Montreux Jazz Festival

Ever since we moved here - about twenty minutes drive from the famous Montreux, I have been anticipating the Jazz Festival. The time finally came! For a little under two weeks, the shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) at Montreux is transformed into a bustling festival full of people, food and music. There are rather expensive (worth it for fans I guess) concerts which feature quite famous people - Sting, Carlos Santana and a regular, BB King to name a few. There's also some not so expensive concerts featuring not-so-famous acts and there's even a heap of free concerts in the 'parc'. I was lucky enough to go to the festival twice. I went with Roy on the Sunday and then again the next day with some friends. I've got to say that I rather enjoyed the Monday, not that I didn't enjoy Roy's company, it was just less crowded and the free concerts were better. The Sunday was extremely crowded. I guess it's the day that people choose to go because no one works on Sundays and all of the shops are shut - so why not hey?

We had some very nice weather which was lucky. There were paragliders, sailing boats and people swimming. It almost reminded me of the beach.

My good friend, Freddie.

BBoy dance-off 

Plenty of food around for a great feast.

A fruit cocktail in a coconut!

A feast of fresh coconut once the juice had run out. I knew my little Swiss Army Knife would come in handy one day.

A nice refreshing drink of cool water from the fountain.

A souvenir of the event.

Roy and I had planned on seeing a band that we both like, for free but the crowds got a little too much, plus the fact that the concert didn't start until 10pm and it was a work day for Roy the next day. So we caught the bus back to where we parked our little Panda and went back home for some dinner and a relax.

The Monday was much less crowded and we got to see a Jazz ensemble from an Australian all girls school. It was nice to sit on the grass with a cold beer and enjoy the free, live music. It was a bit of a novelty seeing a high school band from my home country.

My friend's dog Tobias enjoying the music.