Chamonix

In Chamonix we were stunned by the nature and we wanted to see as much as we can while we were there. We saw our first glaciers, we went up high in the mountains, as we have never been before, saw very clear rivers and beautiful forests and last but not least we had the chance to take a closer look at Mont Blanc.

Chamonix

• Mer de Glace:

After we arrived, the next day we were ready to climb some mountains :) I couldn't sleep too much at night because I was so excited and as soon as the sun came up my eyes were open wide and I was full of energy! We went to hike with some friends and two dogs :)

Danger!!!

The little team

The hike wasn't that hard and everywhere you looked there was something beautiful to see. We had to cross a big snowpatch and it was quite scary but we enjoyed it very much! :) It was still strange for us to see snow in June. And after 3 hours of hike we got to the glacier... The view was amazing! The scenery is like from a different planet! I could've stared at it for hours.

Mer de Glace

There was a little caffé also where we drank our well deserved coffee and ate our last sandwiches.There is also a small train coming up to Mer de Glace that you can take but the hiking path is worth the effort!

Mountain!!!

More mountain...

• Bossons Glacier

The next day with a bit of muscle fever we decided to visit another glacier. It was a bit cloudy but at least we didn't have to hike in the heat. On the way we got a bit lost and we had to climb on rocks and in the end we found a really good place where we could enjoy the view of the Bossons Glacier. You can see on the rocks how the ice moved and formed the landscape over thousends of years.

Bossons Glacier

• Argentiére

On the way to Argentiére

Little river

Argentiére is another small village in the valley. There is a very easy hiking path from Chamonix to there and it's more or less flat. And that is where we saw our first rainbow around the sun (circular halo)!

rainbow around the sun :)

Argentiére

• Aiguille du Midi

Aiguille du Midi

We were thinking a lot about going to Aiguille du Midi before we came to Chamonix. It is the second  highest view point(3842m) in Europe and you get an exellent panorama to the French, Swiss and Italian Alps and of course to Mont Blanc. And the cable car is very expensive also. The return ticket costs 50 euros... And we decided to go up because who knows if we will ever get the chance to see it again.

So we chose a nice day according to the local weather forecast and woke up very early in the morning to take the first cable car that goes up. But for the first time the forecast was wrong and it was really cloudy. We couldn't see any of the high mountains. We were really dissapointed. We waited till 12.00 till the sky got clear and we run to the cashier to buy the tickets.

at Plan de L'Aiguille

The cable car took us first to 2317m (Plan de L'Aiguille) and we spent half an hour there before we went to the top. The view was amazing even from here. The sky was very blue and we could see that there was a cloud sitting on Aiguille du Midi. We were hoping that it will go away soon.

Ice, snow and fog

Inside the cloud

When we went up we arrived in the cloud. You couldn't see anything. We were a bit sad that we are here and couldn't see anything but after 30-40 minutes it started to get clear and in an hour the sun was burning our faces. :)

everything getting clear...

The clouds broke completely and we could see the white peak of Mont Blanc and the other snowy rocky mountain peaks of the Alps. When we looked down we saw many tiny dots moving slowly towards the peaks, some skiers and paragliders. I can't describe the beauty of the view so here are some more pictures:

The Alps	Us and the Mont Blanc
Snow, snow, snow!	The end of the tunnel
Bossons glacier from a different angle	Aiguille du Midi

At around half past five there is the last cable car that goes down to Chamonix.

In Chamonix we never got bored. There was always something to do or see and there are a lot of things left that we didn't see! Can't wait to come back here again! Chamonix was a great start in France. can't wait to see the rest! :)

Busking in Chamonix

Chamonix

We had an amazing 2 weeks and a half in Switzerland and we were ready to go to a new country we've never been to. Our first stop in France was Chamonix and we ended up staying a week and a half in that beautiful small town.

Busking rules in Chamonix:
We don't know if there is any. We busked 3-4 days in the town at the same spot and nobody seemed to mind it. So just go ahead! :)

Our experiance:
The hitchhiking was really easy from Lausanne. We got the first ride to Genéve than we took a bus to the Swiss-French border, cross the border than we started to hitchhike on the French side. The border controllers were very helpful. We asked them where we can hitchhike and they showed us the spot and after 30 minutes we got a ride to Chamonix.

Mont Blanc

yummy snow! :)

We were suprised because there are not as many French people in the town as we thought. It's really international. Mostly sport lovers visit the town and of course the ones who want to see the highest point in Europe...the Mont Blanc!!!
When we were there it was off-season for turists so there wasn't many people so we spent most of our time hiking and sightseeing in the mountains (once you are here who wouldn't go hiking? :P) but we had time to sing a litlle bit as well.

Hiking in the mountains and singing mountain songs on the way :)

The first time we played, it was a Sunday early afternoon, in the lunchbreak (the shops are closed between 13.00-14.30 pm) and it was a bit rainy and very few people in the town. And amazingly we made 50 euros in 40 minutes! we thought that we will make a fortune here but we thought wrong.

