Lake Geneva

Saturday May 28^th

Today we did the de rigueur tourist activity in Lausanne – we took a boat ride on Lake Geneva.  It’s just the thing to do here, so we did it.  Lake Geneva is kind of shaped like a crescent moon, and Lausanne is near the middle.  Straight across the lake is Evian, France.  To the right is Geneva, Switzerland and to the left is Montreux, Switzerland.  Montreux was the home of Freddie Mercury, and there is a big statue of him at the harbor.  We took the boat to Montreux instead of Evian or Geneva, not because of Freddie Mercury, but because the views of the Alps are nicest in that direction.

The ride was nice, it took about 90 minutes to get to Montreux and the sun was nice and warm.  We rode 2^nd class, which meant we have to stay on the lower deck, but honestly, it was nicer than the upper deck, which was set back. I guess they were 10 feet closer to the Alps than we were, but since I had a seat on the deck in the sun and my view was unobstructed, all was good.

When we got to Montreux we disembarked, looked at the Freddie Mercury statue, and wandered along the lake. Katie was entranced with some swanlings. There are so many swans here on the lake – more than I have ever seen in one place before, and Katie just loves looking at the swanlings.  We thought about some lunch, but couldn’t find any cheap options.  We even stopped in McDonalds, and converted to US dollars a quarter pounder was $12 and 6 chicken nuggets were $10.  NOT EVEN A VALUE MEAL -JUST THE SANDWICHES!  We decided against $10 chicken nuggets and decided just to catch the train back to Lausanne and get sandwiches at the deli next to our hotel where you can get a $5 ham and cheese sandwich.  The train ride back was only 15 minutes and we were soon eating our cheap sandwiches beside the lake.

After lunch we took a nice walk along the lake, up to the next town and back, about 90 minutes round –trip. It was a nice day for a walk, and there was really not much else to do.  We watched all the sailboats go up and down the lake and Katie walked on the rocks. We even found a quiet park where she could practice her karate for a few minutes.

After the walk we sat by the lake again. Katie read and I dozed.  Later we had more cheese based dishes for dinner. Rösti again for me and Crouté with an oeuf for Katie ,which is a baked cheese layer on thick white bread and a fried egg on top.  

We head for Florence in the morning!  Our one hope is that our neighborhood is quiet, because with the boats blowing their horns in the morning, the churches chiming the hours all day long and the loud bands playing the in plaza across the street from the hotel each night until midnight it has been difficult to sleep!