The hotel also has the world’s biggest mechanical clock – it’s in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The pendulum stretches from the eighth floor, where the clock is,

right down to the lobby.

We headed out on this overcast day to Lake Geneva – finally the Jet d’Eau was on! Third time lucky – I was very pleased!

We passed the Jardin des Anglais and the floral clock – it didn’t look too bad considering it was winter.

We wandered up into the old town.

It was very picturesque.

Here you can see two different flags. The flag of the Canton of Geneva features an imperial eagle and the key of St Peter. The Swiss flag, the white cross on a red background, is one of only two square flags of a sovereign state, the other being the Vatican’s. The symbol for the Red Cross is the reverse of the colours of the Swiss flag. This is to honour Switzerland as the Red Cross symbol was first declared as a universal sign of protection at the Geneva Convention of 1864.

We spent some time in the Cathedral St Pierre. It belongs to the Swiss Reformed church.

John Calvin spent time in Geneva and this is the chair he used.

It has a very austere interior.

Medieval wood carving in the choirs.

A small chapel to the right of the main church is much more colourful and flamboyantly Gothic.

It reminded us of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris.

We then spent a fascinating hour under the cathedral. There has recently been an extensive archaeological excavation under the building. Rather than cover it over again the cathedral floor was rebuilt on steel girders and concrete so that visitors can explore the site. It traces the site right back to pre-Christian days.

In about 100 BC this man was buried here. He was a tribal leader and his funeral mound became a site of worship for the tribes-people.

Eventually other buildings covered the site but it was always used as a sacred place.

Early Christian churches were built on the site too. Here is the Bishop’s reception room with wonderful mosaic tiles.

It was incredible to see how the site had developed over the millennia and what lay in the strata beneath this 16th century building.

Afterwards we continued our walk. Here is the town hall and what was the central market place under the cover of the arches.

We also visited Maison Tavel, a grand family home that dates back to the 12th century. It is now a museum dedicated to Geneva’s urban history and domestic life. On the top floor was an enormous model made from copper and zinc of Geneva in 1850 when it was still a walled city. I couldn’t take any photographs but the model was about three or four metres in diameter and featured every building in minute detail. Absolutely amazing.

It was our last night in Geneva so we had dinner and then said our goodbyes. Michelle and Margaret’s train to Nice was leaving at 6:40 the next morning. We had had a terrific time in Switzerland.

My plane was leaving at three o’clock in the afternoon, so I had the Saturday morning in Geneva too. I decided to look around the large flea market that is held on Saturdays at the Plaine de Plainpalais. I didn’t buy anything though but was tempted by some albums of vintage postcards.

After breakfast, Michelle and I took a walk up the hill to the southern outskirts of Zermatt.

This was our first overcast day in Switzerland.

I might make this next year’s Christmas card.

We admired the scenery and tried in vain to get one last shot of a cloudless Matterhorn. It was not to be.

We said goodbye to our lovely hotel and took a train from Zermatt to Geneva, changing at Visp.

While Michelle did some laundry I took a walk around Geneva. This is the medieval clock tower that was once part of the castle defences of the city. Until the mid 1800s the entire city was fortified with a massive star-shaped set of bastions and walls. They were no longer needed after the Swiss federation and were demolished after 1850.

Once again I was in search of the Jet d’Eau. We had seen it from the train as we approached Geneva so I was confident of getting a good shot. I saw it again from a bridge but it was too far for a decent photo. When I arrived at the bridge called Pont du Mont Blanc, guess what happened. No Jet d’eau! Apparently in winter it is turned off at 4pm.

This is the Ile Rousseau, dedicated to the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau, one of Geneva’s most famous citizens. It has recently been refurbished and I stumbled upon the opening ceremony. In 2012 Geneva is celebrating the 300th anniversary of Rousseau’s birth.

This is his statue.

I continued my explorations and found the Brunswick Memorial. The Duke of Brunswick died in Geneva in 1873 and left a large sum of money to the city on the condition they build him a great memorial. It reminded me of the Albert Memorial in London’s Hyde Park.

