Weekend in Lausanne Region

So the weekend in Lausanne was really Saturday (the 4th) through Tuesday (the 7th). I had planned to only stay through Monday morning, but as you can tell my plans tend to change frequently on this trip. Anyhow, here's how the weekend panned out:

August 4th
I arrived in Lausanne around 2p.m. on Saturday to meet my host at the train station. Pascal was very easy to find, which is something I am always worried about when meeting in such a crowded place, haha. We went back to his place to drop off my bag (I packed a small bag for the weekend rather than bring my hiking backpack). Then he showed me all around Lausanne. This was almost good enough of a trek to be called a hike, especially given the hilliness of the area. Add in the fact that we walked "up the hill" to climb this awesome tower to see the amazing view of the city and you've definitely got a hike on your hands.

Following this hike, we gathered up ingredients for a picnic dinner in the park and went to hang out with some of his friends. We were in the park for several hours, chatting, drinking, eating. At one point Pascal and I went swimming (briefly). Lake Geneva is quite cold, especially when it's close to dusk. I may have stayed in the water for 15 minutes, haha. After this we stayed in the park waiting on another of Pascal's friends to arrive and his other friends departed (during which time we finished the second bottle of wine). It began to rain just as this friend arrived. We returned to Pascal's house to change clothes, where I tried four new kinds of liquor, none of which were very pleasant. Pascal's roommate Matt joined us and we went out to this bar Batte (which is pretty much a bar for geeks, but amusing still). At Batte, we all got a tall drink that was bright green and tasted like gummy lifesavers, haha. It was very strong and I ended up sharing mine with Matt and another friend who met us there. Poor Pascal was bet that he couldn't finish his drink in 10 minutes and put up a valiant effort trying (not the smartest idea). As far as I know it didn't have any ill effects until the next morning, haha.

After Batte, we took his friend back to her car and Matt went home. Pascal and I were dropped off at Jagger's Club, where we proceeded to dance until 3 a.m. It was definitely a good night, but maybe not the best decision to drink so much, considering we had planned to go hiking the Lavaux vineyards the next day.

August 5th
Thankfully, when I awoke at 8:30a.m. I felt fine. :) However, it was raining outside which meant no pictures if I decided to take the walk. So, after a shower and a nap until ten, I checked on the weather again. Still raining. Stupid plans and their inability to actually work. :/

I had lunch plans with a couchsurfer in Cully, so I ended up taking the train to Cully and arriving pretty much exactly on time. Kelly met me at the train station and we walked to her home where we had a delicious lunch of grilled vegetables and couscous. :) Kelly and I talked of everything under the sun, including the homeschooling of her five children (three adopted). Homeschooled kids are always the brightest kids I meet and her children were no exception. Apparently they play a word game were they have to think of a new favorite word every day. That day her oldest daughter chose the word uncouth. This girl is 13 years old! It fascinates me. We also talked of how moving to Switzerland for the year is affecting her family and they seem to be taking it well. Their father is a teacher at Cornell and this is his sabbatical year, which he is spending working in Switzerland, how cool is that?! Like I said, there are worse professions that being a college professor. Anyhow, I spent a good portion of the day with them and Kelly invited me to spend Monday night with them so I could have an extra day to walk the vineyards since the weather was not supposed to improve much.

Upon returning to Lausanne, I learned how to use the metro system (slightly confusing since it's in German and all). Made it to the square where I was to meet another CSer, Jonathan. Jonathan and I went to another bar, which is quite cool. It is built into the wall and is open air (which was great until the downpour around 8). I tried a local red wine, a Gamay from the Lavaux vineyards that I found to be quite tasty. Then I tried a Spritz, which is a drink local to northern Italy, but is also served all over Europe. It consists of white wine, bitters and carbonated water. I really like this drink. It is especially a favorite for hot summer days (something to take home, eh?). Jonathan and I talked about our travels, linguistics, literature, college, etc.

Here is where I come back to my note on linguistics. This is undoubtedly my favorite topic when talking to someone who speaks multiple languages. It's not a topic to discuss with someone who only speaks English because there is no way they can understand the complexities of speaking multiple languages. But, here in Europe, speaking about linguistics is absolutely fabulous. Just think of all the nuances that go into languages. A good example would be from a story Stenli told me. He said something in German to Matthias (who is German) and Matthias told him that he was wrong. When Stenli asked why, Matthias could only answer with "it just sounds wrong". There are phrases in English that are the same way. When someone who speaks english as a second (or third) language, there are certain phrases which they could use that just don't sound right. It's not that they are grammatically incorrect, per se, but spoken language is different from written/learned language. Which, I suppose is why they say that you should immerse yourself in a language in order to learn it.

