http://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?q=h2h&m=names
>
Sunday, August 12th, 2007
A short two hour hike downhill and we were there: Montreux. Walking along the waterfront, weaving in and out of the tourists and the shop stalls, with boats zipping back and forth on the lake and buskers and beggars plying their trades, I said to Russell and Sally: it's a different world. And it is. Now, a day later, the first feeling of being a stranger in a strange land has gone away, but I don't feel at home here, and I don't think I will feel at home anywhere but on the trail until the H2H is done. I'm reminded of what someone in my favorite book once said (more or less): it is nice here and all but we aren't getting any closer to finishing what we started. It isn't a bad thing, it's just how it feels.
Walking into the Raffles Montreux Palace hotel was an amusing experience. I changed out of my hiking boots before going in, but I'm not sure if that made things better or worse since it meant that I was carrying them in my hand when I arrived at the reception desk. Add to that a distinct odor that I was conscious of emanating (my fleece needed to be -- and since has been -- washed), and the copious hiking aftersweat still flowing from my pores (it had turned into a warm sunny day), well, I felt just a little out of place. But after announcing to all and sundry that we had just arrived, on foot, from Munich (which produced, as it usually does these days, a double-take followed by initial disbelief that is however quickly replaced by respect tinged with awe), I felt better :-).
We were early but they quickly gave us one of our rooms so that we could shower and change (something that probably suited them as much as it suited us!). Afterwards we came down for Sunday brunch, which was an embarassment of riches: Russ and I could hardly move for an hour or two afterwards. Sally, by contrast, who ate just as much as we did, went for a tandem paragliding flight (no word on whether the flight-time was truncated due to the weight of the passenger :-).
And now we have, for the first time since the H2H started seven weeks ago, two free days in a row! Lidia will arrive this evening and, as long as the weather isn't too bad, will rejoin the hike for the rest of the way to Chamonix; Ioana will join us at Lac Taney after the first day, also going to Chamonix. I am quickly recovering strength and purpose and all is well with the world!
