Last night, we stayed at the beautiful Alpha Palmier hotel in the city of Lausanne. I must say, that this has been the most interesting city we’ve visited. I don’t think there was anything strait in this city. The streets are all running off in different directions and all going either uphill or downhill. The uphill was very steep. I took an evening run down to Lake Lausanne. The downhill part was really easy, however, coming uphill needed a lot more energy. Really, I think if I had to chose a city to live in for a while, it would be Lausanne. The view was breathtaking.

To get our bus to our hotel required some pretty fancy maneuvering by our expert driver, Wolfgang. However, after driving down the wrong street for a while (one way), we finally arrived at our hotel. The cobblestone street in front of our hotel dropped away rather steeply, but that didn’t stop the local restaurants from setting up outside sitting areas. I think they must use anti-slip material under their dishes.

The people in the Lausanne, speak French and German but primarily, this part of Switzerland is French. All the signs are now in French and when you talk to the locals, they all have beautiful melodic accents. The few times I stopped to talk to people, I found them to be very friendly! All in all, I would give this city and its people a five star rating.

The first stop of the next day was at Geneva. Geneva is one of the birthplaces of the Protestant Reformation. John Calvin did most of his teaching in this city. In the city you can see the reformation wall which commemorates the significant role that Geneva played in the Reformation.

Geneva is also the birthplaces of Swiss watches. The main Swiss banks are located here. From the city center, we walked into town and everywhere you went there were banks. Oh, there were were also stores selling very expansive watches. Something that I saw and would have liked to buy was an old fashioned music box. Some of them could play up to 17 different songs. All you had to do was change the cylinder. But the price was rather steep!

On the way into Geneva, we drove past the United Nations Seat. We saw the alleyway with all the national flags. Also, there was a huge wooden chair which stands as a memorial to all the people killed or injured though land mine use. If you look, you’ll see that the chair is missing on leg.

Of course, we couldn’t get into the United Nations grounds. We simple drove past twice and then moved on to the City Center.

The one thing about Geneva that I think I’ll remember for a long time will be the convoluted streets. You walk down a street which suddenly turns into an alleyway and then seems to dead end. However, if you walk to the end, you usually find a flight of stairs that take you up or down a level. We were looking for the Cathedral St Pierre which is the oldest church in, I think, Europe. It was built on top of the ruins of a Roman temple. The building was huge! One definitely wonders how on earth they build these huge structures without cranes and lifting devices. The grandeur of the building was more impressive then the art work on the inside (not that it wasn’t wonderful too). What really struck you was the amazing size of the building. It towered tall above any of the other buildings in the area. I think it was considerably taller then even most of the modern buildings! Inside, you had to tilt your head way back to look up at the beautifully arched ceiling. Wonderful stained glass windows adorned the walls. The whole building made one think about Salomon’s temple. The building was so splendid that many of the Jewish people began to think too highly of the temple and forgot about the God that it was built for. I guess, that we can make that same mistake with our churches or our communities.

After we left Geneva, we headed towards Chillon Castle which is located on the shores of Geneva Lake. Chillon Castle is the oldest, undisturbed castle from the 12^th century. It was originally build by the Savoy Dynasty but was only used for about two or three weeks every other year. The reason they didn’t live there permanently was simple. Because of the harsh environments, farmers in the area couldn’t raise many cattle, sheep or pigs. Whenever the king came to the castle, the local people had to feed him. So, if the kings came too often or stayed too long, the farmers would starve to death during the following year. So, the Savoy kings decided it best to only come once a year.

The castle was never really attacked and hence is in almost mint condition. The swiss army were the only ones who ever captured the castle. However, they did it without firing a shot at the castle. The simple marched up the castle and fired a couple of shots in the air and head their soldiers scream and yell. Eventually, the Savoys decided to abandon the castle. They all jumped into their boats and sailed away. You see, the Swiss army had a reputation of being the fiercest army around. Also, once the fighting started, they never took prisoners, only loot!

There were many interesting artifacts in the castle. One of the most interesting, were old chests which had been handed down from father to son or mother to daughter for many years. These chest were beautifully decorated.

Anyway, tomorrow, we will be in the beautifully town of Zermatt. Zermatt is a unique town as it is an entirely automobile free down. Vehicles are allowed only with special permission. They do have a few electric cars, but even those need special permission. The only way in, is by train. We will be driving to the local town and then take the train to Zermatt.

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