Lovely Lausanne

Oh, lovely Lausanne... this is one of my favorite cities I've visited since being in Europe. I heard that it was a recommended spot, so Jake and I just took a 45 min. train ride from Geneva to get there. I was sad that Nate couldn't join us because he had to work, but I plan on coming back with him again... maybe sometime in the spring or summer when people come to visit! There was a bit of bad weather when I arrived, it was actually raining and I didn't have my umbrella, so I did some souvenir shopping (something I hadn't done yet)! By the afternoon, the sun had come out and it turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous day.

The old town was full of quaint streets and farmer's markets with fresh flowers & produce

Lausanne is known for being very steep. It was built up right in the middle of BIG hills. I just walked down the street in this picture and then climbed up a hill to be now looking down at it!
This picture is a perfect example how Lausanne is a three-tiered city. There are bridges everywhere connecting the top and middle tier. Do you see the Metro? It's kind of like an underground, out-of-ground subway. One minute you're in a tunnel and the next minute you're out looking around... pretty neat. Jake and I rode it once to see what it was like because it is brand new. The inside was so modern and clean... you could take a white glove to it and wouldn't find a speck of dirt!
A story about the bridge: This is a little disturbing, so don't let your kids read this! Do you see how high the guard rail is? (It's a little taller than me!) Well, the railing is psychologically designed to discourage suicidal people from taking a leap. During the holidays, social workers hang out by the bridge with soup & hot chocolate to comfort anyone who is feeling distraught. It is very sad, but this country has one of the highest suicide rates in Europe.

Jake was having a good time on our little adventure and every time I stopped to take a picture, he would look at me like as if he were saying, "Come on! What are you waiting for? Let's keep going!"

This Evangelical Reform Church is the biggest (in the size of the building) in Switzerland. It is more than 300 feet long and hard to capture in a picture!

I always love the doors on these old churches and what an elaborate one this is. When I went to open the door, it felt like it weighed 100 pounds!

Believe it or not, we are standing right in front of a high school. Can you imagine looking out your window in high school and seeing this!?Lausanne's castle with a beautiful statue...

Major Davel (the statue) rebelled against the Bernese domination for the people of Lausanne and was beheaded for it. The angel is coming out of the wall to place a hand over Davel.

The Fountain of Justice

The figure of Justice is holding her sword and scales, commanding fairness as she stands on top of rulers and kings. Just imagine the neighborhood moms sending kids here to fetch water in the days before plumbing! Wonder what they thought of it?

After seeing the sights in the city, we finally came to the lake. It was so peaceful and serene... hardly any people around.

This backwards "C" shows which way the wind is blowing. Compare it to the other picture a little bit below to see the change in the wind!

When I arrived in Lausanne, I didn't think I'd be able to see the Alps in the distance, but thankfully, the skies cleared just enough. Don't forget you can click on the picture to make it bigger!

Lausanne calls itself the "Olympic Capital" because it's been home to the International Olympic Committee for almost 100 years. They have an Olympic Park & Museum to celebrate the Olympic games.

Along the promenade are dozens of unique sculptures... this one caught my eye.

On one side of the lake, you can see the mountains and on the other side, the water extends as far as the eye can see. It was like looking out into the ocean.

What a view!

The City of Geneva

When Nate first found out about a job in Switzerland, he was talking about it with a guy who was working in Geneva, but used to work in the Raleigh office for PwC (Nate's company). He played a big role in getting us over here, so it was nice that Nate could finally meet him and we even all went to dinner one night. He has been in Switzerland with his family for about a year & a half, so it was interesting to get his perspective on living here. Even though he lives in Switzerland, Geneva is completely different from Basel. In some ways, that's a good thing for me and Nate. My impression of Geneva was a little different before I actually got there. During our stay, I discovered that it is very commercialized, the streets are somewhat dirty, and it seemed like more people drive than walk. In Basel, before you even step into a crosswalk, the cars stop for you, but in Geneva, they will keep on going... Jake and I almost got hit like 5 times!

