Happy Tuesday!
I mentioned a week or two ago that I travelled to Switzerland to go meet up with a high school friend of mine who was working there. In January 2013, I headed on a small backpacking trip by myself on continental Europe. After flying to Paris, taking the TGV to Bordeaux, spending a wonderful time there and taking the train to the other side of France to Clermont-Ferrand (post to come), I took the train toward Switzerland. The trains were a mess and I definitely hate the French train system. It was late and also once I got to Geneva, the train was packed and so I stood between Geneva and Lausanne. Once I got to Lausanne and met up with my lovely friend, J, I learned that I had made the good decision not to tell off the person seating in my reserved seat – apparently they don’t reserve seats on Swiss trains! And the French company charged me a few euros to reserve a seat! That definitely annoyed me! Anyhow, after half a day of travelling I was finally in Lausanne! Yay!
Lausanne in a nutshell: It is a town of about 150,000 people in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. It is situated by the shore of Lac Leman and is the home of the headquarters of the IOC. The average temperature in January is about 0 degrees celsius and from my memory it was a lot colder than that when I was there.
I had a wonderful time in Lausanne. The first night we simply headed home to eat and relax. The next day we headed on a walk around Lausanne. We first headed to the Cathedral of Notre-Dame of Lausanne. J had told me the view over the town from the lookout is great, but sadly, because of the cold, or the water, or something, the tower was closed that day! We still headed in to visit the cathedral and view the Christmas village that was still up. After a little bit, we headed down the hill and visited the Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts (fine arts museum). By visited I mean we walked in for warmth and had a look around. My friend had never been inside! Best way to visit the city you live in is always when people come visit!
I have to say that my favourite part of the city was Ouchy! Although it was absolutely freezing by the water, the view was gorgeous! To get some relief and grab a bite, we headed to a small cafe that I sadly don’t know the name of! It was so beautifully decorated and the menu was excellent. I had a salmon tartare and it was delicious!
That night we headed to Le Chalet Suisse for J’s coworker’s birthday. At first I was a bit taken aback because as most people know Switzerland is overly expensive, like crazy expensive! The UK is expensive, mainly because the £ is so high, but Switzerland seemed worst! As I was on a small budget, I wasn’t too sure, but I’m glad she convinced me to come along because I had a great evening! I got to taste a classic cheese fondue with bread and it was exquisite (although I couldn’t have cheese for a few days after that). Afterwards we headed to a bar, Les Gosses du Quebec (a play on words I will not explain 😉 ).
The next day my friend was working, she was there as a working nurse after all, so I met up with a friend of my cousin who was working in Lausanne at the time and we spent the day walking around Lausanne, and stopping countless times in cafes to grab a chocolat chaud to warm up! Later on, I came home to spend the night chilling at my friend’s flat and wait for her to come back from work.
The next morning we woke up early to get the train to Geneva where I was catching my (very ultra delayed) flight to Edinburgh! There it was my few days in Switzerland! Intense but fun! I look forward to going back (hopefully in the summer) and seeing more of that wonderful tiny country!
Here is my vlog {in French} about my time in Lausanne! 🙂
Have you visited Switzerland? Did you try that delicious cheese fondue? xx
