A cruise on the lake. Part one.

The pleasure of watching the steam boat come in and to go aboard

for a three-hour summer cruise.

The crowds move forward to enter the boat

and I lag behind to capture the flowers.

Our journey takes us past Chillon Castle which was made popular

by Lord Byron, who wrote "The Prisoner of Chillon".

The castle is very old and the first written records

date back to the mid 12th century.

We see the charming Château du Châtelard in Clarens, placed on a hillside

with sloping vineyards.

These days, the castle can be rented for weddings, banquets and seminars.

You can even sleep there overnight.

We pass an elegant sailing boat with a lot of standing room!

As the boat sails towards the far end of the lake,

the imposing "Dents du Midi" mountains seem to close-in on us.

This chain of mountains is three kilometres long

and the highest, called "La Haute Cime", is 3257 metres high.

This was an amusing interlude: on one of our stops, a small boat circled

around our bigger one playing the most cheerful little tunes

on a steam-organ (see the pipes with the steam).

We were all delighted and clapped and waved and cheered to the 

steam-organ master who waved back with a big smile on his face!