Today was all about arguably the finest timepiece brand in the world Patek Philippe.

First up we ventured from the Hotel d'Angleterre the twenty minute drive to Plan les Ouates which is the home to all the major watch brands inluding Rolex and PP.

There are two main parts to the PP "factory" - machining and assembly. We were given unprecedented access to both.

The movement (heart of the watch) is made up of brass, steel and nickel silver. There can be up to 1600 parts to a movement really depending on the number of features or complications it has. We watched as artisans buffed and drilled and polished and cut all the pieces that make up a movement. It's skilled work I can tell you!

The movement pieces are sent to assembly where the watchmakers go to work. We met up with Paul Buclin - the Master Watchmaker. He showed me some pieces --- I was totally blown away at the detail, beauty and cost of them ...

From there we went to the Museum - located in the centre of Geneva.

Polish immigrant and watchmaker Antoni Patek started making pocket watches in 1839 in Geneva. In 1845 Patek joined with the French watchmaker Adrien Philippe, inventor of the keyless winding mechanism. In 1851, Patek Philippe & Co was founded.

The Museum is a MUST ... it's full of amazing timepieces ...

I want a PATEK PHILIPPE NAUTILUS ... if anyone with oodles of spare cash is reading this!!!

The key values of Patek Philippe - fabulous!

This piece is $US 500,000 +

Queen Victoria bought a piece in 1851 for just CHF612.50 - it is in the Museum! This is the original sales ledger ...

It took NINE years to build this piece! It has 33 features ... only 5 were built! Awesome!

There are 133 hotels in Geneva - 10 of which are 5-Star "deluxe". My hotel of choice on this trip is d'Angleterre - part of the Red Carnation group. The General Manager - Jacques Favre - is an old friend ... and is a thoroughly lovely human being.

The hotel is on the Quai du Mont Blanc (you can see the mountain on a clear day) and overlooks Lac Leman - the largest in Europe. The river Rhone runs through it ...

The Lac is dominated by the Le Jet d'Eau ... 140 metres of fountain! Awesome!

I am VERY happy in my suite. Up on the 3rd floor ... superb views ... beautiful weather (& people) ... hmmmm ...

The hotel dates back to 1872. My suite once housed Michael Jackson for 2 months ... he apparently wrote the lyrics to one of his albums on the wallpaper. Of course the whole hotel/suite has been totally refurbished. The hotel has 45 rooms including 6 suites.

The day has been fun ... drive-ups, food (cheese with the Executive Chef), concierge (Emilie), suite reviews and filming on the roof! BRILLIANT!

It's going to be another wonderful day tomorrow!

Up on the roof!

Jacques ...

Champagne & Cigars!

Exec Chef - Philippe Audonnet

Concierge - Emilie Garnie

The lovely Bar!

Hotel d'Angleterre

Greetings from the Hotel d'Angleterre in Geneva!

It was a sad start to the day as we said farewell to Sylvie - from the Montreux Tourist Board and a VERY sad farewell to Clinique la Prairie! I hope it is not another 16 years until I revisit ...

We drove 15 minutes to the village of Brent to meet Chef Stephane (& wife Stephanie) Decotterd - the 2-Michelin star chef at Le Pont du Brent.

He taught me to how prepare an awesome muchroom dish ... vegetarian ... VERY tasty indeed! Washed down with a Grand Cru chasselas ... the whole morning was delicieux ... He is a brilliant chef ... and a lovely man too.

From there we were driven the hour to the Hotel d'Angleterre that sits on the banks of Lac Leman ... more on that tomorrow.

We popped up to Rue de Rive to meet Thomas Mathys - the excellent manager of the Davidoff "temple". Here is the "home" of Davidoff ... where Zino Davidoff sold cigars and close to where his father Henri first rolled cigarettes. This shop sells every Davidoff available (except "specials") and smells ... awesome. It was a heavenly afternoon for me ... and if you visit Geneva, you MUST visit Davidoff ... even just for a look ... I was given a masterclass in everything cigar ... hmmmmm ...

One thing you must NOT do is take a taxi anywhere. It's robbery. We travelled a maximum of 10 minutes in taxis today and it cost around £40 ... as the cab drivers here are ... just ... anyway ... NEVER take a taxi, always walk or takes buses .... GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

Heaven!

Stephane et Stephanie

Thomas



Heaven x 2

The Montreux Jazz Festival. Awesome.

Founded in 1967, it has had the likes of Prince, Bowie, Deep Purple, Miles Davis, Ray Charles and BB King playing here. Tonight it was George Benson, Diana Krall and Randy Crawford on stage together. Just fabulous ...

It's been a long day ... and I am just back at CLP at 2330 hrs. We start filming tomorrow at 0715 hrs ... so I had better get some sleep!

Charlie Chaplin lived here ... as did Freddie Mercury and James Mason. Phil Collins and Shania Twain still do - why? Because Montreux is peaceful, beautiful and wonderfully Swiss! 

First stop of the day - Confiserie Poyet ...

Blaise Poyet - the chocolatier - not only a lovely person but also a fine chocolate maker. We had great fun making "Charlie Chaplin" shoes and munching on Dalai Lama creations too!

