after the swiss mountains, we headed to lausanne (pronounced loh-zahn), a little ways outside of geneva, in what is known as french-switzerland. this town on lake geneva is beautiful & picturesque, and after the rainy mountains, we welcomed the sunny weather and crystal-blue water.
it was interesting to see french food, and hear people speaking french, after all the german that you hear in zurich & in the mountainous area of switzerland.
the city of lausanne is split in two parts: the commercial & old town area in the northern part of the city, and the resort-esque ouchy region down on the water. the whole town is on a hill, so you travel between the two via the singular metro line, which goes up and down all day long.
we stayed down in ouchy, right on the water at the hotel du port. in terms of location to the water, you can't beat this spot. the service and rooms are meh... definitely not the friendly faces that we saw in zurich & lauterbrunnen.
lausanne is also known as the "olympic capital" - the international olympic committee has been based here since 1914, and it is also home to the olympic museum (the largest archive of olympic games in the world) & its surrounding park - which happened to be right next door to our hotel in ouchy.
unfortunately the museum was closed for renovations (boo), but we did get to stroll through the lovely park surrounding the museum, which is full of statues of olympic athletes.
since our arrival here coincided with the 4th of july, we dressed in our r w & b, and boarded a boat to celebrate america's b-day.
a french boat, but hey - still red, white and blue.
a popular way to see lake geneva and the surrounding vineyards is to take a boat ride across the lake and into other swiss towns, or even into france. we took the 1.5-hour boat to montreux, switzerland.
montreux is an adorable town, most commonly known for its annual jazz festival
as soon as you get off the boat at the port, you are in the midst of their marketplace with street vendors galore. be tempted by ice cream, churros, and overpriced sunglasses. it's fun.
from the port at montreux, you take an immediate right, and walk along the peaceful, car-free, paved path for 45 minutes to reach chateau chillion. it's a beautiful walk, and i highly recommend it.
chateau chillion is well worth a visit - a gorgeous castle situated directly on the banks of lake geneva.
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| they have a vineyard as well - the only place you can buy their vino. |
back in lausanne, we completed our american celebration by going into old town for dinner at mcdonald's. which in switzerland will cost you a pretty penny. like 30 bucks for two people.
i suppose it is somewhat of a delicacy over there.
on our second day in lausanne, we had the chance to check out the old town area, in the northern part of the city, which is really quite charming. it is mostly car-free, which makes walking around very pleasant, and you can visit lausanne's cathedral, the largest church in switzerland, and climb to the top for some amazing views of lake geneva.
we stopped into le barbare for the "best hot chocolate in the world". we watched the owner make this from pure steamed cream and true cocoa beans. it was the real deal.
lausanne is a beautiful town, and we were lucky enough to be there on a perfect day. boating on lake geneva and seeing the neighboring towns was one of my favorite parts of the trip. the blue of the water, mountains, and sky all together is almost overwhelming.... in a great way.
favorite things we did in lausanne:
(delicious sandwich chain!)
ouchy waterfront