{"id":1125,"date":"2025-07-10T12:13:52","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T12:13:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/?p=1125"},"modified":"2025-07-24T09:17:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T09:17:05","slug":"mystery-pate-parting-ways-with-sonya-len","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/?p=1125","title":{"rendered":"Mystery P\u00e2t\u00e9 & Parting Ways with Sonya & Len"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We can see France from our balcony. It\u2019s right there. I mean, there aren\u2019t too many times in one\u2019s life where you can say\u2014\u201clet\u2019s head over to France for lunch and be back home in time for dinner.\u201d Which is exactly what we did today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was to take a scenic boat ride from Montreux to Lausanne where we would switch boats for the quick trip across the lake to \u00c9vian-les-Bains. If the name sounds familiar, it\u2019s probably because you\u2019ve seen it on water bottles at home. This is the namesake of the famous \u00c9vian water, and\u2014as we\u2019d learn later in the day\u2014it has a storied and fascinating history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We enjoyed the beautiful sunny day from the deck of the boat. It wasn\u2019t busy at all, and we splurged for first-class tickets, which gave us lounge chairs. Positioned to enjoy the spectacular view of the terraced Lavaux vineyards, we were close enough to shore to see the details\u2014the villas, ch\u00e2teaus, the perfectly carved vineyards on what look like impossibly steep slopes\u2014but far enough that the trains looked like toy models gliding across a postcard. Switzerland is definitely fake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were in \u00c9vian before noon, and Cedar can now say he\u2019s set foot on French soil. For a five-year-old, it\u2019s pretty slick\u2014he\u2019s traveled to more places than I had by age 22. Our goal was to find a restaurant for lunch and then do a little exploring. And, as always, Sheila had a plan. She led us to a lovely spot with a large terrace cantilevered out over the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a quick glance at the menu, we all chose the prix fixe meal\u2014it looked like chicken and veggies, with salad and dessert. Needless to say, we were a little surprised when the \u201csalad\u201d that arrived looked more like a loaf of mystery meat. I don\u2019t know what came over me\u2014maybe being in France and wanting to do as the French do, or maybe just a bit of showing off\u2014but I tucked into the meatloaf-looking starter (p\u00e2t\u00e9), and it actually turned out to be pretty good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure I was horrifying the other restaurant guests as I mixed the p\u00e2t\u00e9 with the other fancy garnishes on the plate, and then made a sandwich with the table bread\u2014but I wasn\u2019t too concerned. Len, Cedar (for a few bites), and I enjoyed our mystery meat starter. I’m writing this blog a few days later, and I\u2019m proud to say that cooking meat may, in fact, be overrated\u2014 turns out I’ve eaten a lot of raw pork this trip and survived to tell the tale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kidding aside, the meal was great. What we assumed would be chicken fingers turned out to be perfectly cooked chicken in a fancy mustard sauce. The dessert was divine. And our side? French fries, of course\u2014although here, you can just call them \u201cfries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch, we sought out the famous Source Cachat\u2014the divine spring that produces \u00c9vian water. Cedar and I don\u2019t carry water bottles like our travel companions, so we can both say we drank straight from the source. Not sure if that\u2019s legal, but we made it back from France without incident. No harm, no foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On our final full day with Sonya and Len, we decided to head back to one of our favorite spots\u2014just a short cogwheel train ride away\u2014Rochers-de-Naye. The longer we stay here, the more Swiss we\u2019re getting\u2014even I\u2019ve been showing up uncharacteristically early for things. And as I mentioned before: insider knowledge. We spent our last ride standing, so this time we got down to Montreux with plenty of time to secure seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a nice hike at the top, we returned to the alpine restaurant to introduce Sonya and Len to another favorite dish\u2014yep, r\u00f6sti! I\u2019m morbidly curious to calculate how much cheese I\u2019ve consumed per week while living here. If it weren\u2019t for all the hiking and uphill walking I keep getting tricked into, I\u2019d probably be 400 pounds. But as I hope you find out one day, there is never a good reason to say no to a proper r\u00f6sti. And the one served at the tiny restaurant on top of Rochers-de-Naye is among the best I\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evening was another quiet one. Sonya and Len were catching an early train to Zurich, then on to Milan and Rome, so they needed to pack and probably decompress from a whirlwind few days with Team Lum. Again, we were so happy to see friends and to show off this beautiful place. We\u2019re excited to hear about the rest of their trip\u2014and maybe just a little jealous that theirs is just beginning, while ours is slowly winding down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
View of Montreux from the lake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The famous vineyards of Lavaux<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
An SBB train passing the vineyards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Promenade gardens of Evian, France<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The old streets of Evian<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Chahat Pump Room – the spa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Cachat Pump Room – the spa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The Source Cachat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The actual fountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The wrong way to do it<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The right way \ud83d\ude09<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Checking out the trails on Rochers-de-Naye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
At the top of Rochers-de-Naye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Silly Cedar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The gang at Hotel Victora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Hotel Victoria where Sabine works<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We can see France from our balcony. It\u2019s right there. I mean, there aren\u2019t too many times in one\u2019s life where you can say\u2014\u201clet\u2019s head over to France for lunch and be back home in time for dinner.\u201d Which is exactly what we did today. The plan was to take a scenic boat ride from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,12,15,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","category-food-and-drink","category-friends-and-family","category-transportation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6144-scaled.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1125"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1268,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1125\/revisions\/1268"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/littlecedarfarm.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}