Tour de Romandie in Geneva

The Tour de Romandie began on Tuesday with a 3.6km prologue in Martingy in Valais, which is about 90km due east of Geneva as the crow flies. Today the tour left Martingy to head north in to Vaud, through Montreaux up to Bulle near the southern end of Lac de la Gruyere and then south again, throug Chateau-d'Oex and Gstaad, over the top of Col du Pillon (a category 1 climb) to end in Leysin.
The tour continues until Sunday, when it arrives in Geneva at about 2.30pm after a 165km ride from Champagne on Lac de Neuchatel.  The riders will arrive in Geneva on the Lausanne road and rush round the end of the lake to sprint finish at the Quai Gustave Ador.

Seeing the real Switz - Chateau D'Oex Balloon Festival

We went to Chateau D'Oex on Saturday to see the balloon festival. A two hour drive along the lake and up into the mountains. I would hesitate to say that the balloons were worth it, as we managed to missed one mass ascent just as we arrived and we missed a second about half an hour after we left. We did get to see some leaving the ground and we saw plenty in the sky.  The big one thought it was fabulous, whilst I'd have loved her to see the mass ascent, unfortunately there are competing needs of a children that sadly meant we need to leave - the trip home, unlike the trip over, was two hours of peace accompanied by gentle snoring from them both.