The next days we played 30minutes - an hour and we barely made 15 euros each day. So we were a bit disappointed but we also got invited to play in a pub for 50 euros so in the end it was all good :)

If you have the possibility to visit Chamonix do it! If you love Nature, hiking and mountains it is the best place for you in Europe! You won't regret it! It was one of the places we have visited on Earth which we will never forget!:)

Busking in Lausanne

Lausanne was our last city in Switzerland we played and it was great as well as anywhere else in the country!

Lausanne

Busking rules in Lausanne:
You have to get a permit which you can get for 17 francs and for every extra day you have to pay 7 euros more. You have to change the place every 30 minutes. There are special kind of officers who check the permit. The normal police has different priorities.

Busker with little cows

Our experiance:
From Bren  it took us 20 minutes to get a ride to Lausanne and we were really happy :) Also the sun was shining all day long when we were there and we enjoyed it as much as we could. The city is really beautiful and the lake is amazing! You can see the Alps in the other side (France).

The Alps and the palm tree

We played 2 full days in Lausanne and it wa quite good! After playing 2 hours we always had around 60-80 Francs. First we thought that we don't need any permission because 2-3 groups of police men passed us but they didn't say anything. The last day we met with a local busker (he plays with a glass ball and late on we played with him a bit :)) and he told us about the rules. There is a special officer who can check your papers, but they are not that strict. He had a friend who was caught 3 times and he didn't get any fine but probably he will if they find him without paper again. So we didn't meet any of them in 3 days of playing.

Playing together

Street in Lausanne

Best places:
On the walking streets there are many possibilities to busk. The streets are quite long and not that wide and a lot of people are walking up and down. There were quite a lot of buskers in the city with many different type of acts. With hangdrums, horns, guitar, glass ball and so on. Here are some streets where we played.

Map for busking in Lausanne

• Rue Saint-Francois
• Rue du Rotillon
• Rue de la Louvre

Lausanne was a great end for our Switzerland trip. Now we are heading towards France for the very first time! We hope that French people will like our music and the sun will be with us all the way to Spain. :)

Busking in Bern

Bern

Hitchhiking out of Luzern was impossible. It was raining for 2 days continously. The first day we stayed 4 hours in the cold rain than we gave up and went back to our host. The next day after standing for 2 hours in the cold rain, we decided to take a train to Bern. Freaking expencive! :( We spent more than 70 francs on the tickets. We were cold, wet and dissapointed a bit when we arrived to Bern but the city treated us well! :)

Miserably failed hitchhiking

Busking rules in Bern:
ckick here for the link! (it's in German). Basically it's legal to play on the street without a permit untill:

• you're not asking directly money from the people(if you put down a hat or instrument case on the ground it's okay)
• there are less than 2 people in the group
• you play once in a week

1. Performances allowed between 11.00 (on Saturday 10.00) and 21.00 (on Thursday 22.00) o' clock. 
2. You are not allowed to play on Sundays.
3. Amplifiers are not permitted.
4. You can play 30 minutes in one spot.

Our Experiance:

sun! :)

and more sun!

When we arrived on Saturday it was already too late to play or to do anything else and we were also in a bad mood because of the crapy hitchhiking experiance and the expensive train. But we were invited for a very delicious Swiss fondue so we had the chance to taste it for the very first time. We ate good and had a great evening :)

So the next day we were well rested. We had just one day to play and look a bit around because we wasted a lot of time trying to get a ride from Luzern to Bern. The weather was much better than before and we were enjoying it a lot! The city is very beautiful but the whole center was under renovation when we arrived. But under every house there are a lot of arches and now they look like a very long tunnel. We played there and it was quite okay.

Bern under construction

The police stopped us once, but they were very polite. They told us that they don't mind if we play on the street but some shops called because on Sunday it is forbidden to play in the whole city. Than they left us alone so we continued playing in a different spot. In the end of the day we still made 100 francs :)

I think it can be a very nice place to busk! Enjoy Switzerland! :)

Busking in Luzern

In Zürich we got lucky with the weather when we were hitchhiking to Luzern. In about an hour we got a straight ride so we were really happy. Though the next day it was a bit cloudy, cold and rainy the busking went well in the city and our mood didn't change. :)

Luzern

Rules in Luzern:
We got this link on Couch Surfing and it's very useful. Click here!
You don't need a special permit for playing on the street. You can play 4 days in each month (exept December) from Monday to Saturday after 17.00pm till 21.30pm. And you have to change your place every 30 minutes. I think it's quite fair for everyone.

Our experiance:
Luzern is a beautiful small city, siuated next to a lake and also very close to the Alps. We were really excited when we arrived and we went straight to the city center to do our usual sightseeing :) We were stunned by the view when we got to the lake. It's just amazing!