Back to my story, though. I got to practice my French speaking skills often in Lausanne because this is a French speaking part of Switzerland. Which was much nicer for me than the German speaking part, since everyone begrudges me when I ask them to speak English (except for CSers). Jonathan was great company and we ended up drinking back at his place, chatting and losing track of time. It was 11 or so when we went to meet up with Pascal (who had been at band practice until 9:30). All in all it was a good day, even though it had not gone as planned.

August 6th

Pascal and I in his awesome tiny kitchen

On Monday I awoke around 9a.m. and had breakfast with Pascal. Then I departed for Cully, determined that I would walk the vineyards. The day started off decently well. I took a train to Pully (since Pascal recommended I start my walk from here), then walked along the beach for a good portion of the trip. It was quite cloudy so my pictures are much less impressive than they would have been if you could see the mountains. The walk was quite picturesque even despite the stormy day, though. :) About an hour and a half into the walk, it began to rain. So I found myself a little alcove and read my kindle for about an hour until the rain abated to a tiny sprinkle. Then I finished my walk to Cully. So, I have rainy pictures of the Lavaux vineyards as well as bright ones. :)

Nice and rainy.

Eventually it cleared up.

After arriving in Cully, I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Kelly and her family. The kids and I played a game of scrabble. Then we walked to the store to get groceries, where I picked up some bread and Suisse Brie. Suisse Brie is quite delicious, it is very buttery tasting though. A game of Ticket to Ride was played as well, the European version, which is quite interesting in it's nuances. I barely won that game because in the end I got longest route and a few extra points. A surprising win considering how many tickets Caleb (Kelly's son) drew throughout the game.

These were what my walk was about.

Beautiful colors as the sun was setting

Hey look, mountains!

Despite the rain, it was quite a nice day. I enjoyed playing games and spending a day relaxing with company. Sometimes you do have to take a break, even when traveling, and this was a good one for me. The view was also quite excellent as you can see. :) The next day I awoke around 10a.m. (latest I've slept since I arrived here), had breakfast, said my goodbyes and head back to Roggwil. I decided that I didn't actually have a reason to visit Geneva and therefore it could wait until I decided on something I truly wanted to do.

Switzerland and other updates

I have decided that maybe film is not the best form of expression to record my travels and couchsurfing experiences. Though the filming I have already done will come in handy in my next project. Sometimes I wish I were not so prone to the swift changing tides of being a Gemini. But, perhaps some day it will bring me to the exact place I need to be....

Richard suggested that I write a memoir of sorts about my travels. I think it is a brilliant idea. I was always prone to literary endeavors as a child. I could never finish any book that I started writing though because I like reality better than fantasy and it seemed to me all my books were too similar to other books I had read. This, however, is a book I can get behind. My travels have been interesting enough to keep a reader turning the pages. Making the book fiction would serve to allow me some creative license as well. So, I can write a book that includes my travels and some adventures that may not be entirely true. This is now my next project. And since I will need notes to remember my travels, I shall change this blog into a place to keep up with my notes. Which, frankly, still follow the lines of being a blog about documenting couchsurfing. :) It's nice when things seem to fall together.

Enough about my plans. Here's what's been happening since I arrived on the 26th of July. :)

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July 26th
Arrived on a different plane than I had expected since my plane from LR to Chicago was delayed 2 hours. Of course, this meant that my baggage went on a different route, the one I should have taken (and therefore it arrived the next day at the airport). Without my luggage I was left with a dress in my computer bag, the clothes I was wearing, a computer, a camera, and an extra shirt and tiny amounts of bathroom stuff from the airline. The shoes I was wearing are very old and finally decided to fall apart, I am afraid. :( I loved those shoes...probably why they are so worn out.

So, I walked around Zurich for a while with Stenli. We had a nice picnic lunch in the park by the river. Took lots of pictures along the riverfront. I love that in European cities they have shops that go right up to the river. You can eat sitting next to the water and enjoying a beautiful view of Lake Zürich if you are close enough. After only a few hours my feet were tired and I was starting to feel the jetlag, so we went back to Stenli's flat in Roggwil. The rest of the evening was passed quietly with me being highly annoyed at my lack of clothing.

