Tuesday, Day 4 in Switzerland

Will I ever finish blogging about Switzerland? I'm forgetting all the details I wanted to record. But things have been pretty busy these past few weeks. I've also been in a most uninterested mood, not good for writing. Right now, I've got a chicken roasting in the oven, a glass of Shiraz, I'm on my third load of laundry, the dishes are done, and I realized... I have time to blog.

Every day in Switzerland is beautiful. I'm not lying. Writing this makes me miss it. Tuesday was one of the more beautiful and also more stressful days of the vacation. We drove a couple hours to the Grande Dixence Dam, an out-of-the-way place that is more likely to attract local hikers than international tourists. This is a beautiful spot for lovely views set on a man-made lake against a glorious Alpine background. We rode a cable car to the top of the dam and decided to walk back down. Walking back down turned out to be a lot more work than we were expecting, and it didn't leave much time to explore the city of Sion, which was something I was excited to do. So we felt kind of rushed and exhausted, but it was still an incredible experience.

Grande Dixence Dam--bigger than it looks.

A view of Lake des Dix

The trail ran through tunnels in the rocks. The glacial
runoff makes for water of a most beautiful color.

When we finally got to Sion at 5 pm, we made our way straight to Valere castle, an ancient fortified church, which I read in Fodor's was open until 6. Fodors is full of lies! When we got to the castle, after climbing up a big hill through a lot of confusing alleys, the doors were locked up and the site was closed. But the views on the way up were beautiful, and we got to see the ruins of Tourbillon Castle.

Tourbillon Castle ruins

A little chapel next to Valere

A typical view of Sion from a spot near the top of the hill Valere sits upon.

Sion is a really lovely city that doesn't seem to get enough attention in the region. It feels almost Mediterranean, settled on the Rhone River with vineyards all around. We drank coffee and tea on a patio of a nice little cafe where our waitress complimented my "pretty accent" (I'm certain she was just being kind). People watching in Switzerland was so marvelous. We watched people go about their usual after-work weekday routines while we drank our coffee, people riding bicycles with their groceries and kids playing soccer in alleyways. I very much wish we could have spent more time Sion.