Everyday Life in Lausanne

Above left is a picture of the green & white awning front of our local grocery store. As you can see from the outside, the grocery stores are MUCH smaller than we're used to. The picture above left is the kids in the produce section, ready for our day's shopping.
There are 2 main chain stores: Migros and Coop. The strangest thing to us is that you can't buy the same brand name products at both stores. Migros sells Pepsi, Coop sells Coke. We shop at both stores. About 8 stores down from this Coop, there's a 2-story Migros (basement and ground floor). Both stores are less than a 5 minutes walk from home. The picture on the left is Isaac in the snack isle... yes, that's it!!!
We usually shop for 1-2 days worth of groceries. Since we have to carry everything home, we don't splurge as much as we'd like! I have a small cart on rollers that a neighbor in MN loaned us - it's been invaluable, as carrying water home every couple days would be a huge load!
There are several "everyday American" items that are not available here: macaroni & cheese, regular mustard, colby/cheddar/monterey jack/etc. cheese, and fig newtons among others. Peanut butter is hard to come by, but we can find it. Even if they have items we're used to, they taste different. The mayonaise is MUCH better, but other things, like the frozen pizza, will take a little longer to get used to. We ordered Pizza at our house last night - very un-Suisse of us! It was really spicy and good, and the pizza boxes here have advertisements all over them. Maybe we Americans can learn a thing or two here!



After a morning of eating, shopping, laundry, etc., we head out for the day on our scooters. Lots of kids here have them. Store owners are usually not too excited to see scooters, so if we're shopping we usually leave them outside the store. Switzerland is known to be extemely safe, so in most communities leaving your things outside a store (like scooter or stroller) is completely acceptable. However, it's not advised in the busy districts, like the city centre.





We spend a lot of time swimming here. The lakeshore is a string of marinas, public parks, and public beaches. I haven't seen a lakefront home yet in Lausanne. It makes for a very nice community. There are lots of bike riders, walkers, sunbathers, and swimmers along the lake on any given day. Our favorite activity is swimming and playing along the sandy beach. We have picked up some sand toys here, including a huge inflatable frog.

Another way to cool off here is to jump in any of the large fountains in the city. The one pictured here is in Lausanne near the city centre. The park is absolutely beautiful, and meticulously maintained. We were recently here around lunchtime, and the park benches were filled with people having lunch. It's very common to see kids in their underwear (or young kids naked) cooling off in a fountain. Girls rarely wear swimsuits until they reach 6 or so, and even then they just wear bottoms until they're older.

To France, Italy, & Back to Switzerland

Saturday, we drove through Switzerland, France, and Italy. In France, we visited Chamonix at the base of Mont Blanc (4,808 meters). From Chamonix, we drove through the Mont Blanc Tunnel into Italy. We were only in Italy long enough to drive through the St. Bernard Pass to return to Switzerland. The St. Bernard Pass was our highest elevation, at approximately 2500 meters.


As you will probably soon tell from the number of photos in this entry, we thought this was a fun day trip. Here, you see the kids and Nic in Chamonix with Mont Blanc in the background. While in Chamonix, Isabel and Isaac had a treat ... Hamburger & French Fries. Nicole learned a new French phrase, "Toast on Cheese," French for 'Cheese Toast.' For the Mont Blanc-curious, it's an amazing mountain with many glaciers. You can get a first introduction through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc


By far, the biggest treat in Chamonix was Isabel's Percy experience. Near the train station is a green No. 6 train ... obviously Percy. For those unfamiliar with the subject, Percy is Isabel's favorite train from Thomas the Tank Engine. Isabel was able to climb inside Percy and be the conductor.


Eventually, we had to leave Chamonix. There were many adventures left for future trips, but we thoroughly enjoyed the place. Maybe next time we will ride the gondolas up Mont Blanc or plan for a hike on the mountainside. In this photo, we are about to enter the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Blanc_Tunnel. There were many mountain streams along our mountain trip. This one photo represents one of those many streams created by the melting snows and glaciers.


