Lausanne and Geneva

We had a good trip to Lausanne even though the train was a half hour late arriving at 5pm. A very nice lunch was served and we had a window with a good view of the countryside to suit anyone who may have a Nikon camera. The hotel was just across the road from the station and our room on the 3rd floor was very comfortable and roomy. I managed to break the coffee making machine on our floor, a change from twice setting the toaster on fire in Langkawi! We set off for a walk to the lake and found it a long way down hill. We checked out the yachts and the yachts and more yachts. How unusual. The sky was clear and the sun was quite warm. This didn't last! Our hotels in Switzerland gave us free travel cards for all public transport - a great idea. We ate a rather large Italian meal in a cafe on the front at Orchy, then caught the metro back up the hill to the hotel. The photographer later disappeared into the night to check out the water reflections. Next morning we set off again to the tourist office in the station to find out about a guided walk through the old town. At 10am we met up with Michelle who had grown up in Lausanne and as a retired school librarian, enjoyed showing the wonderful history to tourists. We took off on our two hour walk along cobbled, narrow streets to the top of the hill where we entered a beautiful protestant gothic cathedral, then down again through more history. The walk was well worth taking and we didn't mind dodging the light rain. We managed a hot chocolate and cake to build up our strength then another walk before we caught the metro back to the hotel. We had planned to take a boat ride on the lake, but the sky threatened and rain and then a storm rolled in, so back to the hotel for a very expensive meal AUD$106 for 2 main meals, 2 red wines, 2 coffees! Bed.

La Cathedrale

Wind vane on Lac Leman

C16th merchants' steps

Lausanne rooftops

June 1, and I forgot to say "white rabbit". It won't matter if I run late on this holiday! We wandered around for the morning, bought our tickets to Geneva, David took more photos and I dealt with The Netbook!! If it behaves I will not throw it out the window. We caught the train at 11:42 and arrived in Geneva 30 minutes later. Our hotel was across the road from the station, but not as great on the inside as it looked on the internet. Our room was clean but tiny and on the 3rd floor facing the street. We climbed over our bags and couldn't turn around in the bathroom. It was very cold and very windy, but we set off for the lake. We stopped for another Italian meal in the main street to fill in time before check in at 2pm. We noticed that other guests only waited a few minutes!!! With the wind really blowing, I decided to stay in the hotel room while the Nikon braved the cold to take photos in case the rain increased. David returned with a bottle of vin rouge to go with our supper of biscuits and cheese.

The next morning we set off for a walk across to the other side of the lake (very narrow here at the end) and caught a mini train that took us on a tour of the old town. After being shaken to pieces in the last of three carriages, we set off on foot to look again at the sights. Lunch at Starbucks - not very Swiss - and then a cruise on the lake that lasted an hour and gave us a good view of the areas we didn't have time to visit on foot. Then off again on foot to the gardens along the lakeside. We found a shop open and bought cheese and chocolate for supper.

Old town steps

Lord Byron's house from the lake

David in the gardens

How to lose weight: walk all day and eat a light supper. (But probably not cheese and chocolate!) I had my second scalding hot shower that had to be adjusted by David - very scary and the shower head so high on the wall, David had to come and get it down. More Blog and then packed ready for our next journey.

Cobbled street in old town