Postcards from: Montreux

By Riya Sarin

Studying in Geneva, it’s sometimes easy to forget that we live in one of the most picturesque places in the world. Less than 2 hours away in any given direction, lie quaint towns, castles and mountains. It might be hard to take out the time to travel often, but some travel, I feel, is essential.

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Sometime last October, 2 friends and I made the trip to Montreux. We took the train there, explored the market by the lake and then walked a little over an hour to visit the Chateau de Chillon. It was a beautiful, sunny day marked by a nice lunch, a visit to the town’s cathedral and the constant presence of the lake. It was much like other small European towns with its winding lanes and building with multicoloured shutters. There was nothing breath-taking or life changing about Montreux, but it was still a day that stands out in my memory. It was a slow day, relaxed and carefree, it marked a change of space, a change of view. It allowed me to step out of the small world I had made for myself in Geneva and made me realise that I live halfway across the world from where I was born. I didn’t think about what to make for dinner, nor did I think about my next response paper.

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This small rambling is not meant to herald a wave of travelling or force anyone to examine their lives; it’s just a small reminder to sometimes take a step back, to look at things in a different way. Travelling allows me to step out of my head in much the same way photography does, and hopefully these words and images will serve as a refreshing pause to your day. In these images, I haven’t included  any of Montreux’s famous sites (the previously mentioned chateau and cathedral). Those are things one should go and see for themselves. I have however included images that remind me of that day and the way it made me feel.

This article was released in the first print publication of the Graduate Press. Download the Spring 2019 print edition here.