Montreux

It's been a long 2 days in Montreux. I'm writing this in the
lobby of our hotel in Montreux. In an hour, I'll be taking a train to
Geneva and from there, a plane to Nice, where we'll spend 4 nights. I
shall now summarize the events of the past 3 days.

First thing in the morning two days ago, before leaving Zurich
for Montreux, we visited a Museum of Design. It was quite interesting,
but the feature was the robot exhibition. After the museum, we took a
train to Lausanne, and from there to Montreux.

When we arrived in Montreux, we had a late lunch, and then went
to one of the free venues of the festival to watch some bands and
other artists. At around 7PM, we started to wait in line for the big
concert with Steely Dan, Dave Matthews Band, and Chickenfoot. At
around 8:05, Steely Dan took the stage and performed for about an hour
and a half. I have to say, I didn't really enjoy their performance as
it was repetitive, and they didn't play their hit songs. Next was the
Dave Matthews Band. Before, I've never really listened to a Dave
Matthews Song, but now I'm a fan. At last, at around half past
midnight, Chickenfoot took the stage. Although the sound quality could
be improved, I had a ton of fun. As the concerts passed, I got closer
and closer to the front. By the time the Chickenfoot concert started,
I was literally in front, my hands on the stage, high-fiving a drunk
Sammy Hagar as he sung. 2 short hours passed, and we left the
Convention Center to go to the hotel. We were basically deaf after the
concert, and it wasn't fun falling asleep with loudly ringing ears but
nontheless, I slept till 1PM the next day.

The next day, we experienced the side aspect of the festival.
There were a few Jazz Bands and songwriters, but they could not
compare to the previous night. Halfway through the performances, we
decided to visit Château Chillon, or Chillon Castle. It was quite
interesting. It was built on a rock in Lake Geneva, and was the
capital of the nearby region. An iPod audio guide guided me through
the castle and it's nice areas with viewpoints of the whole region.

After the castle, we returned to the festival to eat dinner.
After, we wanted to watch another artist, but a thunderstorm brought
us inside the Convention Center. We got tickets to this slot machine
game. I instantly won a pen and a hat. On the ground by the machines,
there were hundreds of used tickets, but they can be reused every two
hours. For probably 2 periods of 2 hours, I checked every ticket,
organized them by time remaining, played tens of times and cashed in
countless prizes. By the time the rain had passed, I won pens, candy
boxes, VIP badge lanyards, a hat, around 10 useless Swiss iTunes
cards, countless 20% off cards for CDs, and 30 Francs in gift cards
which I used to get a Deep Purple in Montreux DVD for free. After
that, we went to see a last performer, and took a bus back to the hotel.

The next morning, or this morning, we packed, and then took a short
stroll through Montreux and noticed the unusual. How can a palm tree
grow in Switzerland. Anyways, after our stroll, we returned to the
hotel, and am now writing this before we depart for Nice.

I cannot upload the hundreds of pictures I have yet, but I will
try ASAP and will update this post or make a new one.

I will write again either tonight or tomorrow night.

Sent from my iPod