Our hotel in Geneva this time is perfectly adequate, though we are not convinced of its four star rating. Compared to other places we have stayed it is quite devoid of character. I have a nice view of a church.

The bathroom is good but is separated from the room only by a glass partition. It doesn’t provide much privacy for people who are sharing a room. I guess we have been spoiled by our other accommodation on this trip. I know, it’s just awful, isn’t it? Poor us!

Zermatt is situated on a high plateau at the foot of Switzerland’s highest and most famous mountain, the Matterhorn. Despite being a famous ski resort, Zermatt manages to retain the charm and beauty of a picturesque Swiss mountain town.

Only electric cars are allowed in Zermatt and this gives the town an incredibly peaceful (and clean) atmosphere.

Here is the parish church of St Mauritius.

Did I mention that I turned forty? I am almost as old at the Matterhorn.

We took the Gornergrat railway up to the top of the Gornergrat, a ridge in the alps overlooking the Gorner Glacier. Here you can see the station. At over 3000 metres it is the highest open air train station in Switzerland.

Skiers take the train to get to top of the ski runs.

There is also  a hotel and observatory. We had coffee and cake at the restaurant.

Extraordinary views.

We took the train back down to Zermatt, which is about a half hour ride.

We then explored the old town, which still has many original mountain cottages.

We met a lovely snow white cat with gorgeous green eyes. She had heard that Oliver was still single but I told her that no-one would be good enough for my boy, beautiful as she was.

When we got back to the hotel we had a drink while sitting by the fire in their bar. When the bar waitress heard that it was my birthday she brought us three glasses of champagne as a gift.

I had my fortieth birthday dinner with Michelle and Margaret here at Stockhorn.

It’s a very traditional Swiss restaurant. All the meat is prepared on the grill right next to the tables. I had a veal steak and it was the best I have ever tasted. For dessert I had the Tobleronemousse.

Zermatt is such a gorgeous place and it was the perfect setting for my birthday.

Today we left St Moritz and boarded the Glacier Express, one of the world’s great train journeys. For seven hours we traversed the Swiss Alps crossing 291 bridges and passing through 91 tunnels. The carriages have special panoramic windows so that you can look up and enjoy the view.

There was spectacular scenery all the way.

We arrived in Zermatt at around 5pm and checked into our hotel, above, which has a traditional Swiss chalet feel.

Here is my room.

Each panel on the ceiling has been hand-painted with a different pattern.

This is my view of the Matterhorn from the balcony.

We had dinner at a nearby restaurant called Chez Gaby and then turned in for the night.

We were up so early that you can see it was still dark outside. We had to be ready for our biggest challenge yet – three different trains to our next destination, one of which involved a seven minute transfer to another platform. Due to Michelle’s brilliant planning it worked out perfectly, and we were in St Moritz just after 1pm.
The train ride was beautiful – especially from Chur to St Moritz.

St Moritz is in a lovely setting – the lake as you can see is completely frozen over and they will be using it for a horse race next weekend.

St Moritz is very much a place for skiers and Russian oligarchs and their wives. The town is compact and has a large number of modern buildings so it lacks the charm of other Swiss towns we have seen so far.

The natives.

The main street.

The church.

The town hall.

We stopped at Hanselmann for coffee and cake.

Crisp apple strudel. One of my favourite things.

I also bought some Swiss chocolate. Not the goat though.

This is the hotel. See the green sign in the middle of the picture that says Steffani? Just above that are two windows  – that’s my room!

This is my balcony view. Magnificent.

Inside. Very comfortable.

The view at night. Minus 10 degrees celsius. The concierge said it was minus 25 in the countryside outside St Moritz last week.

We had dinner at Hauser, which is actually owned by an Australian. That’s why they had something called the Roo Bar and had kangaroo and Australian wines on the menu.

We didn’t sip ay Napoleon brandy though. If we did we would probably have got our lips wet. Ann O’Dyne will know the reference. Others of you will too, no doubt.

