8 July ’05, Friday.
Our campground in Lausanne is right on the edge of Lake Geneva, and about 35 minutes walk down the boardwalk to Ouchy. This morning we got underway just before 10am and made our way along the boardwalk to Ouchy and the Olympic Museum. It was a good day for a walk, about 70 degrees and sunshine. Ouchy was first established as a small fishing village, but now it is a Swiss Riviera Resort town, with a capital SRR… One thing nice about camping, is you can enjoy areas like this and still stay on a slim budget. Our main goal today was to enjoy the Olympic Museum. It is just a short block off the boardwalk and is spectacular. The grounds are really done well, with lots of bronze, stone, and metal sculptures, and a couple of fountains that all make it sensational. Once inside, we were treated to a very well laid out “museum” of Olympic history. We not only read the stories of how, who, and when the Olympics were started, re-started, and continue to run today. We also saw items of clothing, metals, shoes, skates, guns, bows, and etc, etc, that all make up the games of past and present. On the lower floor, you could sit in your own “theatre” and watch the opening, closing, and competition of past Olympic Games just by making your selection on the screens…it was a big hit. After pizza for lunch, we boarded the metro and headed up the hill to Lausanne. Now did I day hill ??? Lausanne is just like Seattle in this regard, as it is all hills. You, as a tourist, will get your exercise here in this town. Mikleane took on the responsibility of being our tour guide, for a walking tour that Rick Steves had in his book on Switzerland. There are a lot of things happening in this town, and construction is only one of them. There are little white tents put up all over the hills of Lausanne. If it isn’t for a music festival, it could be for an opera, or maybe just for food…all these little white tents… We saw the churches, cathedral, castle, city hall, and just about every other building and bridge in town, before we caught the bus back to the campground and a pasta dinner. I guess it is time for me to say once again, IT IS EXPENSIVE here in Switzerland. For lunch, we had 3 personal sized pizzas, 3 beers, 2 soft drinks, and it cost us about $60 US. I start to shake every time we walk towards a restaurant… Lou tells me to “get over it”, so I try, but it’s hard… Tomorrow…Interlaken
Our campground in Lausanne is right on the edge of Lake Geneva, and about 35 minutes walk down the boardwalk to Ouchy. This morning we got underway just before 10am and made our way along the boardwalk to Ouchy and the Olympic Museum. It was a good day for a walk, about 70 degrees and sunshine. Ouchy was first established as a small fishing village, but now it is a Swiss Riviera Resort town, with a capital SRR… One thing nice about camping, is you can enjoy areas like this and still stay on a slim budget. Our main goal today was to enjoy the Olympic Museum. It is just a short block off the boardwalk and is spectacular. The grounds are really done well, with lots of bronze, stone, and metal sculptures, and a couple of fountains that all make it sensational. Once inside, we were treated to a very well laid out “museum” of Olympic history. We not only read the stories of how, who, and when the Olympics were started, re-started, and continue to run today. We also saw items of clothing, metals, shoes, skates, guns, bows, and etc, etc, that all make up the games of past and present. On the lower floor, you could sit in your own “theatre” and watch the opening, closing, and competition of past Olympic Games just by making your selection on the screens…it was a big hit. After pizza for lunch, we boarded the metro and headed up the hill to Lausanne. Now did I day hill ??? Lausanne is just like Seattle in this regard, as it is all hills. You, as a tourist, will get your exercise here in this town. Mikleane took on the responsibility of being our tour guide, for a walking tour that Rick Steves had in his book on Switzerland. There are a lot of things happening in this town, and construction is only one of them. There are little white tents put up all over the hills of Lausanne. If it isn’t for a music festival, it could be for an opera, or maybe just for food…all these little white tents… We saw the churches, cathedral, castle, city hall, and just about every other building and bridge in town, before we caught the bus back to the campground and a pasta dinner. I guess it is time for me to say once again, IT IS EXPENSIVE here in Switzerland. For lunch, we had 3 personal sized pizzas, 3 beers, 2 soft drinks, and it cost us about $60 US. I start to shake every time we walk towards a restaurant… Lou tells me to “get over it”, so I try, but it’s hard… Tomorrow…Interlaken