July 27th
The next day worthy of note was Friday. I still had no clothes except what was in my carry-on, but that included a dress, which was perfect for this day. Stenli's German friend, Matthias, took me to Lucerne where we spent all evening dancing, drinking and listening to good music. :) Arriving in town at around midnight, we went to the annual Blue Balls Festival, which is a huge Jazz music festival. I very much enjoyed the number of people that were in Lucerne that evening. I got to see the inside of a fancy hotel (Schweizerhof), which is where the music was moved after they were no longer aloud to play outside. Listened to a cool Spanish Jazz band ( I never knew Jazz could be so lively). Then we went to an Australian bar where we drank and danced to American pop music for two hours. Followed by the Rok Club where we danced to electronica until around 6 a.m. :) (http://www.rokklub.ch/)

I do love spending a full night dancing. :D

July 29th
On Sunday I was finally able to go retrieve my backpack from the airport. Which meant heading back to Zurich. On the train ride I sat across from these two couple, one of which was obviously the parents of the younger gentleman. They were talking about a vegetarian restaurant in Zurich and since I believed it to be the restaurant I had an interest in (Hultl), I asked if I might join them. Unfortunately, they had made reservations for the lunch and it was a family lunch, so the younger woman informed me. Considering she and her significant other had gotten onto the train fighting, I had expected to be declined. However, it still kind of stung because she was so forceful with her answer. (I still like the philosophy that it never hurts to ask.) When we got off the train I quickly made my way toward the front of the station. However, the younger lady caught up to me and told me that even though they were having a family lunch she could give me directions to anywhere I needed to go. I think that maybe her significant other requested that she make amends for being mean on the train because she did not seem to really care. I did, however, appreciate the gesture. I asked for directions to get to the boats on the river.

I managed to find my way to a boat port (quai) and get a ride, which was pleasant. (I don't have any photos from this, however, because it was raining that morning so I left my camera at the flat.) Then, I attempted to attain a Eurail Pass, with quite a bit of failure since I had forgotten my passport in Roggwil. (le sigh) So, I went to the airport and retrieved my bag and went back to Roggwil. I determined that I would go to Bern, which was closer to Roggwil, and get the Eurail Pass on Monday.

July 30th

It seems to me that all of my plans for this trip were destined to fail. :/ I did finally manage to acquire a Eurail Pass, which is more expensive if you buy it in the EU. I definitely recommend that you buy one online before you leave (you have to have it mailed to you, so buy it at least a week in advance!). However, my plan for the day had been to explore Olten and take pictures, then meet up with my friends Andreas to hang out that night. Sadly, Andreas fell ill and was unable to join me in Lucerne. However, I wanted to take some pictures of Lucerne at sunset and dusk. So, I decided to go on anyways.

I did manage to get some beautiful photographs of both Olten (first two) and Lucerne (all others). I also managed to find this cute little park in Lucerne, right along the Lake. Which was a nice place to sit. I only had two people try to talk to me (one guy as I was leaving), however, and found myself quite lonely. :( It is in moments like these that I am saddened by the fact that my husband is not with me. Though, I have missed him pretty much since day one.

I met this nice French boy, Tao, on the train back to Roggwil. :) It was good to start practicing my french-speaking skills, haha.

July 31st
On Tuesday, I had a much better day. And all my plans managed to pan out, haha. I met up with a couchsurfer, Heidi, at 10a.m. in St. Gallen (pretty much the other side of Switzerland). She and I walked around and saw all of downtown, then we stopped at a Suisse shop and had lunch. I discovered Rosti, which is quite tasty (and reminds me of latkes). I also put aside my determination to be vegetarian again for this trip. So, I tried the local sausage (think sausage link, not breakfast sausage). It was okay, though I am not really a fan of pork in general, so that probably colors my preference.

Abbey Cathedral

After lunch, we went "up the hill" to see a great view of the whole city and Lake Constance. All of the landscapes in Switzerland are absolutely breathtaking. :) I have determined that all the cities in Switzerland have a hill that you can go up to look at the city. Anyways, while we were there we also went to see the "little lakes", which were man made lakes, small enough to be an extra large swimming pool. They looked to be a lot of fun. :) I wish I had brought my bathing suit with me because I would have loved to go for a swim, especially after all the walking. After this, we hiked back down along some long stairs. Heidi tells me that St. Gallen is renowned for such stairs. Our last adventure together was to eat gelato in a tiny little Gelateria down an alley, haha. I love how everyone in Europe is so good at packing so much into such small spaces. :)

"Little Lake"

One view from the hill

All in all, a pleasant day. Made all the more so because nothing went wrong and I had pleasant company. Heidi and I talked of many things, including travel and linguistics (special note for later).

