Parents' Visit: Fribourg (8/6/1983)

Saturday, August 6, 1983

I stopped to pick up my mail, including a voucher for the Milano hotel. I bought film at Jelmoli and a Toblerone chocolate bar at the new Merkur at the corner of Bahnhofstrasse at Bahnhofplatz. Went to the Club Hotel and found my mom and dad eating breakfast in the restaurant. There was another couple there with their daughter. I took my parents key to drop off a bag with their laundry and some chocolate chip cookies, etc. I returned to the restaurant, and when they were finished, we walked over to the Biel-Täuffelen-Ins/BTI station to catch the 8:55 train. We watched the train pull up and hook to another car. The family in the hotel restaurant also boarded the same train. We traveled along past the farms far from the edge of the Bielersee/Lake Biel. Arrived in Ins and waited for the train to Fribourg along with the other family. The father had a large camera bag and a small notebook like Daddy! He seemed to be interested in the trains, too!

We boarded the First Class car, and I had a day pass and the class-change card. The conductor told me I was in First Class as if I should move to the next car, until I pointed out the class change card.

Train Class Change ticket

My dad said the conductor looked like a typical Frenchman, tall and thin with a pencil mustache. We arrived in Fribourg at 10:30. At the info kiosk I asked to look at a map, but my dad okayed purchasing a map. I was given a walking tour guide of the city, and all the churches were pointed out to me!

We walked out under the plastic arched awning and down to the main street for a block, then over to the funicular. You couldn’t view the funicular from the top station, so we walked just past the station with a view of the lower city.

Route des Alpes promenade (GJT)

Continued on to the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville/City Hall with a market in its square.

Market (GJT)

Traffic director (GJT)

Hôtel de Ville/City Hall clock tower (GJT)

Stalden street (GJT)

Rue des Chanoines with
Cathédrale St Nicolas (GJT)

Went down a back street of the old town to end up at the Pont/Bridge de Zähringen, where we could look down on the Sarne River and at the wooden covered bridge.

Sarne River (GJT)

Yuriko and Tamiko at Pont de Zähringen

Porte de Berne/Bern Gate (GJT)

We crossed the bridge to look up at the old town on the hill. Next we went to the Cathédrale Saint-Nicolas to see the stained glass, chancel rail, carved choir stalls, and the large organ. We saw the carved baptismal font, and just inside the door was a chapel with life-sized carved figures depicting the entombment of Christ.

Cathédrale St Nicolas organ

Rue de Lausanne (GJT)

We followed another old town street that had lots of wrought-iron signs, and made it back to the station in time to catch the 12:10 train to Romont. We had a picnic lunch of bread and Gruyère cheese with Bündnerfleisch/thin slices of air-dried beef, and chocolate milk.

Arrived in Romont at 12:40 and went to catch the one-car train to Bulle. It was pulling a couple flat cars. The ride was very rough with lots of swaying. Made it tough to use the restroom! Arrived in Bulle at about 13:16 and went to board the train to Montbovon. This took us past Gruyères and into the mountains where I really liked the scenery!

Gruyères (GJT)

Cheese country (GJT)

Town of Haut-Intyamon (GJT)

Town of Haut-Intyamon

Chemin de fer Montreux–Oberland Bernois/MOB train (GJT)

MOB view of Lac Léman/Lake Geneva (GJT)

MOB view of Dent de Lys

Mountains with some craggy peaks, but large grassy patches amongst the forests. We rode the steepest grade of any regular railroad from a tunnel to Les Avants.
We got off at the next stop of Chernex, having determined that the Rochers de Naye were covered with clouds. We could see the mountains on the other side of Lac Léman/Lake Geneva, and no snow-covered Alps were in view.

View of Chernex from Chamby (GJT)

We opted to take a local train back to Chamby where we bought tickets for a steam railroad train that alternated runs with a streetcar to Blonay. Our passes weren’t valid for this train, but the tickets were only 3 CHF/$1.50.

Chamby to Blonay ticket

As we chugged off we passed the railroad yards with its mini electric switch locomotive. After going through a forest we arrived in Blonay. We had a snack of tea and cookies as we waited for the train to Vevey. We didn’t see any trains to Les Pleiades. After arriving in Vevey, we managed to catch the 16:05 train to Montreux. There we changed to the 16:29 local that let us off near Château Chillon. We walked the short distance to the castle to take pictures and buy postcards.

Château Chillon

Château Chillon (GJT)

Highway above Château Chillon (GJT)

Château Chillon tower (GJT)

We walked back to the road to catch a trolleybus to Montreux. We needed 80 Rappen/40 cents in exact change to buy tickets from the machine on the bus. Two of us only had 1 CHF/50 cent coins, so we received no change.

Chillon to Montreux bus ticket

At the train station, we went to the Buffet Restaurant behind the trains to Rochers, but no one came to serve us. We just bought some sodas at a kiosk, and caught the 18:20 train to Zweisimmen. We snacked on the leftover cheese and bread, and fruits and nuts. Enjoyed the scenery even though it was partly cloudy.

Dent de Lys; it does look like a tooth! (GJT)

Saw evidence of skiing: lifts and such. We passed Château d’Œx where the actor David Niven recently died.

Gstaad (GJT)

Also saw the Gstaad airport with its control tower sticking out of the mountainside. In Zweisimmen we changed to the fast train to Spiez, arriving a minute early at 19:56! And caught the 19:56 train to Bern, changing to the train to Biel, arriving about 21:20.

Biel 12-ride bus ticket