she said, "Take a Hike"

I went on a short hike today

     There is a village near here called Les Avants.  In May there is a narcissus walk through fields filled with narcissus.  (Narcissi??)
     That's May.
     It was a good two to three hour hike, although the signpost said 1 hr. 25 min.  I have learned to not pay attention to the estimated times.
     Funicular up, hike through trees and fields, then hike down to the town.  Quite a pleasant hike.  I did it today (Thursday) because tomorrow it's going to rain buckets.  And maybe even raindrops.
     I had to take a train to get there.  So I went to the funi station in Chardonne, punched in my starting point and end point, and bought a ticket.  It was 8.80 franc for a full day pass.
     I thought that was strange in its cheapness.
     I stopped at the train station in Vevey, showed my ticket to the agent, asked if it was good for Les Avants and he said yes.
     At Montreux, I got on the train, and my seat mate started a conversation with me.  She was English and we had a very nice chat.  I said to her, "I am worried I don't have the right ticket.  But I asked two people and they said OK."
     We chatted and the conductor made his appearance.
     I gave him my ticket and he asked me, "Where is the rest?"  I asked him what he meant, and he said my ticket was not valid on this line.
     In Switzerland if you are caught with an invalid or no ticket, there is a rather hefty fine.  Sometimes police are involved.  I started to sweat.
     I explained I bought it at the funi, punching in Les Avants as the destination.  I also told him I stopped at the Vevey station and the agent verified it was good for Les Avants.
     Making a long story short, he said not to worry and sold me the proper ticket so I could also get back. And my seat mate, Helen, works for Nestle....she asked my name and said she was going to e-mail my daughter.  I am not sure why, probably to tell her what a handsome young man I am!
     When I hit the Vevey funi, I again punched in the same info I did when I bought the ticket in the morning and this time it came up 21.40, which was about the same price I paid in total for the two tickets.
     Now I know not to trust those machines!
     It was a good day.  Nice hike, with lots of scenic views.  I have included some pictures here, but will do more on Facebook later.
     There was another couple hiking the same route.  I took a lot of pictures but always kept them in sight.  At one point, after the path turned, I thought I was off trail.  I may have panicked a little, because I lost sight of them.
     Al ls well that ends well, as I finally caught up to them.
     Funny, I know I could not get lost because all I had to do was keep walking down.  But it was still a little disconcerting to this flat lander.

This is the machinery that pulls the funi up in Les Avants

One lane up, one lane down and in the middle they split so the cars can pass.

I liked the moss.

These are creatures coming out of the mountain!

I swear, they were like this!

The path down had steep stairs....a lot of them!