A Swiss spring break with friends TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/27 - Page 24 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Sunday 6 May – part nine: it’s not an Olympic sport, but perhaps it should be…
We were making our way to here…
Yes, we changed our plans up a bit. We were originally supposed to be stopping here tomorrow, but Graham suggested doing it this afternoon and it seemed like a plan to me. We were going to try and take a lake cruise, but the last round trip from Montreux was due to leave at 2:40pm and to get that would be really pushing it and we didn’t want to rush.
Even as we walked up the steps to the museum, I was impressed by their theming. They had the names of every single person who’d lit the Olympic flame at each Games…. My apologies, as they are very hard to see.
Even more impressively, the details from the 2018 Winter Olympics were also up there.
As you walk up, there was more theming on either side of the steps…
… and look at the view back down to the lake.
At the top of the steps, just before the museum, they have the Olympic flame and the Olympic motto “faster, higher, stronger”…
You could even pretend to be a medal winner… in the first shot I’ve beaten Mark and in the second, we were both joint first…
See the high jump in front of the museum? That’s set at the world record level. I tell you that is much higher in reality than it looks on the TV!
You could even lift up the shot put. The women’s wasn’t too terrible, but I couldn’t even lift the men’s.
I loved the feel of the place as we walked in….
…but perhaps the best bit in here was this sign at the entrance to the shop!
It’s not, but perhaps it should be…
The shop did look really neat at first glance, but I was very disappointed when I looked closer. A lot of the stuff in here was dedicated to specific Olympics and not ones I remember – much of it was Mexico from 1968, which we learnt was an iconic one because of the modern logo they had for it, or Munich. Nothing from London at all! In the end, I only bought one (very expensive) fridge magnet of the museum and that was it. Such a shame.
However, that was the only disappointment in the place. The rest of it was amazing. Their recent refurbishment was really worth undertaking. It is superb and Graham and Sarah readily admitted afterwards that they weren’t that interested in this, but they were blown away by how good it was.
Awww, the cows are so cute!! All the yummy chocolate they help make.
This sounds like a really interesting tour. History, but somehow better than normal history....
Now that's a good tour. That if you're so full of the chocolate you don't even want to buy any! Good for the consumer, I mean. Obviously not for the manufacturer! They may want to re-think this....
Heidi and Gertrude!! The cowbells ringing, so awesome!
That's kind of ironic... the Swiss won't share their wine. But they're such a "neutral" country. Hmmm... hahaha!
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Tanya
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Awww, the cows are so cute!! All the yummy chocolate they help make.
Just one of the reasons why cows are so important!
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This sounds like a really interesting tour. History, but somehow better than normal history....
I hear you!
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Now that's a good tour. That if you're so full of the chocolate you don't even want to buy any! Good for the consumer, I mean. Obviously not for the manufacturer! They may want to re-think this....
There's definitely a bit of a flaw in their plans...
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Heidi and Gertrude!! The cowbells ringing, so awesome!
That's kind of ironic... the Swiss won't share their wine. But they're such a "neutral" country. Hmmm... hahaha!
You know the story of how they became neutral, right? Once upon a time (as all good stories start ), they were a real war mongering nation. In fairness, they were fighting for their independence, but basically in the 14th and 15th centuries, if you wanted a mercenary, you wanted a Swiss one. They were amongst the best.
Then they suffered a defeat at the hands of the French and Venetian I 1515 and after that, they declared military neutrality.
Mark says he knows that I'm part Swiss (my mother is) as just like the Swiss, I lose once at something, then I declare neutrality and refuse to ever play again!
What a great chocolate tour and you captured it well. Everyone's anticipation is building up as they want the tour to end and the sampling to begin! Funny, how you had no desire to buy any chocolate after so much sampling. Your stomach feels it and especially your mouth as it begins to ache a bit with sugar overload! Nice beginning to the Olympic Museum. I love that sign about shopping! Too bad they didn't have anything from the London games of 2012. Otherwise it seems well done here.
