Beyond Beautiful Switzerland Chapter 2: Mandatory visit to the castle

Travelogue: 14th June 2015

AK, Bon and the bestie left the apartment around 6 am? They were catching the train to Milan and will be spending the day there. Before the trip, they did asked me if I was interested to join them in Milan for a day but I did not see any point for me to be there since I was there 2 years ago. Furthermore, I think it would be interesting to spend the day alone, here at Montreux. I remember loving it so much 2 years ago and I could not wait to simply spend some quiet time alone by the beautiful lake.

The plan was to sleep till late but after the guys said goodbye and left the apartment, I was wide awake. I could not go back to sleep. I spent another 2 hours simply lazing around in bed and enjoying the fact that I have no schedule and no plan for today. From my bed, I could hear May playing her music loudly and singing along to it. Ok, so I am not completely alone yet, I have May with me in the morning but she will be catching the train to the airport in the afternoon.

I finally got up and decided to shower and get dressed. We agreed to go out for breakfast but it was still pretty early. When we left at 9 am, most of the shops and cafes were closed. We finally found one that was opened and decided to have our breakfast there.

I am just happy they have some coffee for me as I needed to get my caffeine fix. This is my first time travelling with May and I feel that she spent too much time with AK, I did not really get a chance to get to know her.

Therefore, this breakfast was our shared intimate moment. Lol.

We took our morning walk by the lake and captured some photos. There were beautiful flowers along the lake it was impossible to resist taking lots of photos especially for photo enthusiasts like me.

This morning the mountain is shying away behind the clouds but the view was still spectacular.

We met some kind strangers who were willing to help us take photos. I think I have very little photos with May so these few photos are precious.

As we walked on, May asked if the castle, Chateau de Chillon was nearby. I remembered walking there from our apartment two years ago and it took about 45 minutes. Since we had time, we decided to head to the castle.

The path to castle there was filled with even more beautiful sceneries. The clouds seemed to be clearing up as well.

We are here! This is my second visit, yet I am still excited to explore everything again. #historynerd

I really wanted to get a good shot of the castle from this angle but this lady in yellow was standing for the longest time. I think I waited 15 minutes and she did not even budge.

Some rooms in the castle were previously used to hold prisoners. Imagine being in a small, dingy room with a small window that allows you to see this view.

I love how the windows have these benches. Seemed that people enjoyed sitting by the window, to read, sew while overlooking the lake.

Actually all the rooms had different functions and were equally fascinating. I took the chance to play, occasionally.

The ‘hole’ that was used as the toilet. I will always be amused by this regardless of how many times I see this lol.

To me, steep stairways gave out a mysterious feel to it, sometimes we are not sure where the stairs lead to.

There are secret and hidden stairways in the castle obviously, for the queen to travel. Some are sealed and blocked out from the public even till today.

The place was less crowded than the last time i was here. It was nice to walk around but sometimes drop dead silence scares me.

The creaking sound from the wooden floor and stairs were proof enough how old the castle was. Visiting the Castle of Chillon is like going back in time.

It was getting hotter by the time we were done.

I had a lovely time and I think May did too. Before leaving, we happened to witness a group of PRCs taking photos interestingly and May managed to record the whole episode. It was so hilarious, I think we laughed too loud for our own good. Maybe I will upload the video next time with May’s permission. Lol.

Taking one last look at this beautiful scenery from the entrance.

Time to walk back!

Our view walking back was different and I will be sharing it in the next blog entry!