To France for the day

Sunday. We woke up to cloudless skies, a fine summer day. Lausanne has recently inaugurated a semi-underground tram service from Ouchy up the mountain through the center of the city which we were able to try out. It is one of those engineering feats we admire so much in Switzerland. The fast ferry boat left Ouchy for Yvoire after 9, stopping in Evian les Bains (where the bottled water comes from) and another spa town, Thonon les Bains. Yvoire sits on a promontory jutting out into the lake. It was walled in the 14th century to defend itself from its enemies, Geneva and Bern. The walls were partially pulled down centuries ago but enough ruins remain to give the town an aura of Romantic charm. The town is quite small, just a few streets. Most of the houses are ancient, vine covered and decorated with window boxes of cascading flowers. It is a jewel of a little medieval town despite having become a tourist trap. We stayed for about two hours, just before the arrival of a major tourist onslaught, then boarded a paddle wheel steamer for the trip back. This boat, the Simplon, has been newly refurbished. The restaurant, where we had lunch reservations, has retained its gorgeous wood panelling. We ate in great style and watched the world slip by on either side. Even the assiette végétarienne which I had was superb. It was one of those perfect days. The pics are of the bateau Simplon and views of Yvoire.
Tomorrow I leave early by train for Innsbruck via Zurich. I will pick up a rental car in Innsbruck then drive to the South Tyrolian town of Toblach where I have a reservation to stay for a week.

Aubonne

Saturday. James had suggested something we could do together, a visit to the arboretum near the town of Aubonne. We set off in the morning, first taking the train to Allaman, followed by a short bus ride to Aubonne. It is one of those charming Swiss country towns, well-preseved, with a small castle on a hill to call its own. The arboretum was an hour's walk further on, mostly through forest. The arboretum itself is a sprawling area pretty much in the middle of Swiss nowhere. From its higher vantage point there are views of the mountains and Lake Geneva. It would take hours to see all of it. I saw as much as I wanted to. The weather was again unsettled and it began to rain on the way back. A forest in the rain has a music all its own. Tomorrow, which promises to be sunnier and warmer, we are taking the steamer from Ouchy across the lake to the medieval town of Yvoire on the French side. James has booked us for lunch on the return trip. It should be a very special day.
One photo shows a street in Aubonne, the other the extension of the Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet from J.J.'s balcony in the other direction. With its fine late 19th century facades and evenly spaced trees this could well be a street in Paris.

Freunde des Blogs

Die Freunde des Blogs

Well folks, I'm b-a-a-a-a-a-ck! When I arrived in Lausanne on Thursday and made it to the apartment of my friend James, whom I visited last year at this time, it felt like I had only left him the day before. The journey from Kansas City to Switzerland was almost painless. Almost. There was an unspecified 'technical problem' with the trans-Atlantic portion of the flight delaying us a full two hours in Philadelphia. After they found the duct tape and re-attached the wing, or whatever they needed to do, we were on our way. I missed my connection to Geneva, of course, and had to spend some extra time in Zurich airport waiting for the next flight. It is one of the nicer airports to be stranded in, actually. It's clean, it's neat, it's Switzerland! The airline provided me with a meal voucher to take the edge off the inconvenience, and it is a good thing they did: the modest cheese sandwich I had cost $12! Yikes! Welcome to one of the most expensive countries in the world. (Today I popped into the Starbucks on the Place Saint Francois to see what a cuppa java was going for; the grande, which goes for $1.85 in the States, costs the equivalent of $6 here. I like my afternoon cup of coffee, but not that much!)
The weather has been unsettled. A thunderstorm rolled through in the early morning hours. Since Lausanne is surrounded by high mountains the thunder booms stereophonically. By mid morning the rain stopped and I was itching to go for a walk. I didn't want to undertake anything too ambitious, not knowing what the weather would do, so I opted to walk down to Ouchy. It is about a mile down to the lake from central Lausanne, where James lives. Ouchy is a separate town but it is contiguous with Lausanne. It is famous for its ritzy hotels and the lakeside promenade. The clouds cleared up a bit, revealing some of the ragged peaks on the south side of Lac Léman (which is actually in France). On the internet I had found some information about walks in Lausanne. The most interesting seemed to be the Chemin de la Vuachère, a walking path that starts in Ouchy and climbs north through residential areas into the hills, parallel to the stream of the Vuachère. The path is supposedly marked and there is a map of sorts, but it doesn't include any street names. As there is nothing more annoying than losing a hiking trail I decided not to try it. It is possible to walk on the 'sentier de la rive' (lakeside path) from Lausanne all the way to the Chateau de Chillon. It's 31 kilometers and takes eight and a half hours to complete. Could there be a more beautiful walk in the world? I continued on the sentier which winds its way between the lakeshore and the lovely villa and condo properties. The real estate may be modest in size but it is surely not modest in price (and you must be a Swiss citizen to buy property here, so don't even think of it!). The vegetation is opulent with even the occasional palm tree to be seen. The closer you get to the eastern end of the lake the more mild the climate becomes; the high mountains at the eastern end create a mirco-climate. It's almost Mediterranean. I continued on past Pully and on to the town of Lutry. This side of the lake, between Pully and Montreux, called the Lavaux, is optimal for the cultivation of the grape. You see vineyards everywhere. After two hours the weather looked threatening again. I returned to Lausanne by bus. Public transportation is marvellous here with frequent service to just about anywhere, but it is not cheap. You get what you pay for.
The photo is taken from the balcony of J.J.'s flat in the Avenue Louis-Ruchonnet. On the left is the splendid Belle Epoque central train station of Lausanne with Lake Geneva and the French Alps in the background.