Among all the busyness of the city, I did manage to find some very tranquil parts. Jake and I strolled through the old town and came upon the St. Francis Cathedral. I love the turquoise steeple.

I'm not sure what this statue represents and it's a little creepy, but I thought it was a cool picture.

A museum and a yellow, fall-colored tree.

A view from the top... after climbing a lot of stairs! Do you see the Jet d'Eau fountain?

This is a very interesting clock made out of grass and flowers. Leave it up to the Swiss to do something like that! Can you find the fountain again?

A peaceful park with the view of the lake in the background.

The blue sign behind the fountain says "The Road of John Calvin"

The grand entrance to the Bastions Park

The International Monument to the ReformationAn incredible monument... it was built to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Calvin's birth. They built it into the old city walls to represent the city's integral importance to the Protestant Reformation.
From the left: William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, John Knox

Lake Geneva

Nate had to work in Geneva last week and lucky for me & Jake, we were able to join him. His company put us in a fancy hotel right off the lake (a slight upgrade from our last hotel stay in an attic). I had never stayed at a hotel with a doorman before. I had three people waiting on me at breakfast and they even brought Jake a little doggy bowl with water! I thought... I could get used to this. Here are some pictures of the lake: Jet d'Eau Fountain is one of the city's most famous landmarks. It jets out 132 gallons of water per second to an altitude of 459 feet!

The mountains are peeking out from beneath the clouds. There are actually some clouds below the mountains too.

The view as Jake and I were jogging. Notice the old lighthouse in the distance.

Jake wanted to run after the birds...

And swim after the swans...

He started to bark excitedly at the swans and they hissed back at him. I was actually scared of a swan for a moment!

A beautiful sunset on the lake.

I love all the sailboats.

The view of the lake, city, and sunset.

Colmar, France

A couple of weeks ago, Nate and I took a day trip to the charming French town of Colmar. Only a 40 minute train ride away, we were immediately immersed into a different culture. As soon as we got off the train, a little girl came up to me and started speaking in French… I assumed she was asking me if she could pet Jake as her face lit up when she saw him, but I wasn’t sure. I’ve learned how to say, “I don’t speak German,” in German, but I had no idea how to say, “I don’t speak French,” in French! Her parents were with her and once they realized we were Americans (for some reason, they can spot us out!), they spoke a little English with us. So the little girl got to pet Jake and then we were on our way. We continued on to walk around the city and came upon a nice park. It was empty because it was really cold out!
After walking through the park, we saw rows of beautiful old houses. Colmar is made up of colorful houses with exposed wooden beams. They are simply charming. It’s as if when they built them, they planned on having every color of the rainbow on each street!

This is the front of the Custom's House which was built in the 13th century. Our guide book told us to start our self-guided walk here, but it took us forever to find it. There is not one straight street in Colmar and the streets are not well marked, but it's not a bad place to get lost!
Colmar is also known as "Petite Venice" ... you can see the canals here and more colorful houses

To the right of this canal is the old Market House. They used to bring all of the town's food products in by boat and drop it off here.
For a pretty penny, you can take a scenic canal tour in a gondola, but it was a little too cold to be sitting still. We think we will save a gondola ride for the real Venice.

We stopped at a restaurant along a canal for lunch. We had to sit outside because of Jake, but fortunately, they had heaters blowing on us. We had the local specialty: tarte flambees... they were delicious. They look like pizza, but don't taste anything like it!
Jake was being so good just sitting there, but he was definitely giving me his puppy face because he wanted some of our food!

For desert, we had swiss chocolate with cream filling... yum... but they were hard to eat without being messy.

St. Martin Cathedral (built in 1235)

The architecture was amazing... it reminded us of The Munster in Basel

The cathedral's clock was beautiful and underneath it says "Remember that you are mortal" in LatinThe remainder of the day, we just strolled through the pedestrian streets of old town ... it was simply charming