We then took a train out to the town of Engelberg at the foot of Mt Titlis (don’t snigger it’s pronounced Teet-leez). We got the bus to the base of the mountain where we joined hundreds of serious skier types on the ascent of Mt Titlis. We were the only tourists among goggle-wearing, ski-boot-clomping, stick-brandishing sporty types, and yes, I had my camera around my neck.

The ascent to the top of Mount Titlis takes 45 minutes (not including waiting time) on three different types of cable car. The final cable car is a 360 degree rotating monster called the Rotair that holds up to eighty people.

I have the feeling that our car had a few more than that. Everyone is herded like cattle and there was no drinks service or anything! I don’t know what I was expecting but I had somehow imagined myself sipping Sauvingnon Blanc whilst gently rising above the alpine hills but it was not to be.

At the top the view is spectacular.

That’s right 10,000 feet up. 3020 metres. The air is quite thin at that height so I found I had a little altitude sickness and found it hard to catch my breath from time to time. It was also extremely cold.

You are literally on top of the world. There are other activities at the top of Mt Titlis such as an open cable car across the glacier and activities with names like Crevasse Abseiling and Bikini Tobogganing (I made that last on up but it is true that there was a picture of such an activity at the Titlis Glacier Station). Instead we opted for lunch in the restaurant three kilometres in the sky with an amazing view from the top of the Swiss Alps.

We did venture in a little way to the Glacier Cave. Yes, they burrowed into the mountain and then made a cave inside the glacier. The walls look like marble but they are ice.

The floor is ice too and I got a little overexcited to take this picture and I slipped and bruised my knee. No permanent damage done though, but it was enough to tell us that this place was potentially dangerous and that we should return to where humans are meant to be – somewhere that serves ten different types of potato.

See the shadow of our cable car? It was much less crowded on the way back down, which was pleasing to us.

We then returned to Lucerne. It was 3pm so we decided to take a cruise on Lake Lucerne.

The trip we took was two and half hours and there was a drinks service (finally!), which is more our kind of thing.

The boat stops at various locations all over Lake Lucerne.

We were lucky enough to see the sun setting in glorious fashion.

It was time for dinner by the time we returned from the boat ride. We passed the KKL building, Lucerne’s marvelous cultural centre with its cantilevered roof and crossed the bridge into the old town for some well-deserved noshing. There were plenty of kartoffels on the menu!

The Chapel Bridge at night.

We headed back to the Montana for a good night’s sleep.

This is my room.

From another angle.

This is my balcony and view of Lake Lucerne.

Just spectacular. Much better than my view of the light-well yesterday in Bern.

We began the day in Bern, where we caught the 9:00am train to Lucerne. We left our suitcases at the hotel and then took a walk along the lake shore into the old town.

We have had great weather – clear blue skies and no precipitation. Only about minus 2.

When we reached Kapellplatz there was a big commotion. Some sort of celebration was taking place.

There was a band, musketeers firing gun salutes, a jester, two carriages drawn by horses and others getting ready for a procession.

There were also people in the procession dressed up as pilots and cross-dressing flight attendants.

We have no idea what was going on.

They all marched off into the town. To the right you can see the jester on a scooter.

These people seemed to be an important part of the ceremony.

The band then continued to march all around the town for the rest of the day. you would turn a corner and they could very well be heading right for you.

Lucerne is a very beautiful city and many of the buildings are decorated in one form or another. I will have to look up what this building’s decorations represent, though it looks like a family tree with many different coats of arms.

This one had cherubs holding diamond rings – it once housed the diamond cutters guild.

Lucerne is famous for its fourteenth century footbridge called the Chapel Bridge. You can see it here in the distance with the octagonal tower on the right.

It is still in use today. Sadly, much of the bridge was destroyed in a fire in 1993 but is has been rebuilt.

This is what it looks like when you’re on the bridge.

The roof panels are painted with 17th century scenes like this one. They tell the story of the town’s patron saints St Leodegar and St Mauritius. Many were restored after the fire and some had to be repainted.

