Montreux

Just half an hour from Lausanne lies a small and peaceful town called Montreux.

It does not have any amazing building and the landscapes do not differ from those we have seen in Lausanne. Yet, my human secretary has fiercely insisted on visiting it, be it for a moment. And to be honest she was not the only one to wish to come here. Poets, novelists, musicians, they all came here to benefit from the purest air and the amazingly appeasing view on the Alps.

Some of them loved this place so much that they decided to move here until death do them apart. Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, a famous Russian writer was one of them. But my human secretary was brought by the memory of another famous person. To find out who it was, we need to walk down the lake side.

We need to arrive to this round-shape pier in the back.

 

On its edge, you will notice a telephone booth. A real London telephone booth. Well, almost. It is a kinetic sculpture dedicated to Claude Nobs, the founder of the world-famous Montreux Jazz Festival. It was made by a kinetic sculptor Pascal Bettex.

But the most important monument is on the other side of the sidewalk. Here he comes. The one and only. The immortal. His Supreme Royal Highness, Freddie Mercury, who lived and died here in 1991.

The view from his hospital window inspired him to write his last song - A Winter's Tale.

So quiet and peaceful

Tranquil and blissful

There's a kind of magic in the air

What a truly magnificent view 

A breathtaking scene 

With the dreams of the world in the palm of your hand

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As I was writing this post, I have found out that actually there is another song that gave to Montreux an ever-lasting place in the history of the music. In 1971, Deep Purple were recording their album "Machine Head" in Montreux. One night, Frank Zappa was performing in the Montreux casino and one of his fans fired a flare into the building's roof. The casino burned down. Giving birth to "Smoke on the Water".