Le Carnival des Bolzes - Fribourg

Last weekend was the start of the Carnival celebrations. I had thought Carnival was something that only happens in Rio, but it turns out to be religious celebration linked to Ash Wednesday (or, more relevantly from Linda's perspective, pancake Tuesday).

We did some research on the Internet and asked around about the various celebrations, in the end deciding to go to Fribourg because we had heard it was a nice town and they had a fun sounding itinerary, culminating in the burning of a giant figure in the town square. So we bought our tickets and caught the train through the fog and snowy landscape up to Fribourg.

Once there we could see Fribourg was a lovely little town and we slowly wandered downthrough the streets towards the lower part of town near the river where the celebrations were centred. We found a square where some bands were lined up to play some energetic music with colourful costumes.

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered back and forth between the celebrations, other parts of the town, and further afield. Gradually the celebrations built up until the town was packed with people and floats where lead along the roads that were quickly being covered in layers of coloured confetti.

The climax came after dark when they held a mock trial of Rababou, a fictional character held responsible for all the crimes of the past year, whom they then set fire to in the form of an effigy of wire and straw.

It took a little while for the fire to catch properly, but once it did it ripped up the figure setting off firecrackers as it went. At the same time a canon was fired more confetti into the crowd.

After the fire died down it suddenly got very cold. We had seen some men setting up fireworks on the hill above the town but the prospect of waiting outside for them to go off did not appeal very much. We sheltered in a bar and had hot drinks to thaw ourselves off.

As always seems to happen to us in Switzerland, the heating and gentle motion of the train on the way home soon had us feeling quite drowsy and, although we were home relatively early, it was all we could do to prop ourselves up on the couch and watch some tv before going to bed.

After the success of this Carnival, we will be heading up to Basel for their Carnival, which is held a week after the others and is meant to be the biggest in Switzerland.

Snowing in Vevey

Today when I was wandering home from sending off my nephew's birthday present (sorry Edward, it will be a little late), I noticed little flecks of ice amongst the rain that had started to fall.

By the time I was in Place Scanavin near the apartment it was really coming down quite hard and, while everyone else had run for cover, I stood in the square so Linda could take a photo of me.

This was quite exciting because, while there is plenty of snow in the mountains all around us, we hadn't had much snow actually in Vevey where we live. The fact that we live in the 'Swiss Riviera' should have meant this was not surprising to us but anyway it didn't quite match our expectations of what living in Switzerland would be like.

I even made a small video!

Chateau d'Oex - Festival de Ballons

On Sunday we took the panoramic train from Monteux to Chateau D'Oex for the Festival International de Ballons. We were lucky because this year it was the 30th anniversary of the event.

Chateau d'Oex has a strong history of ballooning with its unique micro-climate; Bertrand Piccard, from Lausanne, and Brian Jones, England, made a record-breaking 45,000km round-the-world balloon flight in 1999, starting from the little Swiss town.

We got up nice and early to catch the first flights of the day, however the train was completely packed and ran a little late so when we came around the corner approaching Chateau d'Oex we could already see a few balloons in the sky.

It was an amazing sight in the clear, cold, air, with the balloons drifting down the valley before lifting up into the sky above the mountains and somehow managing to navigate a circular route back to the take-off/landing area.

The last time we came to Chateau d'Oex it was freezing cold, windy and raining. This time the weather was perfect, with no clouds or wind, and the snow on the ground added to the spectacular view without our feeling any colder.

We eventually grew tired of watching the balloons taking off, and once we had seen demonstrations of parasailing, parachuting and wingsuit flying (which appeared as a streak across the sky) we took the teleferique up the mountain to the ski resort above Chateau d'Oex. Even at the top of the mountain the air was clear and still and the view over the town below was amazing.

After all this the sun was going behind the mountains and the temperature started to drop - we decided it was time to go home. We skipped the first train after it became apparent we would be jammed in with all the returning skiers and balloon-watchers, opting instead for a hot chocolate and plate of chips to warm us up as we waited for the next train.

By the time we got home we were sleepy from the train ride down the mountain, but very happy with our day of balloon watching. If the weather is as fine next year I think we will have to buy ourselves a ride in one of the balloons and watch the event from above.