Here is the Jesuit Church built between 1666-73.

It has a fabulous baroque interior.

On the horizon of this picture you can see the original medieval city walls and towers. In the foreground is another footbridge, this one is called the Spreuerbrucke.

We stopped for lunch at Heini.

They serve delicious cakes, pastries and chocolates.

I also went to see the Lowendenkmal – a massive figure of a dying lion carved into the sandstone cliff face.

It is a monument to the Swiss Guards of Louis XVI of France who defended his palace against the revolutionaries. The guards who did not die in the battle were executed by guillotine. The carving was unveiled in 1821. You can see the lion is pierced by a broken arrow and is in the throes of a painful death. It is very moving.

We then spent the evening at the hotel. We had a drink in the piano bar and then had dinner in their beautiful restaurant. This is the sunset view from my balcony.

At breakfast this morning I caught up with Michelle and Margaret and we set off the station at about 8:15 to catch a train to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. There was some lovely rural scenery along the way but photos taken from the inside of a train never live up to expectations.

We arrived at the hotel around 10:30 and luckily our rooms were ready.

My room is rather spacious but Michelle and Margaret have the better view.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Bern. Bern lies on the River Aare and was founded in 1191. The Duke who founded the city is said to have named it after the first animal he hunted in the area, which was a bear. The bear is thus the namesake and the symbol of the city and appears on the coat of arms.

The Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and features four miles of covered arcaded walkways to protect shoppers from the elements.

The city has many decorative fountains like this one, each telling a story of some sort, I don’t have all the details though.

This is the ogre fountain. He is is eating babies, no doubt some sort of lesson to someone…

At the base are bears!

This one has an armed bear.

This one shows you how to administer a pill to a cat.

There are also real bears in Bern! This one is just a photo I took of the sign at the Bear Garden.

The bears used to be kept in these rather sad bear pits.

Now they have a much nicer enclosure galled the Barengraben or Bear Garden. I wanted to spot a bear and take a photo so I traipsed all the way over to the other side of the town and across the river. Guess what bears do in an alpine environment in winter? Yes, that’s right. Needless to say I didn’t spot one.

The bears have a nice view of the city though, when they’re not hibernating.

Bern is famous for its Zytglogge. It is a clock tower which was also the town’s west gate in the 1100s and it also features an astronomical clock made in 1527.

The clock has figures that make an elaborate display just before the clock strikes the hour.

Here is the front of the Musnter St Vinzenz, Bern’s great Gothic cathedral.

It was lovely inside.

Other landmarks. The Rathaus or Town Hall built in 1406.

To its left is the Church of St Peter and St Paul.

This is the Swiss Parliament Building or Bundeshaus, the Federal Assembly, completed in 1902.

This was another former city gate, the Kafigturm.

This building was the former orphanage, now a police headquarters.

One more bear for good measure!

Sandra Bullock has just ripped the tiara off the head of the pageant winner and thrown it into the stage set behind her and there is a massive explosion. It was a funny scene.

More to follow! About Switzerland, not Sandra Bullock movies.

My flight was very good – there was no-one in the seat next to me and I was on the aisle, which I prefer. I arrived in Geneva just after 8pm and took a train into the town centre. After I checked into my hotel (very nice by the way) I went for a walk to get something to eat. I also wanted to get to the shores of Lake Geneva to see the famous Jet d’Eau (water jet) but it wasn’t working. Perhaps it is turned off at night or during the winter months.

Here’s a view of Lake Geneva, sans Jet d’Eau. They mainly speak French in Geneva but much of the rest of Switzerland speaks German so I have been practising.

The weather is very mild, only a slight breeze, about minus one degree celsius. No sign of snow or panicking British skiers.

Tomorrow I meet up with my traveling companions Michelle and Margaret. They are in the hotel right now but are sleeping following a marathon series of flights – Adelaide – Melbourne – Singapore – London – Geneva.

More to follow!

I think I might need my long johns.