Viva Svizzera!

The Eurotrip saga continues today, as our foursome departed Venice on another god-awful early train bound for the land of chocolate and fondue: Switzerland. Jen and Cynthia split off for several days in Geneva, but Amanda and I headed to Lausanne. This city was my one must-see on this trip; all of the other cities were agreed upon by the group, but I told everyone that I'd be going to Lausanne, so come if you want but I'm going regardless. (What? It's the Olympic capital of the world, for crying out loud! I have my priorities!)

Luckily, Amanda understands what it's like to be overzealously in love with something, so she was game for indulging my passion. She just wanted to go to Switzerland to see some Alps. Our entire agenda in Lausanne consisted of a) Olympics, and b) Alps. That was our whole plan.

Despite the exorbitant Swiss prices ($4.50 for a Coke! Are you kidding me?!), I think Switzerland was the zenith of the trip. We weren't rushing to get anywhere at any specific time, I didn't pick up any new injuries and even managed to massage my foot into relative painlessness, we weren't excessively exhausted or broke yet... and, hello, it's the Olympic capital of the world! We stayed in an adorable hostel with a great view, went for an hours-long walk around Lake Geneva and picnicked bread and cheese, stumbled across a circus, laughed at ourselves when we got on buses going up the mountain instead of down (multiple times), found the International Olympic Committee headquarters, walked around the old city and found what was probably my favorite church of the whole trip, embraced our inner children (and inner flower children), ate fondue... and went to the Olympics museum! Lausanne was three days of pure happy!

I also registered for my fall semester classes on the train from Zurich to Lausanne. So that was a thing.

Registering for classes on a train in Switzerland
View of the Alps in Lausanne, Switzerland
The main train station in Lausanne, Switzerland
Stade Olympique (Olympic Stadium) in Lausanne, Switzerland
Roman ruins in Lausanne, Switzerland
Flowers in my hair in Lausanne, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
International Olympic Committee headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland
Frolicking in a playground in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
Having a picnic on the shores of Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
Flowers in our hair in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
A circus in Lausanne, Switzerland
The temporary Olympics Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
Olympic art in Lausanne, Switzerland
A model of Beijing's Olympic stadium (the Bird's Nest) at the Olympics Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
Opening and closing ceremony costumes at the Olympics Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
Medals from Lake Placid 1980 at the Olympics Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
Medals from Salt Lake City 2002, Torino 2006 and Vancouver 2010 at the Olympics Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland
The Olympic flag, Lake Geneva and a view of the Alps in Lausanne, Switzerland
A cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland
A cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland
View of Lausanne, Switzerland from above
View of Lausanne, Switzerland from above
A cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland
A cathedral in Lausanne, Switzerland
Lausanne, Switzerland

Our "usual" pictures got a bit of an update on this stop. I still got the U (my last one of the trip! SHAME ON ME!)...

Throwing up the U on Lake Geneva in Lausanne, Switzerland
It's also a very questionable U. Sigh. Can't win 'em all.

And we weren't going to have some random stranger take a picture of Amanda sweeping me off my feet or us jumping, so we improvised what we could.

Jumping selfies in Lausanne, Switzerland

That, my friends, is a jumping selfie. See Exhibits B and C:

Jumping selfies in Lausanne, Switzerland
Photographic evidence that the feet are off the ground! Also, I apologize for my excessively floppy bangs.

Amanda has some jedi selfie skills. And immediately after taking these, some Asian tourists came up to us and asked if they could take pictures with us. We became part of the tourist attraction, us crazy Americans. You're welcome, Switzerland!

Stay tuned for next week, as we hit the midway point of the trip and swing through Germany. :) For my original post on Lausanne, see here!

Travel Tuesday

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9 comments :

  1. It sounds like three days of pure bliss and I think I just fell in love with Lausanne! Your photos are outstanding. Were they taken with your phone?

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    1. Aw thanks! :) No, this was back in my crappy Android days -- these pictures were taken with my point-and-shoot which then died about a month later.

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  2. Oh I loved Lausanne! I wrote a post about it last week for #TT. I visited last winter (in 2013) and it was wonderful! I didn't even know before I went that it was where the IOC was! Also it seems you had much better weather than me - I was freezing and walking super fast, didn't enjoy the sights as much as I would have liked!
    jumping selfie will now be something I attempt!

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    1. Oh really?! I'll have to go check your post out! :) We went in April, which definitely explains the better weather, lol. It did rain a bit while we were there but temperature-wise it was lovely most of the time!

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  3. Lausanne seems wonderful! I can totally understand what it feels like to be in such an expensive country! When I was in Oslo I wanted to go to Lillehammer to visit the Olympic Museum there but train tickets were so expensive that I didn't end up going although I really wanted to.....

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    1. Gosh, later on in this trip we went to Copenhagen and it was the same expensiveness! It's ridiculous! Aw, that's sad that train tickets were so expensive. :( I probably would've bit the bullet and done it anyway, but that's just 'cause the Olympics are kind of my thing, lol. Did you see the Olympic sites in Oslo while you were there, though?!

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    2. Yes I visited the Holmenkollen ski jumping tower and the ski museum! Awesome and probably quite similar to the sites in Lillehammer so it's kinda okay that I didn't end up going....maybe one day ;)

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  4. Wow, 4.50 for a coke is insane! My best friend almost moved to Switzerland and although I want to visit, I could not handle visiting every few months and paying those prices! I feel like it's definitely worth it one time for the experience though :).

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    1. I KNOW, the menu didn't say the price and when I got my bill I wanted to barf! But the rest of the Switzerland experience was wonderful, so I do highly recommend it! :)

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