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.