Europe Day 7: Lausanne

Monday morning, we left the hostel in Interlaken, and traveled the few hours by train to Lausanne, with a brief layover in Bern. The first train was fine, but the trip from Bern to Lausanne was interesting...it was a local train, and we were on the upper level, which was clearly not designed to hold both us and our luggage. Fortunately, it was only a short trip...


We dropped off luggage at the hostel in Lausanne, which was conveniently just up the street from the train station, but awkwardly just up the hill from the sex cinema...and apparently there are not any laws regarding what can be shown on posters on the street in Switzerland...yeah...little bit awkward...
Lausanne also is located in the French speaking region of Switzerland, whereas Interlaken had been in the German speaking region. I hadn't really realized how many little German phrases I was starting to recognize (mostly in context on signs) until suddenly everything was in French! Anyway, after dropping off luggage, we went on a walking tour of the old city in Lausanne, with Craig and his iPad acting as tour guide:


Lausanne had two cathedrals that we went into. These were an interesting contrast to Munich. Since Lausanne is in Switzerland, home to the great reformer John Calvin, both of these cathedrals, originally built and decorated as Catholic, were stripped of all decoration during the Reformation when the Calvinists took over. Even the stained glass windows in these cathedrals was removed during the reformation, so what is there now was added in the late 19th century. Apparently I am a good Protestant, since I felt much more at home in these bare buildings than in the somewhat gaudy Munich cathedrals. Interestingly, the Calvinist opposition to decorations apparently doesn't extend to the organ, as the organ in the Lausanne cathedral was beautiful and massive. According to Craig's guide, the organ was actually American made, and purchased at a cost at the time of over four million Francs (1 Franc is about 1 US dollar).











These were located around the wall of the church. I'm unclear if they are actually tombs, or who they represent (inscriptions in French...), but they certainly add a somber air to the sanctuary...





The cathedrals were the highlight of the walking tour, although we also walked around some of the classy shopping area of the city.


Also, we discovered that Lausanne is a ridiculously hilly city. Hills. Everywhere. Yeah...
Ended the day with a dinner. A group of 10 or so of us walked downtown to find cheap food, but we had somewhat of a disagreement over the definition of "cheap," so some ended up going to a pizza restaurant, while the other 6 of us made a fantastic life choice and went to a delicious (and cheap) Greek fast food place where I had a kabob...then we had a 1.5 hour conversation on religion and religious denominations. Great end to the day!