Lausanne continued

We are actually now in Zurich, but doing this chronologically so you get a bit more about Lausanne first...

Sitting next to us at the WiFi café I heard the young gentleman ask in English if there was WiFi. Okay, they ordered drinks and a meal and then I heard that they were supposed to be in Geneva, not Lausanne! Wrong city! So they had their meal packed, laughing at themselves and left to get back on the train to Geneva. She figured since they were on Lake Geneva, they were in the City as well. Hmmm, makes me think they are not very experienced travellers. However it didn’t seem to stress them over much, so that’s all good and perhaps they will learn.

Finally had a true Swiss fondue. Rained all day and decided it would be good to have a nice hot lunch. Café below the Cathedral, pepper mill on the table which enhances the flavour. Gooey, yummy Guyere cheese fondue. Not for the faint of heart or stomach but once a trip is okay. They have bunsan burners, like well, regular fondue burners to keep it hot, bread and not much else unless you order a salad to go with, which we did, need my veggies! The remains which turn golden brown at the bottom is called “the mother” a couple of fellows next to us ordered a raw egg to cook onto it and perhaps get the taste. We watched poor tourists trudging up the hill to the Cathedral in the pouring rain and were glad we weren’t them the tour bus tried to make it up the hill and couldn’t.

Back down to the Flon District because there is a good cafe there with WiFi and good food. Checked out the Migros, Swiss Grocers that used to be in Freiburg, small store catering to the business district, but I think we missed a floor of it. Back to our neighbourhood for La Mortuacella the best lemonade we’ve ever had! They do good iced tea here too, Nestle is based in Switzerland. Oh, and by the way all consumer products here are labeled in French and German, kind of like Canada with the English and French. Since this is the only area of Switzerland that speaks French instead of German, it really is much like Canada in that way.

Again, I didn’t know this but Switzerland people speak whatever language is closest to it’s border, so French, Italian, German and as a fall back English. Not just two languages at all. Bruce remembers going to a conference where they were discussing the French versus English issue and Switzerland was brought up as a country that has survived having had at least three languages.

I brought our computers and the small food shopping from Migros back to the flat, dumped and left. As I was closing the door saw something brown at the edge of the sill, thought it was a leaf, NOT, a live vole! Proud of myself, didn’t scream! Almost squashed it, skampered down the hallway outside the flat thankfully. Thought Lexi would have a great time chasing it but that would be cruel to the little thing, so for several reasons, glad not to have it in the flat.

Had a very superior pedicure, only took half an hour, she was quick, efficient and spoke English, along with German and French. 

Back to Ouchy for a strole along the waterfront again. We shared a “salad of the lake” which included perch and prawns and then shared a hot dog. Bruce does like his hot dogs and they are rare to get in Europe of course. People were wading in the fountain and kids swimming.  

There were teen boys practicing their skate boarding along the benches, honestly, they need to practise more but at least they were working at it.

Went to a different tram stop than we’d been to before and walked along the very busy streets crammed with market vendors of all sorts. I had roasted garlic with prawns which was absolutely yum! Walked back to a different stop at Place de Europe and there is a very large volleyball tournament on, lots of food vendors there selling everything from churrios to hamburgers. I haven’t been able to look it up but seemed international since there was a girl’s team from the US playing as we walked by. They were playing a guy’s team and seemed to be wiping the floor with them – go girls!

Dogs, dogs, everywhere are dogs, all breeds, shapes and sizes of course, but I’ve seen more Boston Terriers than I’ve seen in a long while which pleases me enormously, having had one years ago, they still captivate me.

Weather has improved over the last couple of days and I actually went out without a coat, for one day only… The following pictures are of a plaza smack in the middle of Lausanne and it's fountain.

Found a lovely park close by the flat, but, as usual, hilly, rolling landscaped lawns.  

Voltaire did some work there and it is the site of the first Olympic Museum The park is called called Mon-Repos with an English style garden that is very pretty to walk around. Had a juice at the small restaurant called Voltaire’s folly, La Folie Voltaire. A true folly, small building often built on mansion grounds that is pretty much useless, why it’s called a folly. This one has been turned into a very small restaurant that has only outdoor seating, no umbrellas, so it is only open in good weather.  How they schedule that I wonder, food supplies and wait staff when they wake up every morning to look at the weather and decide if open today? Then what happens if it rains or is windy part way through the day? Inquiring minds want to know! The only solution would be it’s a smaller piece of a larger restaurant. The seating is under Horse Chestnut trees and there is a large playground next to it for children. The breakfast served was artfully presented with Nastursium blossoms and sprigs of Rosemary, looked good but we weren’t hungry at that point. It was busy so a waiter asked a couple of women seated at a table for four if we could share. Apparently one does not do that themselves here, like in Freiburg. In fact I’ve noticed when people come into a restaurant they seem to ask where they can sit, rather than just plunking down where they want, outside it is okay to “plunk” it seems.

The park has a good sized indoor swimming pool many families were making use of. Found a ginko tree, very large, one of my favourite trees, along with the other large, well established trees in the park.

Just sittin' around a traffic circle, waiting for what I don't know...

Sunday late afternoon, cachophany of sound, church bells ringing and sirens, luckily church bells over-ride. Quite cool again, although the afternoon warmed up some. Bruce should be careful what he wishes for, a not hot August, well, we’ve certainly had that!

Wind again today making it cool unless you get out of it. We had lunch in a small outdoor patio at the place where we had the fondue. Smells from the kitchen were absolutely wonderful, wish I knew what caused them and would have ordered. Even people from Lausanne were wearing spring jackets and pashmas today. As usual, I’m bundled up like “nanuk of the north”.  Went and turtled at a café and then did a small shopping. 

We're off to Zurich, next update...

Cheers Bx2 & Lexi Cat