Reliving Glimpses of Montreux

The weather has become properly December-like, with snowflakes beginning last Sunday and snow that has stayed on the ground here for the past couple days.  This means that it is very cold outside because usually snow at this low elevation doesn't usually last too long unless it falls in substantial quantities.  So it's a good moment to think about the last rain-less, snow-less, fairly warm weather day we've had lately, which was the day I spent at the Montreux Christmas Market.

Having posted most of the Market photos, I have just a couple more.  I held this pair back because I wanted to post them together.  Here is a view of one of Montreux's luxury hotels, le Grand Hotel Suisse, as seen from the train station

and here it is again from the waterfront, with topiary "sculptures" in the foreground.

Creating animal shapes, realistic or fanciful, from shrubbery is a long-standing tradition along Montreux's lakefront - where flora and fauna literally meet.

But creativity is not limited to animal shapes.

And the medium is not always shrubbery.  Each time I visit, I see something new!

But the main attraction remains the beautiful lakefront itself.

Yes, those are indeed palm fronds in that photo.  It is for good reason that the Vevey-Montreux area is often referred to as the Swiss "Riviera."