Recent trip to France/Switzerland
Some photos from my visit to France and Switzerland from our trip in October. Started out in Paris and went to the Provence region (Marseille, St. Tropez, Cannes, Nice) then through alpine Switzerland (Vevey, Zermatt, Lauterbrunnen) - probably two of my favourite regions in the world. A photo diary of sorts I guess. We plan to go there again some time in the future so suggestions of places welcome, as are tips on how I can improve my crap photography skills
Our itinery:
Day 1-3: Paris: did the typical touristy things: Louvre, Versailles, the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, etc
Day 4-5: TGV train to Marseille (3 hours), drove along coast of Provence, stayed the night at St Tropez and drove to Nice the second day, flight to Geneva
Day 6-8: SBB train to Zermatt, Switzerland, explored the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa area
Day 9-11: Stayed at Interlaken, daily trips into the Lauterbrunnen valley to see Wengen, Jungfrau, Aletschegletscher, Klein Scheidegg, Grindelwald, etc.
Day 12: Train back to Paris, fly out
Photos were taken with a Canon 50D with a Cannon EFS 10-22m lens and a B+W circular polariser filter.
France
We stayed at a hotel near Versailles instead of paying for the mad rates in central Paris. The palace is I think the best example of royal excess anywhere, although friends have said Vienna rivals it. The gardens are what makes it worthwhile for me though. There is a buggy you can rent and go around the enormous grounds and on a nice day it's all rather spiffy rolling along the tree lined avenues.
Paris is not a favourite city of mine and in retrospect I would have liked to spend more time in Provence, but the missus hadn't been so I obliged. Paris is quite easily traversable by metro unlike some other European capitals (Rome I'm looking at you) and decently priced if you get the books of 10 metro tickets which puts each journey at around 1 EUR.
Highlight: food, street side cafes, gardens of Versailles
Lowlight: trudging around the Louvre for the 6th time
Versailles taken from one of the flower beds.
A statue I particularly liked. The Bourbons were keen collectors of statues and it really shows.
A view of the Champs de Mars from the top of the Eiffel Tower. It costs about 15 euros and a 20 minute line if you are willing to climb up flights of stairs, as opposed to 2 hours if you insist on taking the lift. The view is quite good and you get to see just about all of urban Paris on a clear day. If you buy a stairs ticket you are not really supposed to take the lift down, but most people did anyway and the staff didn't seem to mind.
Highlight: awesome views, wide angle camera's paradise
Lowlight: LOTS of stairs. I am reasonably athletic but was still pretty tired afterwards
Driving along the French riviera. Marseille is a bit of a bore, and the traffic signs are terrible (according to the missus I ran a red light without realising), but the 3 hour train connections from Paris can't be argued with. Once you get out of the city the scenery is well worth it.
Highlight: country views
Lowlight: trying to find the way out of Marseille
Cassis - delightful little town a short way from Marseille. There is a nice beach and a castle on a cliff top. We tried to go but it was either closed or private.
Sunrise over the hotel pool - Ramatuelle, St Tropez. My favourite part of France. The drive along the coastline is delightful if a little windy, but the views of little orchards and vineyards from little mountaintop villages take the cake for me. We went to one called Ramatuelle which was every bit the storybook village.
Highlight: just about everything really. This part of Provence is easily one of my five favourite places in the world
Lowlight: nothing really...
Switzerland
For travellers: the SBB train system is the most efficient anywhere in the world by some distance. Trains are amazingly punctual and generally get from A to B with minimum fuss. We made the mistake of not getting a Swisspass, which we realised gives you discounts on touristy places and other things, so do get it.
Chateau de Chillon, Vevey - shame about the weather, but in general quite an interesting visit. The castle itself is quite small and cute, but the views of Lake Geneva are quite brilliant.
Matterhorn. We climbed most of the way up it. There is a cable car up half of the way to Schwarsee and then it's a pretty manageable climb up to this glacial basin bit where you get really good shots of the Matterhorn. For serious climbers there is a way to the top and a lodge of sorts where people stay the night, but we came down as the climbing started requiring all fours. Most of that climb the weather was rather cloudy but the day we were about to check out and go to Interlaken this happened. Absolutely stunning weather for the rest of Switzerland thankfully.
Zermatt is the village underneath in the valley and is very cute. The village bans cars and you will get a fine if you drive into it unwittingly. Stuff is generally not cheap but still well worth the visit. Besides the matterhorn there is the Monte Rosa area. If you go up to Gornergrat on the toy train you get to an observatory spot where you can see 6-7 glaciers in one place.
Highlight: climbing the Matterhorn
Lowlight: very weather dependent. We got lucky in the end but not while we were on the mountain
Wengen - on the Jungfraubahn to Jungfraujoch. Wonderful ski resort in the winter. One of the prettiest alpine villages I've ever been to in the summer.
Staubbachfalle - 380m high waterfall within walking distance of Lauterbrunnen. Apparently can freeze solid when it gets really cold in the winter. There are several of these waterfalls in the area but this one for me was the best.
Lauterbrunnen valley from the air - we took this helicopter trip from Lauterbrunnen airfield and cost us EUR640 for the both of us. It was a 45 minute ride which included flying around the Lauterbrunnen valley, landing on the top of one of the glaciers and then a round trip which flies past several of the taller mountains like the Eiger-Monch-Jungfrau mountains and the Shilthorn. We flew in a 4 passenger heli and we shared the ride with a nice German-Swiss couple. On a sunny day it was actually quite warm at the top, and I was able to walk around in t-shirt and shorts taking photos.
Highlight: just about everything
Lowlight: just about everything is expensive even by continental Europe standards
Jungfrau, Eiger, Monch, helicopter
Aletschgletscher - from Jungfraujoch. We ascended the Jungfrau in a tunnel train from Klein Scheidegg. The round trip was about 2 hours and from Jungfraujoch at the top you could see the Aletschegletscher, which is a UNESCO site and one of the longest glaciers in Europe. It's actually not that cold on a sunny day even in early October.
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) in France, or the St. Moritz/St. Gallen ends of Switzerland. Are they worth going to? Thoughts?
Originally Posted by Boustrophedon
will fix after work.
