JustJessRain, rain, rain. That’s how I could describe the beginning of October in Vevey. Of course there were still sunny days. But those days, I was on my Au-pair duty. So in the end, there was no other option, but to travel with an umbrella ready to use.
One sunday like this, when sun and rain were changing hour by hour, me and my friend Jo headed to Lausanne. The largest city in the area and capital of canton Vaud. But most people probably know Lausanne as a capital of Olympic games as the Olympic committee has been settled there since 1915.
I was full of expectations. The city has the reputation of a cultural metropolis and its cathedral is considered the most impressive gothic monument in the country. But my reason for extreme curiosity was different. Circa 6 years ago, when I was at the university, there was a teacher who was also teaching at university in Lausanne. He was always talking about the place like it was a heaven on earth. So I was naturally curious to find out what was so great about the city.
We arrived in Lausanne quite early in the morning, to avoid crowds and we managed that unbelievably well. We even thought we were in some kind of a horror movie, where all the people disappeared and there were only the two of us left. No kidding. We were walking the streets towards the historical centre and it was completely empty. Like a city of ghosts. It was a bit creepy. Luckily, as the time went, more and more people were appearing on the streets. So we figured that people of Switzerland aren’t early birds. At least, not on Sundays.
As we were climbing up the hill towards the old town, we went through famous Rue de Bourg, which is probably the most expensive shopping street in the city. The fashion sold there would be out of our budget even if we were in Switzerland as regular employees. So in our situation, there was no other option but to laugh at the price tags and move forward. Soon, we found ourselves on a bridge with a beautiful view of the old city and towers of the cathedral.
History of cathedral Notre-Dame in Lausanne goes back to the end of the 12th century, when the construction started. It was ordained in 1275, but got through many various reconstructions in later centuries. Especially, when the wave of Reformation went through the country and it became a protestant cathedral in 1536.
When we got closer, we took a few minutes to take in the gothic appearance of the cathedral and also the view from the terrace in front of the cathedral. The place has a beautiful view over the city as well the lake and mountains behind. I am sure the view must be even better from the top of the cathedral tower, but unfortunately, it was closed at the moment. I have to add it to the list for next time.
Inside the cathedral, we were surprised by a few things. First, was a female priest. We came in in the middle of a mass and it was an unusual sight for us to see. As Jo’s home Poland is mostly Roman catholic country, seeing a priestess is nearly impossible. In evangelist circles in the Czech Republic it is more common, but I never ever met one. I was raised in Catholic family, I was as surprised as Jo was.
The second thing that surprised us was the pipe organ. Its sound was filling the cathedral during the mass and the organ player was seated just a few meters next to us in the nave – not at the gallery. We were mesmerized by the skill of the player as well as the sound coming from the pipes. It was uncommon for us to see the player right under his hands and we simply couldn’t look away.
As I read later, the pipe organ in Lausanne cathedral is a world’s uniquate. It is a modern piece, which was first in the world created by a designer. It took 10 years to design it and it consists of 7396 pipes. Also it can be played from two consoles. The mechanical at the gallery and mobile, which is situated in the nave. The one we saw in use. This is I think the point that shouldn’t be missed by any visitor.
The third experience we gained in the cathedral, wasn’t so positive. While we were sitting there, listening to the mass a strange man came in and started throwing chairs and cathedral benches to the ground. First, we were not sure what was going on. But then a priestess asked him to leave and a few men from the mass visitors made him leave. The man was gone in less than 3 minutes but the mess he managed to do was disturbing. Benches, chairs, candles and even religious books were on the ground.
We will never know what exactly that meant. Probably an act of someone who was not a fan of a church. I guess he didn’t get away with it, because the organ player managed to capture him on a video and the police were there before the mass ended. But it was strange. It all happened so fast, that I didn’t have time to be afraid and any danger didn’t come to my mind. But Jo later told me, she was afraid that it was gonna be a terrorist attack. Something like that didn’t occur to me in the moment. But the truth is, these days anything is possible.
From the cathedral, we headed north in the direction of Sauvabelin forest, which is a large forest area at the north of the city. Our goal was the wooden tower that sits on a hill above Lausanne. On the way, we also made a stop in a Hermitage park, which has beautiful gardens in bloom, even at this time of a year. The centre of a park is a house from the mid 19th century, which now is an art gallery – Hermitage foundation.
Normally, I would insist on visiting the collection inside Hermitage, but I believed we will have enough time for galleries and museums in winter. So we kept our original plan and headed towards the Sauvabelin tower.
Getting there, took us much longer than we expected. Although it is only two kilometers away from the cathedral, the way leads constantly up to the hill and through a forest where signs are not always to be found. I admit, that we may have turned the wrong direction once or twice, making our way three times longer than necessary. I can’t say we really minded. The Sauvabelin forest is beautiful. With lots of old large trees and paved trails, it looks like an amazing place to relax, just above the centre of the busy city. But anyway, if you will ever wanna go to Sauvabelin tower, better turn on the navigation. Or take a bus. It’ll make it much quicker.
By the time we got to the tower, it started raining. So we practically run to hide under its wooden roof. The tower itself is 35 meters tall and is placed 700 meters above sea level, which makes it an amazing view point over the city and the lake area. It has 302 stairs assembled in the shape of a propeller and for its construction needed 100 tons of wood.
I found the view from the top of the tower quite unique, because it is overviewing four different types of landscape. The lowlands in the direction of Neuchâtel, Jura mountains in the direction of France, blue waters of the Geneva Lake and the beginning of the Alps which rise above Montreux. Unique view of a unique piece of land.
From the Sauvabelin tower we headed back down to the city. This time, the journey was much faster, as we were walking down the hill and we knew where to go. Next to the train station we stopped for lunch and then headed to a lake part of the city: Ouchy.
Technically, Ouchy is a city independent of Lausanne, but as these two cities are merged, we didn’t even notice we walked from one to another. The way leads all the way down from steep hills of Lausanne, until you reach lake and Ouchy harbor.
During sunny days, Ouchy promenade is the most popular part of the city for walking, roller-skating or skateboarding. But there were not many people at the time we arrived. Because a small shower happened and everyone ran away to hide. We stayed and witnessed how wild the lake can be in autumn days.
After a few minutes the rain was gone and we continued our walk around the promenade. We admired the Ouchy castle and stopped by the Olympic museum, which is in this part of the city. But we decided to visit the museum another time. We wanted to enjoy the sun while it was out from the clouds.
After a walk around Ouchy promenade it was time to head home. But we were too lazy to climb up the hill, so we decided to walk to another train station in Pully city. It was loger way, but the trail went all the time around the lake.
The last hour of our trip, we spent walking, looking around the lake and taking pictures. Moreover, we even found one shore that was full of mussels! We couldn’t even believe it. There were so many of them, that as waves were touching the shore, those mussels were making sounds when they were rubbing one another. I can think of something that would help to imagine that sound, but it was strangely beautiful.
When we later arrived at the train station in Pully, we didn’t even have energy to talk. It was a long day and we had circa 16 kilometers in our legs. Although we gained some pretty memories that day, we both agreed that Lausanne didn’t exactly fill our expectations. It was a nice city, but I thought it was going to be much more than that. But I’ll be giving Lausanne another chance in the future. Because the city has a few famous galleries I definitely want to see. And I hope I’ll also have a chance to see the city in summer – alive and full of people. One day, when the Covid crisis is over.