Aug. 1st
This should have been a very interesting day, considering it was the national holiday. However, Stenli decided to go into work instead of enjoying his day off. :/ So, since I had planned to spend the day hanging out with him and discovering awesome holiday festivities, instead I found myself sitting at his flat and reading. Which, is not to say that I did not enjoy the day. I do enjoy spending time reading. :) However, it could have been more interesting. I had though that there was to be a parade in Zurich, but was mistaken. ( The "Follow Your Heart" parade was to take place on Aug. 11th, when I planned to be in Milan.)

After Stenli got back from work, we went over to Langenthal and walked around trying to find some celebrations. I was not in the mood for traditional Suisse food, however, since that included mostly meat. Instead we found this pleasant Italian restaurant and I had delicious gnocchi. :D I did manage to take some awesome photographs of the older gentlemen dressed in traditional Suisse garb and playing Suisse horns. :)

When we got back to Roggwil it was dark and the fireworks celebrations had begun. I took about 400 photographs of fireworks, which was kind of nice since I was unable to take very many in the U.S. this year due to the draught. We even managed to get back to the flat right before it started to rain, hahaha.

Aug. 2nd
On Thursday, I got to hang out with this lovely couple, Christophe and Anne-Francoise, who are originally from the French-speaking part of Switzerland. :) They were quite lovely and we talked of gardening and travel. I got to practice my French skills, which apparently are not too bad, since Anne-Francoise does not speak much English. It is very amusing because they live "up the hill" in Roggwil. Anne-Francoise took me on a walk through the forest at the edge of the city, while Christophe bicycled to Langenthal for a doctors visit. (Would that I could bicycle to a doctors visit!)

View of Roggwil from top of the hill

Pretty forest trail

Christophe and Anne-Francoise had grapes growing along their porch.

Upon his return from Lagnenthal, we borrowed the neighbors car and drove to Zofingen, a small town about 20-30 minuted from Roggwil. It was quite a lovely town and we explored downtown for some time. While we were getting ice cream, I saw that boy Tao again down the street. Unfortunately, I was unable to talk to him because he was going to opposite direction. It would have been nice to invite him to go to Lucerne with me to dance on Friday. But, oh well. After ice cream, we came back to Roggwil and the couple dropped me off near Stenli's flat. I enjoyed the company that day and the history lesson from Zofingen. :) I also remember just how much I love the french language. It is very nice that the Suisse speak French quite a bit slower than the French do, haha.

You can tell the building is old from the 5 sided roof. :)

In the foreground, Christophe and Anne-Francoise.

Aug. 3rd
On Friday, Matthias was supposed to accompany me to Lucerne for another night of dancing. However, he decided he was still too tired from being out late on Wednesday to celebrate the holiday. Of course, Stenli was once again at work, so I abandoned my plans for dancing that night.

Lovely fountains, as I said.

Art Museum

Neat sculpture.

However, the whole day was not a waste. I took the afternoon to go to Basel, which is actually a very interesting city. I went to the Kuntsmuseum and looked at all the artwork on display, except for the Renoir special exhibition. It was almost double the price and I saw the Renoirs that are usually displayed in the museum, which was fine for me. Sadly, you aren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum. :( I also walked over to the Munster Cathedral, which is quite fabulous. It has a lovely view of the river Rhine. I discovered that my camera is quite good at taking lovely photos even through dirty windows. :D

Munster Cathedral (part of it).

View from the Cathedral of Rhine river.

View in the other direction.

Basel has many beautiful water fountains around town and also moving sculptures. They even have a museum especially for this. However, I was unable to visit this museum because I was still under the impression that I was going to Lucerne that evening and was on a time limit. :/ I did get to see the sculptures around town, which are very impressive. I'm sad to say there was no good angle for me to photograph my favorite one. :(

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Okay, that's quite a lot for one post. I shall update about Lausanne and the Lavaux vineyards in my next post. :) Enjoy.