vevey train station and made my way back to Nyon.
Mrs. TBF and Jeanette eventually made it home a little after 7 p.m. After freshening up a bit, we made our way into town to a very nice restaurant called Café Du Marché. It was an Italian restaurant, and it was very good! All in all, a perfect ending to a fantastic day!

Here I am on the boat with Lausanne (home of the Dictator Princess) in the background. By this point I had been on the boat for HOURS, and Vevey was just around the corner.
Note to DP: I believe your GA entitles you to ride the boats of Lac Léman for "free"! I highly recommend it!







This part of Switzerland is known as the Cote d'Or - a.k.a Swiss wine country. The wine isn't that great, but the scenery's pretty nice!











Here's what I saw when I arrived in Vevey. I've determined that just about every postcard you see in Switzerland has been produced using trick-photography - vividly blue, cloudless skies. Hah...the mountains are always shrouded in haze! Nevertheless, the scenery was still pretty spectacular