It's 11pm and I was about to plug my phone in and go to sleep BUT I just realized I haven't blogged, oops!
So this blog is really about what I've been doing since I arrived in Montreux yesterday morning since I didn't write about it yesterday.
I got the train from Geneva Airport and arrived in Montreux around 11:30. Annoyingly, I couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm (which I thought seemed really late) so I had to walk around and kill some time. This was a little bit harder to do in Montreux than in Amsterdam as there are more shops and cafes than museums or attractions here.
The first thing I figured I would do is grab some lunch. I have a confession to make. I think I mentioned yesterday that I had to get up pretty early for my flight. So combine that with the fact that I didn't get that much sleep in the two nights I was in the hostel, I was super tired when I arrived (I was struggling to keep my eyes open on the train) and I didn't feel like sitting down in a cafe and trying to bust out my French... Or even really talk to anyone at all. So I went to McDonald's, which is something I rarely do in Canada let alone when I'm on holiday somewhere. But it was easy.
Just as I was approaching McDonald's, walking along the edge of Lake Geneva, I noticed a figure to my right that I had been wanting to see for a long time.
If anyone is wondering why I chose Montreux as a destination on this trip, you might be interested to know that my desire to visit Montreux is the whole reason I took this trip in the first place.
Anyone who knows me even slightly, knows that I have been a huge fan of Queen since I was about eight or nine years old. My friend Alisha introduced me to them in middle school and it changed my life. I've never really had a bucket list, but one thing I've always wanted to do in my life is visit the Freddie Mercury Memorial Statue.
That Freddie Mercury Memorial happens to be on the shore of Lake Geneva, and was the figure I passed right outside McDonald's as I arrived in Montreux. I imagine there probably wasn't a McDonald's there at the time the statue was unveiled.
I took a couple of pictures of the statue, but my phone battery was running pretty low and I couldn't find anywhere to charge it so I knew I would have to wait until I got into the hotel. By the time I'd walked around a couple of shops just for the sake of killing time, it was still only 1pm. I walked to the hotel and asked if there was any chance of checking in early, but that was a no-go.
There was one other place I wanted to visit in Montreux, so even though I had wanted to save it until the next day, I figured I would head there since I needed something to do.
If you're wondering why Freddie Mercury's memorial is in Montreux, it's because the band spent a lot of time here. They recorded several albums here and Freddie owned a house here towards the end of his life. In 1979 they actually purchased the studio they used here inside the Montreux Casino, known as Mountain Studios. They sold the studio after Freddie's death and the facility later got moved to a different location, so the space now sits as the Queen Studio Experience. So that was where I headed.
The best thing about this little exhibition is that it's completely free to visit. They do ask for donations to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, but you can just come and go as you please. Inside the exhibitions is three rooms: a theatre with a little documentary about their recording experiences (which I had, obviously, already seen, but I watched it again anyway); a hall with a number of panels and cases featuring real pieces of equipment used by the band, costumes used in concerts, and original handwritten lyrics; and, the best part of all, the studio they used to actually use. Everything in the studio was exactly the same as they would have used it except for the mixing desk which had been replaced with a replica that you could play with. I was in heaven.
Eventually 3pm rolled around and I checked into the hotel, having already seen the two things I wanted to see in Montreux. In hindsight, I probably could have just spent one night in Montreux and had an extra night in London at the end of my trip, but it did allow me to have some time to relax and recharge from the hecticness of my time in Amsterdam.
I checked into my hotel, sat under a blanket on the bed because the room was freezing... And next thing I knew it was 7:40pm. I told you I was tired.
So today, as I mentioned, I just had a chill day in Montreux. I let myself sleep in, which was wonderful, and then I went for a nice little walk around Lake Geneva. I went back to the Freddie statue and the Queen Experience with a charged phone battery to take more photos and videos. This time I was the only person in the Queen Studio, so I had some fun and played around with the mixing desk a little bit more.
Tomorrow I have about an hour and a half between when I have to check out of the hotel and when my train to Geneva leaves, so I wouldn't be surprised if I went back to either place tomorrow. 😂
So this blog is really about what I've been doing since I arrived in Montreux yesterday morning since I didn't write about it yesterday.
