Lausanne & Geneva

We were very excited to get to Lausanne to meet up with another friend from Bishops who is also an Aussie from the Sunshine Coast, living and studying in Switzerland. Bridgette is a very smart cookie, studying a Masters in Forensic Science (in French no less!). Bridge’s plan of attack to see all of Lausanne, Geneva and surrounding areas was planned to a tee, which was lovely! That night we had a feast of German food cooked by Friederike, a lovely German friend of Bridgette’s. Yum yum, I will never get sick of trying new foods! The following day the weather was a bit average, so we hit up the Olympic Museum for some inspiration. Out the front was a high jump set at the highest Olympic record. Take a look! I would struggle even with a trampoline! I think we all came out thinking we should immediately go into training for the London Olympics, it was actually a really cool museum with history dating back to the early Greek days. 

We headed up the hill to a cathedral where back in the day, every merchant going between Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany would literally pass through the cathedral. It really is a great view over the town as well. 

The next day we took the train to Gruyere, a tiny town with a cathedral and a cheese factory. Gruyere cheese is so yummy, we got to taste it at 6 months 9 months and 12 months, needless to say I loved them all. Cherry the cow gave us an interactive tour before we watched an artist at work, creating kilo’s and kilo’s of the good stuff.

Then we headed to a tiny village two town’s over and stormed Cailler, a chocolate factory which turns out incredible chocolates equivalent in price and quality to Lindt (another Swiss favourite!). The tour through the years from the discovery of the coco beans by the Aztec’s in South America to making chocolaty goodness is probably one of the best tours I have been on (Tess, it sure beats the shitty Cadbrury’s tour in Tassie, hands down!). That was even before we hit up the all you can eat buffet. Now I’m not just talking about a few trays of broken up block choccie, I’m talking about the good stuff…truffles galore! Kim was a mad woman, possessed like the devil. At no point did she ever have less than one in her hand and one in her mouth. For a small lady, she sure can eat her fair share of free chocolate, she even out ate me which was a bit of a shock! After leaving the buffet, she heading back in twice to grab more while the going was hot.

After all that chocolate, we decided to ride it off with a bike ride from Lausanne to Monteux and back to Vevey (about 25km). Riding along Lake Geneva was incredible in itself, but the vineyards that lined the picturesque stretch were like something out of a dream. UNESCO listed (I am lead to believe), they gave the surroundings a near Mediterranean feel, even though there is snow on the mountains overlooking the lake. For anyone who knows me knows that disaster usually strikes when I am on two wheels, call it karma or serious clumsiness but I can’t seem to shake it. Actually I was building up a bit of confidence on two wheels, when I rode down a tiny tiny curb, then BANG, what do you know, I get a flat tyre. Wicked. We happened to be only a few km’s from Vevey, a town on the lake, where by chance we happened to come across a bike swap terminal. So after another scenic lunch sitting on the wall of the boardwalk overlooking the lake and into the Alps, we did a quick swapsey and we are back on the road! Monteux wasn’t far down the road, but we kept on going a few km’s the otherside of the town to Chateau de Chillon. Such a beautiful little spot right on the lake, if it was any further closer to the water it would be underwater! 

Marieve, another friend of Bridgette’s from Canada, had us at her house for a traditional Swiss feast of Raclette. The at home version is slightly different to that found at fiestas where a round of cheese is slowly melted layer by layer and scrapped onto bread or potatoes. We used the at home version, where a heat beam is above a plate which you pile all your vegies and potatoes onto with the cheese on top and pop it under the heat to melt. So good!!! A massive feast not to forget that is for sure. Great wine, great food, great company! 

On the Friday night the girls had organised an International Drinking Games party, compete with flip cup and beer pong. I am happy to report that Marieve and I made a comeback in the beer pong after being 1 to 6 down. Not so lucky in the flip cup however leading my team to defeat, but it was probably the most populous game of flip cup played in a long while! 

A day trip to Geneva bought perfect weather for a picnic in the park and ice cream (I had a cinnamon one) by the lake. First we went to the UN and took in some history about the organisation which was pretty interesting, but having already been to the head office in New York which was incredible, it was ever so slightly disappointing. However a spark to save the world always gets relit after such visits, especially when you see the huge conference rooms all set out in alphabetical order of country, and boxes for the translators to do their work. It really is incredible that such a respected and prominent organisation exists.

After meeting up with Bruno and Bastian (a friend of Brunos from Geneva) at the funky flower clock, we headed for the spurt of water that all the postcards bear. It is like Niagara Falls in that you look at it from afar and think that you can get in close to the spurt no problems, but then you get anywhere in its vicinity and it drenches you like a fish! 

We just so happened to have been in Geneva at the time of a celebration, and there were piano’s dotted around the city for the public to play. Whilst we were having a picnic chilling on a lawn, a random guy was playing the piano, and boy could he play! There was even a small crowd and some applause after he finished. One of the really nice things that sets Switzerland apart from many countries is the people’s respect and care for things that aren’t their own…for example, all the pianos were in great condition as were the train carriages, no vandalism or damage. It is refreshing actually! 

We stopped for a cold beer in a cool little square (thanks Bastian!) and again on the way to the train station, this time with a lemony flavour. Yum!

After getting back from Geneva, we did a quick walk up the back of Lausanne to a wooden tower in the middle of a park and climbed the ever so slightly rocking structure to get a view of the entire town and surrounding villages, Lake Geneva and the French Alps. We were thirsty after the walk (all 20 minutes of it), so had a beer to celebrate reaching the top! 

Being that it was Laruen’s last night (another of Bridgette’s friends from the States) we had a sleepover, managing to pile 7 people into two double beds and a single. What a cuddly night that was! 

Lausanne, Geneva and surrounding areas are incredible, well worth the trip for anyone in Europe. I would highly recommend this amazing place…or was that just the food and company??