Swiss Family Grass

We left Luzern and headed to Lausanne to begin to acclimate ourselves with the French way of life, as we would be leaving for our winter stay in France very soon. The drive to Lausanne from Luzern has too many tunnels to count and the extensive length of the tunnels makes one think that Switzerland may also have underground communities in addition to the above ground ones. When you enter a tunnel such as the St. Gottard, you begin to have a true appreciation for how difficult it once was to manage travel throughout this mountainous place, not to mention the shear engineering feat of carving the tunnels into the mountains. Once we dropped from the narrow pass we’d climbed to reach the Canton Vaud, it was apparent why the area is so popular with tourists and the Swiss alike. Lausanne is a lovely city nestled between rolling hillsides of vineyards.

We again camped by a lake (a constant running theme when camping in Switzerland), and were pleased to be one of very few campers at the place. Day one brought another trip to the store. This time we were well equipped, and were even able to use the parking dial that Heidi had given us the day we left. In Switzerland, meters are rare and most cities and towns use an honour system for parking time limits. One need only purchase a small blue card that contains a dial and is marked with the parking icon. You simply set the dial to the time you parked and the dial tells you at what time you must return to your car. With the permit, parking in blue spaces is free.

On our second day in Lausanne it rained and rained and rained. It poured for twelve hours straight and we awoke to a tent full of rain. We usually set up our commissary in a screen room outside the van, and the rain had drenched the tent and all of it’s’ contents. Andy spent the next few days devising ways to structure the tent so that the rain would not get in.

In the afternoon the skies cleared and we went for a ride through old town and toward the southern end of the lake. We began to notice people walking by with distinct reed mesh bags attached to their backs and went on a quest to find where the bags were coming from. Our walk led us to the registration tents for the Lausanne Marathon. We watched as news crews set up the press stands and teams of workers constructed the finish line, complete with a huge stopwatch. It will probably be the only time in my life that I cross the finish line of a marathon, so I glided through without breaking a sweat. Actually, I’ve always fantasized about running in a marathon. The discipline of training, the stamina required, and the satisfaction of completing in the event has all entered my thoughts at one time or another. But, I never had the drive. I left the marathon finish line no more inspired than I had been before we stumbled on the event preparations. I guess it’s a goal that will have to wait for its time…or maybe I am forever limited to being a spectator. Only time will tell.

We took a drive the next day to two museums that peaked our interest when we read about them in the tour guides. First, we drove to the Art Brut Museum. The museum houses one man’s collection of works collected throughout the 20th century and contains art from criminals and the mentally disturbed. The art work is interesting and the design of the museum building only enhances the experience. Most striking is the similarity between pieces done by an individual artist. Works often repeated patterns from piece to piece and one couldn’t help but think that the constant isolation suffered by many of the incarcerated artists led to the repetitive nature of their works. The specific ailment or crime committed by the artist is listed in a short biography that accompanies each piece, and the stories are often as interesting if not more interesting than the pieces themselves.

From the criminal art museum we drove to Vevy to visit the Food Museum. Nestle, which has been headquartered in Vevey for many years opened a museum in the former corporate headquarters, a beautiful early 1900’s mansion located on Lake Geneva.

The museum traces the history of food consumption around the globe and uses hundreds of interactive exhibits to teach museum goers about the nutritional value, production methods, and preparation of food. There are also cooking demonstrations scheduled throughout the day where you can follow along with Nestle chefs and create edible museum souvenirs. Andy and I enjoyed looking at displays that featured ‘dinnertime around the globe’ and an exhibit that dispensed mint sized tablets that you consumed and then tried to guess the flavor or taste. You could even sample flavored waters dispensed form a toy like machine that kept you guessing as to what had been added to the water to give it its taste. I think broccoli was one of the flavors. The interactive exhibits kept you guessing, and I realized just how ‘unfinely’ tuned our taste buds actually are. Travelling through the food museum feels a lot like being in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, fun for all ages. Oh, and yes…they do have a chocolate dispensing exhibit. You had to try to guess the texture of each mini bar dispensed. Needless to say, I mastered that test!

Halloween was fast approaching and we noticed American style decorations in many of the local shops. We met a young Swiss couple at the campground that had a carved pumpkin illuminating their campsite. Probably one of the best jack-o-lanterns I have ever seen. They were eager to talk about the holiday with us and practice their English too.

The following day, we decided to leave Lausanne and drive to the border. We were concerned that the border crossing may pose difficulties for us, as legally we can stay in France only three months without a visa. We planned to be in France for five months, so we were hoping that the borders were ‘open’ as we had been told by many friends and the innkeepers of the property where we will be house-sitting. At the last exit before the border we decided to exit to fill our gas tank (we heard that gas was far cheaper in Switzerland than France) and a few right turns, and suddenly we were in France. We passed through an unmanned check station (so inconspicuous that you wouldn’t know what it was unless you were purposely looking for it) and I said to Andy, “I think we are in France.” He said, “No we’re not.” But, as I drove on, he soon came around to the realisation I had as soon as we had passed through the arches of the closed guard house…we were in France. So, a simple detour for cheap gas resulted in an undetected border crossing for us…what a bonus! It took a few hours to find the autobahn again, and soon we were on our way to Bordeaux to spend a few days camping there before we were due in Chauffour to start our housekeeping stint.