If anyone remembers my 2019 Goal List, you know that I had a goal to do six Swiss hikes this year. While I’ve done eight hikes to date, the longest and most difficult was hiking Le Grammont. I heard about this hike from a lot of friends and colleagues, and when I stayed in town over a holiday weekend in September, I decided to go for it.
I listened to an audiobook while I hiked, which I really enjoyed. The book was called “Excellence Wins: A No-Nonsense Guide to Becoming the Best in a World of Compromise” by Horst Schulze. But it wasn’t just that the book was good, I liked having a bit of entertainment or something to listen to during the six hour workout. (This hike was 11.5 miles and 4,000+ feet of elevation gain.) It was great to get to the end and have accomplished two things – finishing a book and a hike.
Here are a few photos I captured along the way. The views were beautiful. From the top, I was directly across the lake from Montreux and my apartment. We won’t talk about how I ran out of water halfway through and didn’t find a natural water fountain (which is typically very common in Switzerland) along the way. We’ll just focus on the fact that it was a beautiful day and that I got to use my new hiking poles!
This feels like the right moment to also show you how my flowers fared this summer. I killed my lavender by drowning it in a pot that didn’t drain. Oops! But, the geraniums did really well!
It was also the weekend of a food truck festival in Montreux, and because I couldn’t decide what I wanted during lunch with a friend, I went back for dinner (and a sunset view) the same day! Can you believe they had lobster rolls in Switzerland?! Best food surprise I’ve had here in a long time!
It’s been a while since I spent a long holiday weekend in Switzerland, and it was delightful!