Decision point: You want to see snow but the lady in the Leysin tourist office at the base of the mountain tells you there's a white-out on top. You keep staring at the beautiful photos in the brochure and the billboard outside the office. Maybe it will clear up. Maybe it won't.
Well, it didn't. And it was wonderful. There's nothing like a snowstorm and fresh fallen snow to add an element of magic to an October weekend trip.
We ate at the turning restaurant (never mind that the panoramic 360 degree view was of snow, snow and more snow) and played.
After our arctic adventure, we continued east to the town of Aigle where the beautiful fall colors were a spectacular backdrop to Alex's skateboarding stunts.
We spent the night at the youth hostel in the surprisingly charming city of Sion in the Valais region. The next day we discovered the town and its castles, and nearby mountaintop villages (how do people live there?!), and the "pyramides" of Euseigne.
The earth cones are 10 to 15 meters high and most of them are protected by a rock lodged on the top. The cones were created in the end phase of the last Ice Age, about 80,000 to 10,000 years ago.When the ice retreated, glacier tongues left enormous piles of debris behind, which contained boulders. Rain and meltwater gradually freed these boulders. While the water continued to erode and carve out the area surrounding the boulders, these rocks served as protective caps for the soil underneath them, enabling the formation of the well-known natural monuments.
We ended the weekend at the Fete de la Chataigne (Chestnut Festival) in Fully.