I got the train from Geneva Airport and arrived in Montreux around 11:30. Annoyingly, I couldn't check into the hotel until 3pm (which I thought seemed really late) so I had to walk around and kill some time. This was a little bit harder to do in Montreux than in Amsterdam as there are more shops and cafes than museums or attractions here.
The first thing I figured I would do is grab some lunch. I have a confession to make. I think I mentioned yesterday that I had to get up pretty early for my flight. So combine that with the fact that I didn't get that much sleep in the two nights I was in the hostel, I was super tired when I arrived (I was struggling to keep my eyes open on the train) and I didn't feel like sitting down in a cafe and trying to bust out my French... Or even really talk to anyone at all. So I went to McDonald's, which is something I rarely do in Canada let alone when I'm on holiday somewhere. But it was easy.
Just as I was approaching McDonald's, walking along the edge of Lake Geneva, I noticed a figure to my right that I had been wanting to see for a long time.
If anyone is wondering why I chose Montreux as a destination on this trip, you might be interested to know that my desire to visit Montreux is the whole reason I took this trip in the first place.
Anyone who knows me even slightly, knows that I have been a huge fan of Queen since I was about eight or nine years old. My friend Alisha introduced me to them in middle school and it changed my life. I've never really had a bucket list, but one thing I've always wanted to do in my life is visit the Freddie Mercury Memorial Statue.
That Freddie Mercury Memorial happens to be on the shore of Lake Geneva, and was the figure I passed right outside McDonald's as I arrived in Montreux. I imagine there probably wasn't a McDonald's there at the time the statue was unveiled.
I took a couple of pictures of the statue, but my phone battery was running pretty low and I couldn't find anywhere to charge it so I knew I would have to wait until I got into the hotel. By the time I'd walked around a couple of shops just for the sake of killing time, it was still only 1pm. I walked to the hotel and asked if there was any chance of checking in early, but that was a no-go.
There was one other place I wanted to visit in Montreux, so even though I had wanted to save it until the next day, I figured I would head there since I needed something to do.
If you're wondering why Freddie Mercury's memorial is in Montreux, it's because the band spent a lot of time here. They recorded several albums here and Freddie owned a house here towards the end of his life. In 1979 they actually purchased the studio they used here inside the Montreux Casino, known as Mountain Studios. They sold the studio after Freddie's death and the facility later got moved to a different location, so the space now sits as the Queen Studio Experience. So that was where I headed.
The best thing about this little exhibition is that it's completely free to visit. They do ask for donations to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, but you can just come and go as you please. Inside the exhibitions is three rooms: a theatre with a little documentary about their recording experiences (which I had, obviously, already seen, but I watched it again anyway); a hall with a number of panels and cases featuring real pieces of equipment used by the band, costumes used in concerts, and original handwritten lyrics; and, the best part of all, the studio they used to actually use. Everything in the studio was exactly the same as they would have used it except for the mixing desk which had been replaced with a replica that you could play with. I was in heaven.
Eventually 3pm rolled around and I checked into the hotel, having already seen the two things I wanted to see in Montreux. In hindsight, I probably could have just spent one night in Montreux and had an extra night in London at the end of my trip, but it did allow me to have some time to relax and recharge from the hecticness of my time in Amsterdam.
I checked into my hotel, sat under a blanket on the bed because the room was freezing... And next thing I knew it was 7:40pm. I told you I was tired.
So today, as I mentioned, I just had a chill day in Montreux. I let myself sleep in, which was wonderful, and then I went for a nice little walk around Lake Geneva. I went back to the Freddie statue and the Queen Experience with a charged phone battery to take more photos and videos. This time I was the only person in the Queen Studio, so I had some fun and played around with the mixing desk a little bit more.
Tomorrow I have about an hour and a half between when I have to check out of the hotel and when my train to Geneva leaves, so I wouldn't be surprised if I went back to either place tomorrow. 😂
🍗
I know how much you have always wanted to go here and I'm thrilled (if not a little jealous!) that you finally managed to do it. It has been great reliving the excellence of Queen with you for the past 15 years as I didn't appreciate their music so much first time round. Enjoy the rest of your trip! Mum x
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