Monday, June 29, 2009

A long lake walk, a pedal boat, and a big hill!

Enjoying a break from pedalling the boat on Lake Geneva

A beautiful view of the vineyards on our lake walk

Our last couple of days have been spent doing more exploring! Yesterday we did a 2 hour walk on the lake going east towards Pully, which is another very nice town. We have talked about living in Pully in we find an apartment that we like there. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, in the high 70's, and by the time we got back from our walk, we were pretty hot! We hit the hotel pool for a cool-down, and then we went back to our room to relax. We ended up having a pretty chill evening, as we got caught up in the USA-Brazil soccer final. :) During half-time, we walked down to the lakefront to grab some dinner. From what we have learned, Lausanne has free music entertainment by the lake every weekend. We were able to grab a sausage for dinner from one of the vendors set up the stage. Last night's entertainment was a Coldplay coverband!

Today we took the metro up the hill into the city center to go on a search for my European hair straightener!! (yes, I know, lame, but an essential item, and my American straightener does not work here.) We found a big COOP, which I would compare to a SuperWalmart. Not quite as big, but has everything all-in-one, including groceries. Our search was a success there! We also checked out the tourism center, which gave us a lot of good info on places to go and things to do! We then went out on the lake with a pedal boat for an hour! It was sooo much fun! It gave us a good view of both sides of land from the water. There were some interesting pedal boats that had a slide attached to them! Lake Geneva is known for being pretty clean due to stringent environment regulations, so swimming in the lake is safe.

After a rest in the room for a while, we took what turned out to be a very steep walk up Avenue d'Ouchy! It is a sharp uphill climb that is parallel with the metroline (what we normally use to get up the hill.) It was worth doing though, as it gave us some good exercise! We also got to see a part of the city that we had not seen before. Our walk turned out to be longer than anticipated, so by the time we got back to the room, it was late and we had not eaten dinner. We are now relaxing after having ordered room service. :)

Tomorrow we check out of Hotel Angleterre and into Lausanne Palace and Spa, as Angleterre did not have availability for the rest of this week. It is only about a mile from here but is more towards the city center, so it will give us a different location to explore. Stay tuned for more to come!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

The City Center and More Lake Time...Days 2 & 3



We have continued exploring more of the city over the last two days. Yesterday we took the metro about 6 stops to the city center. We spent a couple of hours walking around. We ate lunch at a really good self-service restaurant, which provided us with a lot of choices for lunch! I ate some yummy pasta and a side salad. We walked through Bongenie, a major department store here. We also saw the Lausanne Cathedral, although we didn't go inside. We plan on taking a tour there soon. Last night we went to the White Horse, a pub down the street from our hotel. We ate dinner and enjoyed a couple of beers. It was a good cultural experience for us....our first pub! :)

Today we ended up sleeping in very late, so we ate crepes for a late afternoon lunch next door at Creperie d'Ouchy. Ouchy is the lakeside area of Lausanne that we are staying in. Afterwards, we walked on the lake in the opposite direction that we went yesterday! We got some rain this afternoon, but it was never too heavy or cold for us to continue our walk. We found the dock where the lake boats take off from, so we plan on doing a lake cruise sometime soon. There are many different lines that run, so we can get to a lot of other cities on the lake via the boat. We also got some lake entertainment, as we watched a group of Swiss hanging out by the harbor where residents dock their boats. They had two canoes with two guys rowing them. They each had a platform where a third man stood. A man with a microphone counted down and then the canoes rowed past each other and the men on the platform would try and knock each other off into the water...it was pretty hysterical! The second crew we saw ended up running into each other and one guy broke his oar and fell backwards off his seat! A very funny sight for us foreigners!

Tonight we went to Boccolina, a pizza restaurant also down the street from us. We enjoyed our first pizzas here, together with a refreshing glass of Cardinal, a Swiss beer! We then talk an evening stroll to check out the lake at night...the city is beautiful all lit up at night.

We have been told that a lot of places are closed on Sundays, so we might go see a movie tomorrow. That's all for now...keep you posted again soon!

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Our first day in Switzerland!

Our hotel- Hotel Angleterre
Lake Geneva

We have arrived! It has been a crazy couple of days, but we are finally here. Our last day in San Diego was a very hectic one, as the movers cancelled on us on Monday and had to pack everything up on Tuesday instead. The movers left my house at 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday evening, and I went and met Mark at Tower 23 where we spent our last night in San Diego. Our flight left Wednesday morning at 7:55 a.m. We arrived at the Zurich airport this morning at 7:25 a.m. and then took a 2 hour train ride to Lausanne. We were fortunate to check-in to our room upon our arrival at the Hotel Angleterre & Residence. It is a beautiful hotel overlooking Lake Geneva. I was super jet-lagged and took a long nap this afternoon! After our naps, we went for a walk on the lake. So far, Lausanne has provided us with some amazing views! Across the lake we can see the French Alps and France! Tomorrow we are off to Neuchatel so that Mark can register with the city for work.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Bon Voyage lunch...The moving countdown begins!


So our moving countdown has begun. We received word to plan on scheduling our move for June 22nd. This past weekend, sister organized a fabulous "bon voyage" luncheon for me at Miguel's Cocina in Coronado. We had such a great time. Tommy, Michelle and I took the ferry over to Coronado and met the rest of the group at the restaurant. I, without a doubt, have the best friends in the world. That is definitely going to be the hardest part of moving...thank goodness for Skype! :) We enjoyed some great Mexican food (something else I will miss!) and some yummy dessert compliments of Jules. Also, much thanks for my parting gifts. Luckily with my "Switzerland Survival Kit", I will have SD with me at all times! :)