Blue sky, Alps and the lake

my little balloon :)

We knew the rules beforehand so we waited till 5pm and played a bit in one of the walking streets for half an hour. The money was really good (30 francs) but it started to rain so we couldn't play longer that day.
On Wednesday the weather got worse again, but in the afternoon it stopped raining so we could go and busk. :) We saw a lot of street musicians, mostly bands with different kind of instruments. I guess they were all students from the city, so in the begining it was hard to find a good spot. We played 2 hours and made more than a 100 francs! :) Switzerland and Swiss people have shown their generous side once again!

Unfortunately on Thursday there was a national holiday so we couldn't play but at least we had more time to do "tourist" stuff. :)

nice sunset

Best places for busking in Luzern:

where we played - marked as green

• in the old town center it's very good anywhere!
• Kapellgasse (played here)
• Weiggisgasse(played here)

The money was good, the city was great, the people were nice and the weather was "neah". :P It was really nice to be in Luzern but hitchhiking out of the city was horrible (impossible) and we got stuck in the rain with a "Bern" sign for 2 days... But that's another story. :)

Busking in Zürich

Zürich

Zürich is the first bigger city after Vienna that we visited this year. From the last trip we learned that smaller cities can be better for street music, but Zürich was on our way so we thought we should see how it is going in the biggest city in Switzerland.

Laws:
You don't need a special permit, but performances are banned in the city center. You are allowed to play just in the shore of the lake. Every 20 minutes you have to change your place.
click here for more details!

Map -where you can legally play

Our experiance:
We spent 3 days in Zürich. The first days it was raining all the time and it was really cold also! So we couldn't look around that much in the city as we usually do. The whole city seemed very grey and kinda boring. We got the information about the rules earlier so first we went to the lake but there was very few people walking around. So we went back to the center and played there for 40-50 minutes and made 70-80 francs(about 55 euros)! It was really good but we couldn't play longer because of the cold but we were happy.

Rain, rain and more rain...

On Sunday the weather was the same but even less people so it wasn't that great as before. We tried to play at Helmhaus with not too much luck so after an hour playing in the cold we just went home with 30 francs. Amazingly we didn't met any policeman for two days. And we were scared of the reactions of the shop owners also, but they were really kind and even payed us. And from a close by buliding some girls threw a paper plane with four francs on it out of the window. :)

paper plane

The next day the weather got better and it was really sunny, but next to the lake was still bad to busk. Also there were a lot of gipsy accordionists playing there... So we ended up playing in the center again which was good again but after 15 minutes the police came and told us that we are not allowed to play there. It seems like the police is active just on sunny days :P But the city looked very different in the sunshine! We missed the sun so much! We set next to the lake for a bit and enjoyed the blue sky. In the last weeks it was really cold and rainy and we even got snow showers in the very end of spring! :(

sun, sun, sun!!! :)

chillin' next to the lake

Zürich has shown us that it can be a really good city to busk, but if you play by the rules it's just not the right city to play. If you just stop for one or two days I think it's worth it to try it in the center till the police kicks you out, but probably the second time they won't be that kind and they might give you a fine.

Busking in St. Gallen

We heard a lot of good stories about Switzerland, but still we were a bit scared how the people will react and how strict are the rules in the country. St. Gallen gave a very good first impression :)

St Gallen

Rules:
You have to get a permission from the police. They give out 3 permissions per day which you have to pay 20 CHF for.

Vadianstrasse 57 9001 St. Gallen

map for busking

• you can get this permit for 2 days in a month
• you can play 20 minutes in one place than you have to go on another street but after 20 minutes you can go back to the same place
• a group can be up to 3 people
• no drums allowed
• you are not allowed to play inside the marked zone Multergasse, Marktgasse
• you are allowed to play on Barenplatz and Spisergasse on Thursay and Sunday
• Tape recorders and amplifiers are not allowed
• performances in the surroundings of the mainstation are fobidden

Our experiance:
We had just one day to play in St Gallen and we didn't have any swiss francs so we were quite desperate to play somewhere and make some money. We found a little passage next to a Post office and we played there for half an hour and we made 28 swiss francs(22.5 euros) so we were really happy but we couldn't play longer because of the cold. 
We went back an hour later but after two songs the police stopped us and told us about the permission. They were extremly kind. They gave us a map and a businness card where we can find the police station. We went there and we got the permit for 20 francs .
We played an hour and a half more and we made around 70 swiss francs(56 euros) so we were really satisfied. The people really apprechiate music in St Gallen :) Everybody's smiling at you even the police.

The rules are quite okay. Maybe 20 minutes is too short and 2 days in a month is not enough but if you're just passing by it's a really nice place to play!!!

best places:
I guess anywhere in the center is just fine :)

We had a nice time in St Gallen though the weather was really crapy and we spent just one day in the town. We're looking forward to seeing the rest of Switzerland!