Ferry to France

15 Fr, 20 mins, Bonjour France.

I and Love and You

Yeah, yeah, it's an old (ish) song. But I still love it, and I love this version.

Load the car and write the note
Grab your bag and grab your coat 
Tell the ones that need to know
We are headed north

Trains

I've been spending a lot of time on trains lately, which is downright enchanting when you're along the water and the sun hits it just so.
Not so charming when it's early morning on the last train home and your neighbour is smoking up a storm, cursing like a sailor and lying in the luggage racks attached to the ceiling.

Yogurt and Nectarines

I made this for Sunday brunch last week. Yogurt with Birchermüesli and sliced apricots, then drizzled with honey. Delicious. Nutritious. Easy peasy. 

In case you haven't noticed, I heart orange things. I even bought the corresponding orange mug, which is usually full of milk and ovaltine cookies.

Montreux: 3 fois

Canadian in Switzerland seeing an American band.

Phew, tired of these Montreux posts yet? It's the last one, I promise. (Part 1, 2)

I've been to Montreux 3 times now. I like this unpretentious music festival.

Noah and the Whale - Just Me Before We Met

Looking through the photos you find in my drawer,
Laughing so hard you're rolling around on the floor,
At all the bad haircuts,
And me smoking cigarettes,
The lustless romantic,
Trying hard to impress,
Well that's just me before we met,
Well that's just me before we met,

Putting down the photos, you look up at me,
Enjoying the thought of the person that I used to be,
The things I was proud of,
The things I regret,
Some things I remember,
Some things I forget,
Well that's just me before we met,
Well that's just me before we met 

Lutry

Quite possibly one of the best days I've had here. Also, quite possibly the worst photos I've taken here. But who wants to take photos when they're on a boat in the middle of Lake Geneva anyway?

My friend Alex was nice enough to introduce me to her cousin + family here (with the CUTEST baby boy ever). We ate at Café de la Poste, which is famous for their filet de perche straight from the lake. Afterwards we went boating/water skiing with their friends in Lutry! Just so lovely. What a stellar day.

In other news, I kind of hate how my personality changes when I speak French. That is, I lose my personality. A lot of smiling, and nodding and agreeing starts happening. I've gotten a lot more confident since I've been here though, but I'm sure people still think I'm really timid. I like talking, I swear. Sometimes, you even want to shut me up. It's just really hard to express yourself when you don't have the right words and it's beyond frustrating because there's so much I want to say! Vocabulary is important, as those pesky English teachers would say. It's actually making me re-think my impression of all the quiet ESL students at school. 

Montreux Love

The lake takes my breath away.

We ate dinner on top of these rocks along the boardwalk before heading down to see Cold War Kids. 

Montreux is turning out to be a multi-post juggernaut. Makes sense, I've spent half of the last week there. Part 1 here.

Montreux Jazz Festival

Montreux is pretty close by train. It's a lovely little city and it's nice just to walk around the lake. I'll probably be back before it ends though. To see bands who are playing for free that is, as tickets to actual shows run up to 240 CHF - shows like Arcade Fire, those big timers. Apparently, Swiss Hipsters are Rich Hipsters. I wonder how their Québecois accent will come across. hehe. But actually, it's nice to see the paid concerts in Montreux because of the intimate venues.

To finish off the night, we returned to Lausanne for another round of the Festival de la Cité.

Brunch

Not much to say, really. Scenes from brunch the other day.

Festival de la Cité

I haven't been taking many photos here. It must be some sort of record. It's kind of liberating in a way, because experiences become (more) important as it's my only reference now.

I can actually hear the sounds of the Festival in my room late into the night. I find it amusing that most of the food stalls are of the Asian variety. I'm still fresh off the Asian food binge I had before I left home, so it's going to take some time before I'm persuaded to eat it here. I hear it's good though (relatively speaking, I'm sure).