being alone vs. solitude
The next stop on my Swiss sojourn was Vevey (don't you just want to say 'Vevey' over and over again? That's why I had to visit here). It's a town on Lake Geneva, and somewhere around here is apparently where milk chocolate was invented (although there was a surprising lack of chocolate museums).
In the morning I took a stroll along the waterfront of Vevey - Lake Geneva was looking quite lovely with the sun shining above the surrounding mountains. I took a train ride up Les Pleiades - a smallish mountain above Vevey - the views of the Lake weren't so fabulous due to a misty haze, but it was still beautiful & peaceful up there. It seems funny to revel in the solitariness of being up a mountain, when I am spending most of my time travelling alone anyway, but there's a big difference between being alone amongst hundreds of people & Japanese tour groups, and being alone with nothing (& no one) around except soaring snow-capped mountains.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon at the Alimentarium - a food museum (my favourite kind!). They had sections on eating, cooking, purchasing & digesting - there was history, science, information about different cultures, and lots of interactive exhibits (including a 3d tour of the digestive system… lovely). It was really interesting & a lot of fun!
