Page 52 - Livre Beau Rivage Palace

REMINISCENCES

DETAILS OF OUR JOURNEY

1907

Arthur DURRANT

‘Wednesday 26th June 1907. After breakfast walked to Vernayaz,
had a look at the Gorges and the waterfall (Pissevache). After lunch and a quiet lie down
in the fields, walked back to the hotel [at Martigny], got the luggage and caught the four o’clock
train for Lausanne. We had most views of the lake passing Villeneuve, the day being brilliantly fine

the effects of colour and shade were very good. Reached Lausanne at 5.50 and drove
to the Beau-Rivage Hotel at Ouchy. Were so comfortable here, that we came to the conclusion
that we had wasted our time in stopping at Martigny the evening before. Sat in the hotel gardens
listening to the band, which plays every evening after dinner, and watched the moon rise from

behind the mountains across the lake. There were a good number of people promenading up
and down the beautifully kept walk between the hotel gardens and the lake, and several rowing
boats were out with light and music. So taken were we with the place that we decided to stay
another night at the Beau-Rivage, even though it entailed going straight through Paris,

instead of spending a day there as we had intended.’

‘Friday 28th June 1907. Took the boat at ten o’clock across the lake to Evian, had a look at the
town, lunch, and caught the 2.15 boat back to Ouchy. After a swim in the lake, went to the hotel,

packed and arranged for our luggage to be at the station at ten o’clock.’

Arthur DURRANT, Extracts from a travel diary kept during two weeks walking in the Aosta Valley,
kindly provided by his granddaughter Antonia Stickland.

Fig. 11
Advertising leaflet, c.1930.
Still a million miles from today’s aggressive marketing, after singing the praises
of the surroundings, the view and the modern comforts on offer, the hotel claims,
somewhat ingenuously, to be ‘the ideal place to stay in spring, summer, autumn
52 and winter’.