The travel agency booked us on Swiss Air, a great airline. Although we were packed in coach seating like sardines, we got free wine, good food and Swiss chocolate. I grabbed this shot by holding my camera over my head and shooting behind me. Jerry and Dedra, right behind me, were in our group.

This was my first trip to Europe, and I was thrilled to see the Swiss Alps, even from the air.

The signage for the hotel at street level was computer printouts sheathed in plastic and taped to the hotel front.

The lobby of the Hotel Azur Riviera had nice marble on the floor, a remnant of what must have been its former glory days.

Fabien was one of the desk staff. I must say, the staff was excellent, especially Fabien and Jacques, who helped me get my new iPod set up and connected to the free hotel WiFi.

The marble staircase was quite attractive, but I have bad knees and needed to use the elevator.

The tiny hotel elevator only held one person with luggage, or a maximum of three people packed in. Here Carole, Carol, and Marianne cram in for a ride to their rooms on the 5th floor.

I stayed in Room 410. The rooms were small and stark. Two out of three lights in my room did not work, nor did the phone. The bed was comfortable.

Small rooms, sparingly furnished, were situated on a VERY noisy street.

The tile in my bathroom was attractive, and the fixtures were in good shape. The shower was tiny, like one in a motor home, less than 2 ft square. Soap and shampoo were not provided, but were available by asking at the front desk. I brought my own, not being sure if they were furnished.

Breakfast was included, and I thought that it was great. We had fresh baguettes and croissants every morning.

We had cold ham and cheese, canned fruit cocktail, cereal, orange juice and a coffe machine that had a choice of cafe, cafe au lait, cappucino, or cocoa. No decaf, so I drank cocoa.

We had the same breakfast every morning. Sometimes we had boiled eggs as well.

To avoid going back up on the tiny elevator, I looked for a toilette on the ground floor. This is what I found. I didn't have the courage to go any farther.

This is the tiny kitchen where the desk guys prepared our breakfast. They didn't have a separate kitchen staff. Fabien did a great job of arranging the baguettes and croissants on the table. When he wasn't on duty, the cocoa was too weak to drink.

There was an open air butcher shop next to the hotel lobby, part of our building. The butcher roasted chickens on a rotisserie outside the shop and it smelled GREAT.

I had never seen leg of lamb presented in quite this manner.

The butcher worked on this large piece of meat to cut it into smaller portions.