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
What a great chocolate tour and you captured it well. Everyone's anticipation is building up as they want the tour to end and the sampling to begin!
Very much so!
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Funny, how you had no desire to buy any chocolate after so much sampling. Your stomach feels it and especially your mouth as it begins to ache a bit with sugar overload! Nice beginning to the Olympic Museum. I love that sign about shopping! Too bad they didn't have anything from the London games of 2012. Otherwise it seems well done here.
I was so shocked about not having anything from London 2012, as given its location, I'm sure they get plenty of UK visitors and people who went to those games and I'm sure merchandise would sell well....
Sunday 6 May – part ten: seeing the Olympic torches
The first section of the Olympic Museum isn’t that big, but it just nicely set the scene, taking you back to the setting of the original Olympic Games back in Olympia. I was amazed by the artefacts they had in here, but that set the tone for the whole exhibition. They have a lot of amazing items here.
Then you learn about Pierre de Coubertin, who resurrected the Olympic Games. He was born in 1863 and focused on studying physical education and the role of sport in schooling and studied sport in ancient Greece. I think you can see where he got his idea from. He first came up with the idea of reviving the Olympic Games in 1889 and spent the following years organising an international congress to discuss the idea.
What came out of that was the idea that the Games should be held every four years and have modern, rather than ancient, sports. Sensible plan in my book. They set the dates and locations for the first two Games in 1896 (Athens) and 1900 (Paris). The International Olympic Committee was then formed
Again, I felt as if they could’ve put more in here, but they didn’t and you know what? It was the right decision. It was the right amount of focus and it was right to leave people wanting more, if that makes sense?
The next room concentrated on the Olympic Charter that governs the Games. I was fascinated by the trophies they had in here that used to be given out for some events.
It’s a shame they don’t do that any longer.
This Olympic flag was quite something as well. It was the first flag made by the Bon Marche department store in Paris in 1913 from a design by Pierre de Coubertin.
Next you get details of all the cities which have hosted the Olympics…
… before moving into a section about the Olympic flame. It was so neat to see all the various torches from over the years and I was fascinated to see how they all differed so much…
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The Olympic Museum looks so cool!! I love the bit about the different torches and they all look pretty neat to me!! I also love the photo where you really whipped Mark as he came in 3rd!!
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Glad to see only the gift shop was a disappointment. So far, this is a really cool museum! I know you're a huge fan so you probably already knew, but I had no idea they used to give out trophies! Yes, that would be cool if they started to do that again. And I've also never paid attention that torches are different for every Olypmics. See - you're educating others with your TR's!
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Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
WOW! I am blown away from your photos, Cheryl! I feel like I am right there with you....The hotel you are staying in is absolutely breath taking water, flowers and etc...when you are checking out online where you want to stay and you look at the rooms to make sure that this is what you really need, it is almost magical to see what you booked online in person! You hope it is good, but it is like 10 times fabulous of what you see in person. Good for you!
As I was reading your Trip Report, You are really lucky that you can do this over the weekend, where as us Americans who live in USA, we would need at least a week to do this trip and then of course taking more time to travel. Just saying..... lol.
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Kate in PA All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them- Walt Disney
Great pictures from the Olympic Museum! I can’t believe the height of the high jump!
No, I was really shocked by that and I watch athletics all the time. Even when they run up to the high jump, it doesn't look that far over their heads!
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We were originally supposed to be stopping here tomorrow, but Graham suggested doing it this afternoon and it seemed like a plan to me. We were going to try and take a lake cruise, but the last round trip from Montreux was due to leave at 2:40pm and to get that would be really pushing it and we didn’t want to rush. 
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The cowbells ringing, so awesome!
Funny, how you had no desire to buy any chocolate after so much sampling. Your stomach feels it and especially your mouth as it begins to ache a bit with sugar overload! 
Nice beginning to the Olympic Museum. I love that sign about shopping! 
See - you're educating others with your TR's!
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