Lausanne, Suisse
07/08/2022
After my early morning stop in Bern it was time to discover Lausanne. Punctual as Swiss Railways SBB are, I arrived there with sufficient time to take a long – and quite steep – walk downhill towards the harbour.
After about 15 – 20 minutes I arrived at the waterfront. Despite the grey skies, the lake Lac Léman lay beautifully calm in front of me. The boats nearby with a backdrop of mountains in the distance surrounded by fog made for a wonderful picture.
… and also one of myself with self-timer.
Walking along the shore I saw the Olympic Museum and decided to take a quick look. The hillside estate is quite nicely built with an archaic touch. In the garden, bronze figures portraying the olympic disciplines as well as water plays led up to the big entrance where the actual museum starts.
I took a look inside. However, since I am not an avid follower of the games it was not worth spending 14 CHF (reduced for students instead of 22) for entrance or even 130 for a t-shirt. So I went outside again to take in the view of the lake instead.
Next I headed down towards the waterside again, continuing my walk eastbound all the way to a small stone jetty in front of the previously described dramatic backdrop. I turned around and followed a paddle steamer heading in the direction of Lausanne‘s harbour.
Once at the harbour I spotted a Swiss flag right in front of the lake panorama, so I took a snapshot. Upon coming closer I saw it was the “La Suisse“ paddle steamer from earlier. Soon after, it left the dock with exhaust smoke coming out the back.
Inspired by the many boats coming in I wanted to see if I could take one myself. So I used my half-broken French to talk to the agents at the transportation office and found out that the boat ride to Geneva was indeed included in my public transit day pass. However, I would have had to wait for two hours for the next vessel so to not lose any time, I decided to take the metro up the hill to the train station and the next train – which goes punctually every 30 minutes – towards Geneva.
À bientôt!