The world famous Montreux Jazz Festival started yesterday, and it was the destination for Levi's last night (and early morning) in the continent. A whole bunch of the Swiss friends were there, and instead of writing their names, I recorded them. Hopefully this 3Mb video will work on your computer. The festival has two main indoor centres, for which tickets are sold and seats are limited. Instead of that we all walked around outside, on the crowded board walk jostling for space with various street performers and food stands. They have a rather greedy money system, for which you need to buy cards (confusingly called CASH cards which is a completely ridiculous thing to call something designed to rule out the use of cash). The cards are 60 sfr and come with 50 sfr loaded on them. You can easily use this card (but nothing else) to buy food and drink in the festival but nowhere else. Thus if you don't need 50 sfr worth of food you have lost even more money. I'd like to get hold of the person who came up with this silly idea and drop-kick some sense into them. Other than this crazy money system and one drunk guy harassing the ladies the festival was cool, lots of colourful displays and music playing everywhere.

   Tomorrow will be interesting. Levi and Sarah are leaving in the morning. I'll go the airport with them and then catch a train to somewhere in France. Not sure where, possibly somewhere on the west coast, or perhaps the Mediterranean. Where ever the trains will take me I guess.

A scene from the Montreux Jazz Festival