Europe on a shoestring - Day 5 (Lausanne) [September 28, 2005]

Had to get up at 05:00 to catch the train to Lausanne at 06:55. By now we were used to the early rising so had no problems. I had chosen the route of the Goldenpass train – using the normal route – that way we could have the scenery, without the extra expense. However due to flooding the Interlaken (W) – Zweisimann leg could not take place by train and we had to change at Spiez and then change again to a bus at Wimmis. The driver was a nice guy (invited me to sit up front since no-other seats were available – that bought terrific views) and kept me entertained with a continuous banter about the life around there (he was a tour driver from Bodingen, a stop along the way). Most of the people were engaged in agriculture, tourism or dairy based industries. The word 'Zweisimann' is derived from the intersection of two (Zweiss) rivers in the Saanan valley. He talked about cows and sheep returning to pasture, flooding issues which devastated the place (the damage was very visible at locations), and his skiing and driving adventures.

We then switched to the train to take us to Montreux (the playplace of the rich including Charles Chaplin). The other duo met an Indian couple who got in at Gstaad. They live in Napean Sea Road in Bombay and come for a month every year. However I preferred to sleep through part of the journey – with Samir getting his nth ‘Oberfuhrer Joe sleeps’ snaps.

shhhhhhhhhhhhh.... the Oberfuhrer sleeps

As we arrived toward Lausanne you could see the flora changing to vineyards with huge Chateau on the top of the hills. aaaah - what a life, you can go from a beautiful lakeside to the lofty alps to vineyards..... all in the matter of a few hours.

Vineyards dotting the hillsides along our train journey

However, both Lausanne and Montreux are not as pretty as I initially thought. Montreux seems overrun with more mordern buildings that has pretty much torn away the old-town charm so nicely preserved by Zurich and Luzern. Lausanne is said to be the San Fransisco of Switzerland – and looking at the sloping roads all around I would believe it.

Car of Lausanne - well the Smart Car of course.... you can't but help be attracted by its appeal

After dumping our luggage (and me rehearsing the little French I knew) we moved on to see the place. I had determined it to be a more relaxing tour this time – so we could have some breather between countries.

St.Francois church

First we went to see St. Francois church. It is a beautiful quiet church on the side of a busy street – and we came back to it later to hear a beautiful organ recital by the resident organist – who was pretty much practicing in the quiet of the place. Walking through the street market we picked up some grapes to eat along the way. (apparently called raisins in a la François).

After that we went to see Notre Dame cathedral currently undergoing massive reconstruction outside – and it’s the classic gothic structure on the outside – huge, massive and towering spires overlooking the city.

The place is so large - that the only way I could get a full shot was to take the photograph from a few blocks away

I thought the best part of the cathedral was the stained glass windows - very detailed filled with picture stories on the life of Christ and the saints

Anil, though had a field day in this church.... one of the best known examples of Gothic architecture. He was at his 'Gothic' best, and immediately shifted into 'sepia tint' mode and gave us his gothic renditions... with us .... and Anil and the 'Dark Lord of the Sith'.... and yes - that is the photograph of the day!

The Sith Lord beckons

We went down to see Chateau St. Marie (now a government office), picked up some lunch (very average sandwich – I thought the bread was stale with goat cheese, ham (jambon)) on the side.

Chateau St. Marie

This was the first time that the Rough guides had not served us well – the restaurant which they had recommended as ‘inexpensive’ was certainly quite the opposite – and by then we were quite hungry and tired. Sitting outside the cathedral I composed the first of my postcards to be sent out to my near and dear ones.

Hotel de Ville

After relaxing for some time we walked down to Rimini palace (now housing the university) and Hotel de Ville (nothing special, all over-hype), bought some breakfast for the next day (Racqlet chees, baguette and bananas along with jambon) and walked down to Ouchy along the coast. It’s a nice seaside place and we walked along the pier and sat down and basically ‘chilled’. By the time we got back there was no other place open (at least not within our budget so we bought food from a Nepali Asian joint) and after a 1l wine we caught the train from Lausanne to Venezia at 23:20.