Switzerland Part 2: Lausanne

guest post by Owen

This is part 2 of a series on our recent trip to Switzerland.  Here's Part 1: Geneva, but you don't need to have read it before this post on the second city in which we spent most of our time: Lausanne, where we stayed with our friends Chris and Yordan.

Lausanne Ouchy

At the end of our first day in Geneva, we took the train to Lausanne and joined Chris as she arrived herself from work.  Together we rode the metro—Lausanne is apparently the smallest city in the world to have a subway system—to the part of the city that borders Lake Geneva, Lausanne Ouchy.  (Pronounced "oo-shee." Not "ouch-ee." As much as I wish it were.)  Chris and Yordan have an apartment over a restaurant on the waterfront.

This is seriously the view out their window.

Upon exploring the neighborhood in the daylight, we found that the waterside is quite pedestrian-friendly.  Many people commute by ferry from France every day, but the harbor is also a nice destination in itself.

There are nice benches to sit on where you can enjoy being in Switzerland...

...and having beautiful views of the pre-Alps in France.

We even discovered that the Swiss penchant for clocks also extends to their horticulture:

There's one in Geneva as well!

Lausanne is not flat

We also ventured up into the center of Lausanne, trying to get a sense of the city.  Even on the metro we could feel the incline, but once on foot we realized that the city is not even at a constant angle: it has hills and valleys even within the generally upward slope away from the lake.

After the Netherlands, this felt like an Escher print.

This low swath use to be the path of a river through the city down to the lake.

It felt good to stretch our legs and meander along beautifully cobbled streets past charming facades of shops and houses.

This umbrella is saying, "I'm so happy to be alive!"

Our goal was to reach the Lausanne Cathedral; we got a little lost a couple of time but eventually reached this series of wooden staircases set into the stone hillside:

Lausanne Cathedral

Once we reached the stairs, we were no longer lost.  The final flight framed the cathedral we were so happy to reach:

Once inside, we noticed that the interior was very similar to that of Geneva's cathedral: lots of cluster columns and gothic arches.

But the weather being so much sunnier, the stained glass was especially radiant that day.

La Philosophie—Les Arts—Les Sciences—Les Traveaux

As fun as it looks.

At the plaza around the cathedral, we were also rewarded by a view over the rooftops all the way back down to the lake.

That's all for now!  Stay tuned for next time, when we left the vicinity of Lausanne altogether and ventured out to Gruyères and Le Moléson.

Thanks for reading!