Having passed through the tunnel and entered into Italy, we started our return to Switzerland. The drive involved some extremely windy, narrow, steep roads. As you can see in the photo, the scenery was amazing.


On the way up to the pass, we stopped a couple of times. One stop was at a mountain cheese and sausage place. It was a nice place to stop and change into some warmer clothes. We took advantage of our second stop to play in the snow. What self-respecting Minnesotan would pass up the opportunity for a mid-July snow fight? Well, not Isabel (only one of us anywhere close to a real Minnesotan). With Isaac in his flip-flops, you can imagine the fun we had.


The final stop on our day trip is the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-St-Bernard_pass. The pass also marks the border between Italy and Switzerland. Border security isn't a real priority here, but we did have our passports.

Babibouchettes

Our big outing this week was to l'espace Arlaud, to see the exhibit of puppets. Although I didn't understand most of the French, this display of "youhouhou" puppets reminded me of Sesame Street. This was definitely a cultural thing for those of my generation here in Switzerland. The display was so neat, we went home and recreated what we saw. Or TRIED to recreate.


The picture at the top is a display of puppets from the "youhouhou" exhibit. Second is the puppet show a couple days later, and third is the kids with their puppets. We had a few outings trying to find things to make puppets out of. It was fun, and puppet making served to be a good at-home activity. We all needed a break from being out all day long, so our need for home play was met.














This week we also explored the local pedestrian mall on a couple of days. The area is so confusing, we got lost at one point. The streets are hilly and make so sense as to direction. And when I say direction, they could be going not just N,S,E,W but also up and down. There are different levels to the city, so it's almost like being in a life size 3-D labrynth. The center of the city dips down into the ancient riverbed of the River Flon. To top it off the street names change every block or two. Have I complained about this before? It's crazy, but I'm sure we'll get used to it before long.

Country line dancing in Switzerland?

Yes, even in Switzerland. I guess country music is everywhere.

La Gruyere

Saturday, we drove to Gruyere to view cheese production and tour a castle. The kids enjoyed the tour, and the parents enjoyed the cheese. By the time we arrived home, everyone was exhausted. This was good. Saturday marks the first night the kids went to sleep with very little problems.



The castle was the second stop along the tour. In the castle, there we saw a traditional Swiss event. Isaac asked that we take a picture of this. Actually, Isaac seemed to enjoy most aspects of the castle.




In the castle garden, the kids played hide-and-seek. Isabel had fun while Isaac and Ellie hid in the gardens.




After the castle tour, we stopped for ice cream. The kids left us for a while as they explored the area. They found a spot to eat ice cream together. When I found them, they informed me that the sight they were overlooking was the location in which The Sound of Music was filmed. This must mean it's a beautiful area.

The Lausanne Cathedral

We climbed the Lausanne Cathedral with our friends today. Here are some views of the city. We live up the hill from the city, in a more residential area. Our place is directly behind me when I'm taking the picture of the kids. It takes us about 10-15 minutes by bus to get to the city centre (where the cathedral is).


Our first swim in Lac Leman was today. The place we swam wasn't too cold, as we've been warned others are. The water in the lake is melted snow from the Alps. We had a nutella snack pack for a break. They sell a plastic container with 3 compartments: Nutella, sweet breadsticks, and a drink. The kids were in LOVE. Can you blame them?

This weekend we're going to try and head to Gruyere (yes, the cheese) and tour the cheese factory. People also recommend going across Lac Leman and visiting Evian. I have heard that if we bring empty bottles, we can fill them up with Evian water for free.

We are finally getting accustomed to Suisse time. The kids are enjoying the daily shopping sprees. They are trying lots of new things, and suprisingly liking a lot of them. They even asked to switch over to the Suisse way of eating, which means having what we typically eat for dinner at lunch time. Then, dinner will be simple bread and cheese with fruit. I think we'll try it for a week and see how the dad likes it. He has good lunch options at work, so it might work out. They are also starting to miss their friends. We looked at some pictures from home today, and our little guy almost started crying. He has started a countdown to when we go home. Part of this countdown includes planning the party he thinks our neighbors should throw when we get back :).

