[Previous (day)trips from/around Switzerland: Part I, Part II, Part III, with Olga, Part IV, Lyon, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII; and Activities Nearby I and Activities Nearby II]
For my birthday this year, my mom came to visit! Nate had taken off for the US to defend his thesis (which he successfully did January 31st) and find a job, so she also came to care for Chase in the evenings so I could go out a bit. We did lots of daytripping to many places even locals didn't know about.
1. Téléphérique de Salève: We first went to Geneva to explore a bit and then take this cable car (technically on the French side) up to 1100 m. We could clearly see the jet d'eau in Geneva and the Jura in the distance. We had a nice lunch at the restaurant up there and explored a bit around.
2. Neuchâtel/Funiculaire to Chaumont. We started off going to Neuchâtel and doing a walking tour scavenger hunt (which we found at the tourist office). Then, we went a tiny bit north to Chaumont and took the funiculaire up to (again) 1100 m. There, there was a cute observation tower (accessible via a mechanical door where we had to put 1-2 CHF similar to the one at Mt. Pèlerin TV tower [#6 here] but cheaper). We waited for the sunset up there and were awarded with some awesome views of the Alps.
3. Glacier 3000. For a longer daytrip, we took the train to Les Diablerets and then a series of cable cars up to Glacier 3000. There, we had lots of snow, ate at the restaurant with amazing views, did the peak walk (scary!), and took a chairlift to the glacier. We were at 3000 m (way higher than the two places before) and right in the middle of the Alps!
Finally, we walked quite a bit around Morges, catching the wonderful sunsets we've been having in the last few weeks. It was so great to have my mom here to explore and hang out. Thankfully, she made it back to the US without any issues as the Coronavirus travel issues were just starting as she was flying back.