Lunch at Le Mazot was simply amazing! Escargots with garlic butter and frites with ketchup! CLP diet - oh dear!

None of us wanted to eat horse meat - fresh from Canada ... yuk

Off to Cully now - 15 minutes from Montreux central

To meet with Patrick Fonjallaz - winemaker. They have made wine in his family since the 16th century. I thoroughly enjoyed the "Swiss" wine - chasselas ... white, no acid, tasty ...

James relaxing in "Press Land" at the Jazz Festival

Mathieu Jaton - the Secretary General of the Jazz Festival. Nice chap. 16 days, 230,000 visitors, 450 journalists, clubs, movies, art, food ... fabulous!

The Crew - Jim, Sylvia (tourist board) and Tim waiting for the Villagers to come on stage

THANK YOU ROBERTA!

Ouch!

Well - I fell back to Earth with a bump today - literally once and metaphorically once too ...

First up - 0800, a meeting with Francois Victor - the Spa Manager. He measured my BMI ... and all the other measurements to check my mass/weight/height etc ... all in the name of ... well ... later ...

I then interviwed Mr Gwynn Brand - CEO of CLP. The story of this place is interesting. The regeneration process started in 1931 ... and in the 1980's REALLY took off. By the way - CLP used to make "the" cosmetics ... but not any more ... it has its own brand which is rather good.

There are just 59 rooms including 16 suites in 3 buildings ... one dating back to the 1930's, one 1980's and one VERY recent. Mr Brand is a lovely/decent chap ...

From there we were met by the Montreux tourism lady - Sylvia Wenger - who drove us to Villenueve. There we met Fabien Maillard ... owner of Fly-Xperience - a local paragliding company.

The last time (& only time) I tried paragliding was in Santa Barbara, California where I went solo after 3 minutes of training and nearly killed myself ... and Tim.

Well, this time I went paragliding in tandem ... with Fabien as my pilot.

It was FABULOUS! We launched off a 1400 metre perch and glided softly to the ground. It was just great, great fun. The views were brilliant - Montreux, Villeneuve, Vevey and even Geneva - the other side of Lac Leman.

I would have loved another flight BUT I had a meeting with Dr Adrian Heini - the Medical Director at CLP.

OK - I first visited CLP in 1996! Yes - really! You would have thought that I would have learnt my lessons from that visit ... but no!

15 years later - I am unfit, unhealthy and in serious need of a change of life! And it's started/restarted here ... if I am going to run the NYC Marathon 2012, I have to get fit & healthy! I will ...  

Mr Brand

Coming in to land

Tim captures the moment

with Francois and Adrian

I am STILL hungry but have grown to love fruit! Cherries, bananas, dragon fruit, cherries, melon, grapes, cherries ... did I mention cherries? I LOVE CHERRIES!

So - the weather was stunning today - but I did not have time to watch cricket or tennis as we were filming ...

First up - the nutritionist Laurence Grosjean. Pizza is OK, french fries are ok, ketchup is ok ... everything is ok ... just in small amounts. I would sell my left knee-cap for a slice of margherita ... drool, drool ... I am not leaving CLP on purpose ... the draw of the pizzerias and fast food outlets in the town is too much!

I did learn how to prepare a John Dory (fish) dish with the Chef - Jean-Bernard Muraro. The average spend per week at CLP is ... around ... US$25,000 (?) per person - so the cuisine has to be fabulous ... and healthy. JB knows what he is doing and produces awesomely tasty food. The menu sometimes sounds unappetising ... the cuisine certainly is fabulous! Yum!

Sleep now ...

Lord Buddha guards the Spa

Lovely Laurence - pizza is ok! Yay!

Jean-Bernard with John Dory ...

The lovely indoor pool - with views ... hmmm ...

Greetings from Clinique la Prairie in Montreux!

I am so hungry - SO, SO hungry.

It was a 70 minute flight from Heathrow to Geneva ... then an hour drive to Montreux - home of CLP.

First thing we had to do on check-in was to fill in our meals forms. James and I have opted for just 1400 calories a day (for Tim its 1800). It's fabulous and painful at the same time ...
The meals are superb ... but there's so little of it on the plate!

I have had a Thai massage today (awesome), long swim AND steam ... so feel rather healthy. The boys have been filming the town which is in the middle of Jazz Fesival.

Much more tomorrow - I am exhausted!

I am obsessed with toothpaste. No joke - I love trying new oral cleaning products from all over the world. My latest is banana flavoured floss and cupcake flavoured toothpaste - both purchased from a crazy store in Sausalito, California. Sadly neither live up to expectation ... shame.

I am very pleased to announce that along with Robert Graham (apparel) and Leica (cameras), we are now working with Czech & Speake ... the most luxurious bathroom accessories in the world. I have been using their stuff for over a decade now so I am so chuffed that I am working with them! Czech it out (!) - www.czechandspeake.com .

OK - packing done ... it's a VERY early start tomorrow! Montreux - whoo hoo!

Czech & Speake has a boutique on my favourite street in the world - Jermyn Street, London, SW1 - close to Davidoff

 Yuk

Yuk x 2