Six-hundred-forty-first Post
Day 4
Did not sleep well last night at all. Had, like, 14 micro-naps and just couldn't seem to get comfortable. Woke up really burned out.
As such, I decided to limit myself to one real activity: Chillon Castle.
The castle itself was nice, but I felt sick and kinda spaced out for most of it, so I'm not sure how much I actually enjoyed and how much I endured. Also, the sun around here can be pretty punishing if you're caught out in the open with no breeze.
In lieu of my second planned destination for the day, I just went straight on to Champéry, which was a beautiful place. It was also the first place on this trip that felt really, uniquely Swiss to me, instead of just generic European.
Google Translate really does work a lot better for Romance languages than it does for Japanese; it has been an indispensable tool in navigating around and ordering food at restaurants. Unfortunately, some of that food was fondue, which I found I fondon't like at all. At least the one I had (at an establishment where all the other food was fantastic) disagreed with me, tasting quite bitter.
Bought the first few souvenirs of the trip from a small shop in town.
Day 5
I feel so much better this morning. Slept for 11 hours straight and had a really good breakfast.
My original plan for today involved an alpine coaster, but the weather prognosis was bad, I decided to replace it with the stop I cut from yesterday's itinerary instead.
Afterwards, I headed on to a lovely little town called Sion to tour the Château de Tourbillon, which I am convinced is French for "Castle of a Billion Stairs." Not two days after saying I would take it easy in the wake of the Gorges de l'Areuse, I decided that, nah, I was going to go blasting up as many stairs as I could find. Which, by the by, turned out to be the equivalent of 59 flights of stairs.
By the descent, the inside of my left knee was on fire when I used it to hold me up while going down a stair, while the shin of my right leg was prickling with every step (in spite of having remembered to put on my compression brace).
I'd kept bumping into a trio of tourists as I walked around Sion, and they finally stopped me and we talked for a little bit: they were from Macao. I briefly considered asking them about their opinions on the Hong Kong situation, but decided against it.
Pleasant surprise, though, my reward was the best meal I've had in Switzerland so far: the "Super Complete" crepe.
There was a shop across the street called "Oil & Whiskey," which really goes to show the local priorities.
After that, it was off to my evening's lodgings, which was on the other side of a mountain. So I drove over said mountain, including going up high enough that the constant drizzle briefly turned into a light snow. It was quite lovely!
Also walked across a suspension bridge today. Whee!