La Lac Leman

We know it as Lake Geneva, but here it's called Lac Leman. The foothills of the Alps are in the distance. The kids think they're HUGE. Just wait...


We spent Sunday at the Olympic museum. Lausanne is home to the IOC. Here, the kids are in front of the Olympic flame at the museum.

We had dinner after at a 2nd floor Chinese restaurant. The tables were situated on a balcony overlooking St. Francois and the pedestrian mall. During dinner we were serenaded by soccer fans in robes chanting "ALLEZ LE BLU!". There must be a lot of Italians here, because after they won the World Cup, the streets were busy until after 1am. There was lots of shouting and honking. It was really rather unusual, because the area we live in is residential. It would be like having crazy partying in the streets at home.

Today we spent the day getting bus passes, and yes, that's it. As our days seem to go, it was a comedy of errors that (finally) ended well. It took 1 round trip bus ride home, 2 passport photo shoots, and 3 trips to the bus card office. Considering every trip is uphill at least one way, it's fair to say we were exhausted by the end of the afternoon. Thankfully, our friends from Indiana were with us holding our hands and watching kids! If it weren't for them, we'd still be homebound.

Tomorrow is a trip to IKEA for housewares (only necessities, of course).

We Have Arrived!

We have arrived! Overall, I would have to say the trip was trouble-free. There were only a couple of minor nuisances which I'll describe soon enough.

The kids were great! They survived the trip quite well and were very excited to see their apartment. Overall, they were troopers! They were not at all happy that the neighborhood restaurant is smoke-filled, but we can find other places to dine in the future.

I did not take many pictures during the trip over. I think Nic has some nicer ones, but the ones in this entry are cameraphone pics of questionable quality. Everyone else is asleep as I type this entry. The first night I always wake up early. As for the photos, I have included photos of Ellie and Isaac eating breakfast shortly before arriving in Amsterdam, of Isabel during the flight to Geneva, and of Geneva as we are landing.

If you have extremely good eyesight you can see the fountain in the Geneva pic. This fountain is at the Westernmost end of Lake Geneva.

In the picture of Isabel, you can see how exhausted she was by the time we landed in Geneva.

The pics of Ellie and Isaac are fun only because they were in their pajamas this whole flight. They changed clothes in their seats using their blankets for privacy. I wish I were small enough to do that.



Now for the nuisances. As I opened my backpack to remove my laptop for security in Minneapolis I realized that I left my work laptop in my office. BIG PROBLEM! Fortunately, we had arrived at the airport early, Nicole has nerves of steel, and I had the airport taxi number. Leaving Nic & the kids at the airport, I jumped in a cab to grab the laptop. Everything went smoothly from here, and I boarded the plane only 5 minutes after Nic & the kids.

Nuisance number 2 was traffic & a shabbily-maintained rental car. I didn't count the time, but the drive from Geneva to Lausanne was WAY TOO LONG! Traffic was bumper-to-bumper most of the way, and our rental car was flashing a warning signal most of the way. I pulled over to check the car and found some black tar-like substance in place of motor oil. When I phoned Avis to tell them about the situation, they were surprised at the poor maintenance but did not want to take any action unless the car was dead. Well, I think I will trade this car in soon.

Everyone should be waking up soon. I expect everyone will be hungry. We will have to find a place for breakfast and start our day. I doubt we will attack any tourist events today. Primarily, we will be unpacking, buying groceries, trading the car, and meeting a family for appetizers. I should think of something fun to do with the kids. I think there is a park nearby.

Goodbye for now! Wish us luck learning French. Last night at the local restaurant was our first experience in a francophone world, and we clearly need to learn more French (or the Swiss need to learn more English)!