Lausanne, Switzerland and Annecy, France

On Saturday, we traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland (pronounced loh-ZHAN) which is about an hour north of Geneva. We were armed with a tentative plan, a camera, our GPS, and a printed map just in case we got lost. I was amazed as we left the city and entered the Swiss countryside. I guess the saying is true- "you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl." I was mesmerized by the topography of the region and the amount of land being farmed even though it had to be terraced because of the steep hills. The tractors were in the fields; the rich soil exposed and ready for the next planting. I thought about how God works up the "soil of my heart" and "plants" His Word in me.

Driving past the vineyards on our way to Lausanne, Switzerland

Lausanne is known for having the largest church in Switzerland, the location of the IOC headquarters and Olympic Museum, and for the beautiful lakefront promenade. This town was literally built on a hill. The steep metro line links the lakefront area with the old town and since I knew the street market was happening we headed to the old town first. Smooth jazz music was being played by college aged artists as we exited the metro station, happy children were laughing and playing on the fountain, busy vendors were lined up with all of their produce, cheeses, meats, and breads. The cobblestone square was alive with activity. We walked around the plaza, grabbed a freshly baked pizza and sat at the fountain to people watch. We saw the spires of the church and headed towards it on covered wooden stairs that wound around buildings and streets. The Cathedral of Lausanne was built as a Catholic church but is now a Evangelical Reform Church. It has an organ with 6,700 pipes where free concerts are held throughout the year. Since the Middle Ages, a watchman has lived in the bell tower and is heard hourly throughout the night beginning at ten, "I am the watchman. It is ten o'clock." 

Lausanne Cahedral

We headed up higher still towards the castle where poor Major Abraham Davel's statue stands. In 1723, he tried to free Lausanne from the German rule but was unfortunately decapitated. It took 75 more years before freedom came to the city but he is still a hero in this town. 

We were trying to follow a self guided walking tour but we totally deviated from that plan (got a little lost), took a bus towards the center of town and found a market where we grabbed a delicious danish and croissant.

We jumped on the Metro and headed down to the lakefront and the Olympic Museum. The Olympic Museum is set in the middle of a giant park along Lake Geneva. Thankfully, the museum signs were written in both French and English so we enjoyed learning about the history of the games, appreciated the Olympic Spirit, and even tried our hand at the skiing/shooting biathlon. Well, really just a game but it was really fun.

After a beautiful walk on the lakefront promenade we headed for home. We had seen an IKEA on our way to Lausanne and were hoping to check it out to pick up a few things for the apartment before returning to Geneva. IKEA turned out to be a lot of fun even without playing the hide and seek games. 

On Sunday, Doug and I headed to Annecy, France; a medieval town filled with canals, bridges, castles and the cleanest, blue lake in all of Switzerland. Our plan for the day was to wander the streets. We entered France and drove about 30 minutes through 2 mountain tunnels to Annecy. We found a parking garage which was an underground 5-story circular structure lined with glass windows which provided natural lighting all the way down. We began wandering the cobblestone streets filled with the most delicious smells of baked bread and crepes, beautiful, vibrant colors of fresh fruits and vegetables, unending amounts of cheese and sausages and all of this among the pastel colors of the 4 story buildings. Doug and I saw a bread and pastry shop with a line of customers and decided to share a pastry. It turned out to be a double glazed donut with nutella in the center. Oh, my, it was delicious! We had also seen a man who was making two different stews and went back to him for lunch. We bought the last of his beef stew and ate it sitting along the canal. 

Our lunch spot on the Thiou canal

We visited the Chateau of Annecy which was the residence for the counts of Geneva in the 13th and 14th centuries. This castle was filled with paintings, sculptures and alpine furniture but it was the architecture that amazed me. The turrets with slits for archers to defend the castle, the huge fireplaces to heat the many rooms, the 4 massive wood burning ovens for cooking, the pillars holding up the floors above, the 13 foot thick walls and the separate rooms with a bench toilet were simply amazing.

The Chateau defense walls

It had been used as a castle for royalty, a medieval prison, a home for over 300 squatters, a military barrick, a place of safety for the residents of the town during WWII and now as a museum. If the walls could talk. . . 

The Palais d' Isle is the oldest building in the town built in the 12th century as the first palace. It later became a prison and continued in that manner until the 1800's. During WWII it was used once again by the Nazis to imprison French resistance fighters until finally it was converted to a museum. We walked into the small cells with iron rings where prisoners were shackled and tortured. At one time it housed over 100 prisoners in the 5 small cells.

One of the cells in the prison

We left and walked in the garden along Lake Annecy surrounded by mountains and this quaint city. I definitely can't wait to come back.