Gruyère Visp Grimselpass

Instead of taking the direct route from Solothurn to Aeschi, this Tuesday was our day of exploring some beautiful areas of Switzerland. We left Solothurn early in the morning and drove on the Swiss Autobahn in direction of the Greyerzerland. Our stop at the "Restoroute de la Gruyère" allowed us to admire the Poya Alpufzug, which is an artist interpretation of the annual procession of the cows going up, in spring, to the high altitude meadows for summer-long grazing.

This area is also where the French speaking part of Switzerland starts and now descending towards Vevey, we enjoyed some beautiful vistas over the Lake of Geneva. With a brief stop above Montreux, we were lucky that all the clouds dissipated  and we had a beautiful view onto the Grammont. The famous Swiss painter Ferdinand Hodler made many paintings of this view with his most famous shown below among the pictures. Thereafter we proceeded up the Rhône Valley, which has a micro climate most favourable for growing fruit trees and grapes. This is the place where the famous Fendant and Dôle is produced. Loyal to the theme of wine, we made a stop in Visp, where Wal Baur had arranged a wine tasting for us. This is the town in which Wal had grown up. Actually, she had arranged our whole trip, but was unfortunately, due to health reasons, not able to join. What can we say about the wine tasting? The wine and the local dried meats and cheese were excellent and we enjoyed singing "Te Voici, Vigneron!" as available to you below for your listening pleasure. The good mood on the bus thereafter took another high, and our director's ears took quite a beating when we tried to sing our songs without him giving us pitch and tempo. Sorry Rodger!

We stopped a few minutes on top of the Grimsel pass, where it was foggy and cold, and it was good to get to our next destination, which is Aeschi above Spiez, where we stayed for 4 nights.

To enlarge, click on the pictures below -- and click "Start Slideshow" !!

• From Gruyère Restoroute towards the Greyerzersee From Gruyère Restoroute towards the Greyerzersee
• Poya Alpufzug Poya Alpufzug
• Artist Interpretation of the Artist Interpretation of the
• Annual Procession of the Cows Annual Procession of the Cows
• up to the Summer up to the Summer
• Alpine Pastures Alpine Pastures
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• From above Montreux towards Mont Pèlerin From above Montreux towards Mont Pèlerin
• Grammont across from Montreux with a Collar Grammont across from Montreux with a Collar
• Grammont Painting by Ferdinand Hodler Grammont Painting by Ferdinand Hodler
• Growing Fendant and Dôle Growing Fendant and Dôle
• Visiting Chanton Weine in Visp Visiting Chanton Weine in Visp
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• Visp Visp
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• Local Architecture Local Architecture
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• Walliser Maske Walliser Maske
• Burgerkirche Burgerkirche
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• Wine Tasting Wine Tasting
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• Air-Dried Beef, Salami and Rohschinken Air-Dried Beef, Salami and Rohschinken
• Singing Te Voici, Vigneron! Singing Te Voici, Vigneron!
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• Münster Münster
• Singing continues by Rosmarie and Lisa Singing continues by Rosmarie and Lisa
• Driving up the Furka/Grimsel Driving up the Furka/Grimsel
• Separation of the Grimsel from the Furka Separation of the Grimsel from the Furka
• Inside the Grimselpass Restaurant Inside the Grimselpass Restaurant
• Fog on the top of the Grimselpass - our Bus Fog on the top of the Grimselpass - our Bus
• Murmeltier at Grimselpass Murmeltier at Grimselpass
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• Driving down towards Bernese Meiringen Driving down towards Bernese Meiringen
• Alpine Lakes Created by Dams Alpine Lakes Created by Dams
• Shaped by Pre-Historic Glaciers Shaped by Pre-Historic Glaciers
• Storage of Electricity for the Winter Storage of Electricity for the Winter
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