Lausanne and Montreaux

Continuing my tour through French Switzerland, I wound up in Lausanne and Montreaux. Lausanne is an old medieval town situated on a hill, so everywhere you walk is sloped either up or down. It's famous for being the location of the founding of the International Olympic Committee and commemorates it with the Musee Olympique. The museum is a very inspirational place, giving details of every single modern Olympic games and displaying all sorts of memorabilia, including the bronze, silver, and gold from each year. It also describes the organization of the Committee and the grueling 9-year process to putting on the games. The museum's library has video booths, in which you can access the finals in most events of past Olympics and I wasted far too much time in watching these. Lausanne has a real old-school gothic cathedral as well, dark and filled with sepulchers.

Montreaux, in contrast, is a town on the lake, and a very clean and clear lake it is. There are beaches and small piers, but really you can just pick any point and jump in the lake. A wide promenade bordering the lakefront stretches from town to town allowing bikers to explore the region easily. There are flowers and trees everywhere, the lake is blue, and the snow-capped Alps rise up in the background to create amaxing scenery. The Chateau de Chillon is a medieval fortress here that is one of the coolest castles I've been through, and at this point I've been through a lot. Cannons? Check. Tower? Check. Armory? Check. Dungeon? Check. They also had demos by costumed actors on the more interesting facets of medieval life from cooking to sword fighting to minstreling and juggling (I guess jestering). In the summer Montreaux hosts an annual jazz festival, and during that time this place would be unbeatable.

I'm very sad to leave French Switzerland behind, but German Switzerland will hopefully be just as good.