After skiing in Zermatt, we made our way by train to Lausanne, Switzerland to explore areas around Lake Geneva.
More Lake Geneva photos here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9p9JTcSTcshayTs7
April 3: Upon arrival in Lausanne, we went to the lakefront area called Port d'Ouchy. It was rainy so it was a good time to visit the Olympic Museum. Lausanne is home to the International Olympic Committee headquarters. The museum was interesting, although not the best audio tour (lengthy and unclear directions). I did enjoy all the various artifacts, descriptions and videos from past Olympics getting us excited for the upcoming Paris Olympics. Here is the basketball signed by the Dream Team:
After the castle we walked along the lake to the town of Montreux for lunch. It was a very scenic walk and I took many pictures along the way:
After lunch we took a train to Lavaux Vineyards for wine tasting. This was actually the reason why I chose Lausanne to stay since I read that this is a very beautiful vineyard. We did a tasting inside the tasting room of Lavaux Vinorama and it was fine, but I don't think a dark tasting room is the aesthetic that this wine region is famous for. After the tasting we hiked up among the grapevines behind the winery which was more scenic. I think the best view would have been from a boat on the lake but given it was off-season, that was not an option for us while we were there.
In an effort to fulfill our vision of drinking wine with a view, we continued hiking up the hill where we found another winery (Domaine Bovy) and we drank wine with this view:
The walk up to this point left me sore for days (still counting as I'm writing this). Worth it!
The way back to Lausanne presented an interesting adventure. When I say adventure I mean a horrible series of events that left us exhausted, hungry and angry. We were originally supposed to take a bus to a train but the bus never came. So we pivoted and took a train that should have worked just fine except it stopped moving one stop before ours. After some time, non-English announcements and commotion among the passengers, we learned that there was an "incident" at some point along the tracks in front of us preventing our train from moving forward. On top of that, the train was not positioned properly in the station so they could not open the doors. We were trapped! Eventually we discovered an open door (I think another passenger was somehow able to get it open) and we "escaped" to a bus and got back to Lausanne much later and annoyed than planned.
April 5: Today we planned a day trip to Geneva. We were going to join one of those "free" walking tours but no one showed up to give the tour. Therefore, Ryan found a self-guided walking tour on his phone and proceeded to tell us about various sites in the Old Town area of Geneva. This is how it went:
Quote from Sam: "Boooooring". However, it was a very nice day and we walked through a park, went to a playground, played chess (Ryan & Sam) and saw the Jet d'Eau (large fountain).
April 6: Today we finished our exploration of Lausanne and then headed to Basel for the Nightjet back to Amsterdam. A priority was getting a pillow for the night train given the sad state of the pillows on the train. I was able to find one at a department store. We also went to the Lausanne Cathedral, the local market, ate crepes, hit a playground and went to Blondel which is a popular chocolate shop.
The Nightjet back to Amsterdam was an improvement from the one to Switzerland. We had an upgraded cabin with larger beds and a private bathroom. However, the bathroom did not work by my definition of a working bathroom - the toilet did not flush and the sink did not produce water which I think is its primary function. The bigger beds were nice but there were only 2 beds so Sam got is own bed and bragged for a day about how much space he had. Ryan and I not so much. Overall it was better but not great. In the end, Sam loved the Nightjet, I did not and the verdict is out for Ryan.
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