Lausanne

Last Friday, I had the day off so I decided to take the train into Lausanne for a visit. Lausanne is Switzerland's fifth largest city with a population of 116,300. It is the third most visited after Geneva and Zurich. It is the home of the International Olympic Committee. Situated on Lake Geneva amidst a myriad of hills, this city is breathtakingly beautiful.

I began the day by visiting the Olympic Museeum. It was very educational with information about the games and how the modern games began. There was also a ton of memorabilia from previous games. The torches were all on display, of particular interest to me was the one from the Atlanta games.

My favorite part of Lausanne was when I visited the church of St. Francois. When I got there I walked all around the building looking for the entrance. I finally found a small sign, in French, that said to visit the church enter through the bronze door. So I see this immense bronze door to my left and think, "I can't open that". But I walk up to it and it swings open, seemingly on its own. And then I hear this organ start to play. So I walk in and think this is kind of creepy. So I wander around this beautiful building built in the 13th century as a monastary. The entire time the organ was playing. It was a very neat experience. I never saw a soul the whole time I was there, people are missing out. When I was ready to go the door "magically" opend on its own.

I also visited the Tour de L'Ale, which was built in 1340 as part of the medieval defensive walls of Lausanne. "That we can admire the tower at all is due to those townspeople who opposed demoilition plans in 1903. " Quote from Lonely Planet guide to Switzerland. Imagine wanting to demiloish something that had stood for 600 years.

I spent a large part of the day walking up and down the many hilly streets of Lausanne. I definitly got my exercise that day. I also visited other museums and enjoyed the scenery. I would put pictures, but I am having issues with the computer. Sorry, maybe later.