Last day in Lausanne

Saturday, July 10th was our last day in Lausanne. We woke up mid-morning and dressed for a day of exploration in and around town. We considered a ferry trip to the nearby French town of Evian (famed source of the bottle water we know so well in the US) or a trip to the Baths at Lavey or even a visit to the fancy spa at the Beau Rivage Palace which was next door to our hotel and for which we had a pair of free passes. In the end we did none of that. Instead, we had a little breakfast by the lake and took a few photos of the lakefront. Then, we decided that we weren't in the mood for anything but a nap, so we headed back to our room for some rest.

After several hours of sleeping and chilling, we got up, dressed in street clothes and headed out of hotel room again. We were in the mood for some traditional Swiss cuisine and headed up to Old Town Lausanne in search of some fondue. Turns out fondue is mostly served in the winter. Given the July date, we decided to save the fulfillment of that fondue wish for another time. We traipsed around Old Town, watching people and taking snapshots of the scenic neighborhoods through which we passed. Eventually, we jumped on a city bus and rode it to the main railway station in town. Once at the train station (gare) we located the Tourist Information shop to get more ideas on where to have dinner. We were more than a little amused when the lady behind the counter recommended a traditional Swiss restaurant that's on the same block as our hotel. She told us they specialized in Rösti which we'd seen at the jazz fest in some of the more crowded food booths. To many Americans, Rösti will resemble hash browns (the kind where the potatoes are grated) that have been cooked with bits of meat and/or some combination of cheese, ham, or sausage, fish, or mushrooms. Our mouths began to water at the thought of it. We jumped on the first metro back to Ouchy, the section of town closest to the lake and the location of our hotel.

For dinner we ordered two types of Rösti (mine with ham, onions and fondue cheese; John's with smoked sausage. We also split a large house salad with marinated onions, walnuts, olives, pancetta and tomatoes. Both the meal and the service were very good. Fat and happy, we hustled down the block to our hotel, hoping to avoid the impending rain storm. We spent the remainder of our last night in Lausanne watching the championship soccer game between Spain and the Netherlands, reading from our Kindle and repacking our suitcases for the next day's move to Milan, Italy.

All in all, the time we spent in Lausanne, Switzerland was delightful even though we didn't do half of what we'd planned doing while there. It's just so beautiful there and our accommodations were excellent. We'd love to return some day.