As part of my cousin Michelle and her husband Brian Clark’s European vacation they came up to Switzerland to visit Melissa and I for four days starting April 7th. In their time here they saw some of the sights near Lausanne, enjoyed our wonderful company, and made a long train tour into and through the mountains.
Their plane from Barcelona landed in Geneva a little after 2 p.m. on Thursday, then they were savvy enough travelers to navigate the Swiss train system to the Renens station near my and Melissa’s apartment by themselves. I met them at the station and guided them to their accommodations at Chez Olson where they dropped off their luggage, then the three of us set out to sight see in Lausanne.
The short tour I’ve been perfecting with each new guest began with a stop at Melissa’s school. We walked through the campus and to the strangely designed Rolex center, then hopped on a metro into central Lausanne. We next walked up and down the narrow cobble stone streets of the old city until we arrived at Lausanne’s cathedral. Instead of entering the cathedral right away though, we caught a bus from the cathedral stop up to the highest hill in the city where an impressive lookout tower sits. Unfortunately when we reached the top we found out the tower was closed for repairs. And on top of that we also had to take a long detoured bus route to make it down from the hill.
Around 6 p.m. we made it back to the cathedral stop, and decided to look inside the church. Even though I’ve toured the cathedral many times before, its so large and detailed that I normally find something new to see each time. This time the new thing I noticed and found interesting was duct tape holding together one of the ancient columns.
Shortly after our cathedral tour Melissa met up with us, and we found dinner in the city center. After a first taste of Switzerland we all went back to the apartment to rest up for the sightseeing in the days to come.
On Friday Brian was feeling a little under the weather, so it was just Michelle and I who went out sightseeing. Our destination was the town of Evian, France located on the southern, French, side of Lake Geneva, just 7.5 miles away from Lausanne. You might recognize the name because Evian is most famous for being the source of Evian bottled water.
To reach Evian we needed to catch a train, ride a subway, then board a boat across the lake. The day was drizzly and windy, but on the large boat the ride was smooth, warm, and dry. The boat runs fairly often and takes 35 minutes to cross. Most of our fellow passengers were “frontaliers,” which in English refers to a person that lives in one country but works in another. It turns out that even just a few miles from Switzerland’s shores, the cost of living in France is significantly lower. In fact Melissa even works with a few people who make the commute from France everyday.
Despite the drastic difference in cost of living, once we were in Evian we could barely tell it was a different country. There were no boarder checks after leaving the boat, the old style buildings and city layout are quite similar to Lausanne, and everything was, of course, still in French. After wondering around the city for a while we decided to seek out the most famous site: the Evian springs. Lucky for us finding them was a snap because all throughout the town are raindrop markers placed onto the sidewalks pointing the way. We found two spigots connected to the Evian springs, both coming out of the same hillside about 100 yards apart from one another. They were both constantly running, and both had a line of people waiting to fill up various containers straight from the source.
After a rejuvenating sip or two from the springs, we continued to wonder around town. We saw some interesting, large scale, wicker statues, and climbed a steep hill to catch the view. After grabbing a couple of crepes and coffee, we boarded the boat back to Lausanne and spent the night relaxing in the apartment.
Unfortunately on Saturday Brian still wasn’t feeling up to travel, so Michelle, Melissa and I ventured out to the Cailler chocolate factory and Chateau Chillion. Our route took us along the scenic shores of Lake Geneva to Montreux, then to a sight-seeing train called the Golden Pass, which climbed up along the lakeside mountain front. While we were ready to gorge on chocolate, the train that delivered us to Cailler was advertising something that may (or may not) be a little bit more appetizing: “Train Sushi.” I’m not sure what it is and I’m not sure I want to find out.
Even though Melissa and I have done the tour twice before, all three of us did the full chocolate tour. As always, the best part was the unlimited fine chocolate tastings at the end. With bellies full of chocolate, we made our way back to Montreux where Michelle took a tour of Chateau Chillion, while Melissa and I sipped down a carafe of wine watching the sunset on the lake.
That night we made it back home to have some pizza with a much healthier Brian, and planned out our next day.
On Sunday Brian was finally feeling better, and as luck would have it it was the nicest, clearest, sunniest day of their trip. We took advantage of the weather to ride a long train loop through the dramatic mountain valley in the canton of Valais, then turning around, after a stop in Interlaken, to ride home along the pastoral Swiss plateau.
Even though we wanted to tour Interlaken, the main objective of the day was actually the train ride. The first half of our route was filled with views that simply cannot be found in Minnesota. Our train moved past the steep Lavaux wine terraces of Lake Geneva, then along the Rhone river that cuts through the heart of the Alps with the snow capped mountains rapidly rising thousands of feet on either side of our train car. As we neared Interlaken, we came out of a long tunnel and the the scenery changed to more idyllic cattle pastures with the tall mountains still close but harder to glimpse from the speeding train window. We rode along the large lake named Thunersee then exited our train at Interlaken.
The views were awesome from the train, but we got a different appreciation in Interlaken when we could stop and stare at the far off snow capped mountains. We grabbed a bite to eat at an American style restaurant with a patio, then ambled around town a bit longer before boarded a small train to the scenic town of Grindelwald.
Grindelwald, a small ski resort town, was the last stop on the train line toward the mountains and had nearly unbelievable views. Since it was the beginning of April, we were also impressed to see people wandering through town in their ski boots, just coming off the slopes higher in the mountains. We hiked through the town, and though we were disappointed that the gondolas to some of the mountaintops weren’t running, we admired the miniature avalanches cascading down the faces of the mountains. We grabbed what was definitely one of the most scenic beers I’ve ever had, before we made the long journey back to our apartment.
Michelle and Brian had an early flight out of Geneva on Monday, so they had booked a hotel near the airport. We had a quick plate of charcuterie together before we said goodbye. As always, it was a blast to have visitors come through Renens and bring a little bit more life to our quiet apartment. Now we’re just counting down the days until our next round of guests arrive!
