Bohemian Rhapsody
Or how I discovered my love for Freddie Mercury on the shores of Lake Geneva
I have a hard time thinking about the last two days of our vacation now. In my mind the striking beauty of Montreux, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Geneva—basically the Swiss Riviera—and its special place in rock n’ roll history (the Jazz fest, Queen!) is mixed with images of us not being happy campers. Like June getting overwhelmed at the festival and needing to retreat to the comfort of the hotel without eating dinner. Or Daniel and I fighting on a side street near our hotel, me crying and him declaring me “incapable of change.” Which he had to retract, but still. Granted, we were all tired by that time and ready to get home. Perhaps the trip was two days too long? But then we would have missed French-speaking Switzerland, a three-course fondue lunch with gorgeous local wines, and, best of all, the Queen: The Studio Experience museum, which I’ll get to in a minute.
The whole point of going to Montreux was for the Jazz Festival and on that front we definitely missed the mark. Although acts like Brandi Carlyle, Neil Young, Chaka Khan, Finneas and many other big names were on the bill this summer, those were ticketed events and they were either sold out or over by the time we got there the last week of a two-week festival. An internationally-famous event that takes place every July since its inception in 1967, Montreux Jazz Festival is known for its legendary jam sessions, big name draw, and diversity of musical programming. We thought we’d at least get to see some small club acts or outdoor shows going on around town—much of it free and open to all ages. But we didn’t account for the fact that our 15-year-old would not be interested in hopping around looking for music she didn’t like with her “boomer” (Gen X) parents in a town mostly full of adults.
Our hotel, the Villa Toscane (lovely Belle Epoque building with a light-filled, spacious room across the street from a swankier but uglier hotel on the lake) was in the middle of the excitement. (I must have taken six sets of the free earplugs the festival handed out, haha). The crowd at the festival was young—the music in the area we stayed in skewed EDM, House and DJs, and it didn’t get started until pretty late. The best thing we saw was a salsa band on the Latin stage early in the evening. I tried to get Daniel to dance with me but he was too worried at that point about June’s discomfort and I tried hard not to react badly to that. He was right.
On our only full day in Montreux we had time to wander the city and see some of the sights, like the Old Town with its cobbled streets and towering fifteenth-century church on the hillside dedicated to St. Vincent, protector of wine-growers. The walk up the hill was steep but short and so pretty. Most homes had small plots of land with vineyards stretching up and down the hillside and historically, I learned, they belonged to the local wine-growers of the region. It would be fun to go back there someday and visit some of the wineries surrounding Lake Geneva. Sans kid, of course.
That morning before walking up the hill to the Old Town, we wandered around the lakeshore area and stumbled into Montreux’s casino where we’d heard there was a fun museum dedicated to Queen. Wow!!! Free to enter and wonderfully done and super interactive, it was so interesting to learn of the long history of Freddie and the band in Montreux. Mountain Studios, inside the casino and part of the tour, is the recording studio they owned between 1979 and 1993 and where they recorded seven albums. Some of the biggest names in music also recorded there. It was crazy to me that I had never heard of Montreux’s rich musical history and the many legendary events surrounding the Jazz Festival. From the museum’s brochure:
On 4th December 1971, a fire tore through the Montreux Casino during a concert by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The fire, started by a fan with a flare gun, was immortalized by Deep Purple in their track ‘Smoke on the Water’, written and recorded here in Montreux. (Read more on the fire here).
It was unexpectedly moving to listen to some of Queen’s classic tunes—songs I’d grown up listening to— while ogling Freddie’s costumes (he was tiny) and other items like concert merch, album and CD covers and his handwritten song lyrics. I shed a few tears reading about how hard he worked on their last album despite being so ill, saying that he wanted to “sing anything, write me anything and I will sing it. I will give it my ALL. I will leave you with as much material as I possibly can.” Freddie Mercury died of complications from AIDS in 1991.
I may have sung out loud to “Bicycle Race” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” with the headphones on but I don’t think I was the only one. Best of all, though, was the control room which has not been changed since the days the band worked there. June got to sit at the desk and re-mix one of the band’s last hits “Made in Heaven” which was really cool.
I have to admit that on the train ride back to Milan the next day I went down a deep rabbit hole with Freddie Mercury. I learned that there is a new book coming out in the wake of very recent allegations that he had a secret daughter whom he told no one about and would now be 48 years old. Mary Austin, his close friend with whom he lived for many years and called “The love of his life” (the song by that name is about her) and who inherited half of Mercury’s estate when he died, questioned the claims. Mercury was also known to have had at least one serious relationship with a man. Lesley-Ann Jones, a biographer of some of music’s biggest names, has a new tell-all book due out September 5 called Love, Freddie in which she claims she has been “crafting a narrative that will overturn everything we thought we knew about (Freddie) and his legacy”. You better believe I pre-ordered it.
Despite the challenges on this leg of the trip, we all agreed that lunch on our last day in Switzerland was one of the most fun meals we shared and it almost didn’t happen. We argued a little bit over where to eat that day. For some reason, a lot of the restaurants in the Old Town were closed. Daniel had his heart set on eating Chinese food because we’d heard there were several very good Chinese restaurants in the city. I, on the other hand, pushed for eating traditional Swiss food as it was our last day there and we had not yet tried fondue! (I am always going to root for the local). I found a spot that was open and he ended up acquiescing, as usual. Sorry, babe.
Our waiter at the Restaurant du Pont was French, from Paris, and was very wry but also helpful (except when he wanted to ask us about Trump and immigration, yikes). He gave us tips on what to order and which wines to pair with the fondue. Local whites of course. I discovered I love Swiss white wines. They are light and crisp, perfect for summer and for pairing with the heavy food. We ordered a three-course fondue meal and it did not disappoint. The first was the classic bread with cheese; the second was surprisingly my favorite: the raw beef you dip in boiling oil to cook and then dip in your choice of five different sauces. It was SO good. I ate more beef than I would normally (I don’t eat much red meat) and suffered zero consequences later, thanks to very high-quality, non-hormonally-injected, probably hyper-local beef. The last course was the dessert: chocolate fondue with different fruits for dipping. Swiss chocolate is ridiculously good and we would have licked the bowl if it hadn’t been scalding hot. It was a very satisfying and indulgent meal, the kind of meal you enjoy even more because you know it’s one of your last on vacation.
I want to say that I’ll go back to Montreux one day, maybe? With a car to be able to drive up into the hills and valleys and explore the area. Maybe on that trip we could get out on a boat on the lake. That would be beautiful. In another life I would like to say I’ll go there and be healthier. Less impatient, less argumentative, less self-absorbed. But that is probably unlikely—that we’ll go back there, I mean, not that I’ll be healthier (sigh). Now that I’m home, and school has started, summer is waning, I am busy with work and family and learning about Adaptive Humility and Radical Acceptance (therapy-speak). But I’ve made a playlist with all of the Queen songs I listened to on that long train travel day back to Milan for our flight. As Freddie would say, “The Show Must Go On”.