Ideal destinations for Easter > Reviews (3)

Yes OK so this was a few years ago now (but only within the last decade or so), I actually went with school and the school concert band as one of their two pianists to Geneva and the surrounding areas. This happened three years in a row, and we stayed in one of the local youth hostel type setups in the city.

And in case you have not yet already guessed, these times were all over the Easter period. Of course with the dates changing of Easter every year, we did of course have to change when we were travelling to ensure that we were there over the Easter period.

The reason for us going at Easter was that one of the teachers who led the band had family who attended one of the big Anglican churches over there, and we were invited to take part in their Easter weekend celebrations of helping to play at some of the services. However with this in mind, the rest of the time was our own and this will be making up the best part of the rest of my review.

The reason that I mentioned the dates changing was to actually move on to say that the weather was still just as spectacularly warm, even though one year we were there more at the end of April as opposed to earlier on in the month (or even in March). We were able to take trips to the actual lake, and walk along the side of the lake in shorts and t-shirts. But yet to them it was cold, and they were all walking about in big overcoats similar to what we tend to wear most of the year round in this country!

However with this, it was still a beautiful place to be in over the Easter period as it all seemed to have much more of a deeper meaning to it than what we have in this country. There were flowers of all shapes; sizes and colours in the flowerbeds, but also being sold at the roadside. There were Easter processions with dancing and music, and at one point even a play showing the Easter story from the Bible.

We were all treated well, and once word got about that we were playing in one of the churches we became quite well known and the people seemed to be even more friendlier towards us. If that is possible I must say, as in my own mind the Swiss (and any French people who had ventured across the border) are very friendly people to get on with.

My only problem that we all seemed to be able to agree on, was the time it took us to get there (and apart from the fact that one year the coach broke down en route to the ferry port). Living way down in Plymouth, the local coach firm that we used thought that it was best to travel to Dover; catch the ferry across from their, and then drive down through France and in to the border with Switzerland - about 24 hours all told, both ways. But the coach broke down at Exeter; the two drivers managed to get it going again and we were met by another coach at the ferry port in France.

All in all apart from this, it is a very pleasing place to be in over Easter - and boy, do the Swiss know also how to celebrate in with chocolate! One of the small chocolate shops within the town sold a chocolate cow in its window, and it was pretty much real life sized!

If you have not tried being in Switzerland over the Easter period (or anyway on the continent), then it is an experience that you must try and it is one where the memories will stay with you for a very long time.

Thanks for reading!