What We Had
Sunny and Warm
High: 83° Lo: 55°
Averages
High: 72° Lo: 52°
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CHF
Conversion rate on our visit: CHF1.00 = $.9606
Lausanne
Overview
Days 9-11
Days 9-10
Day 11
What We Saw
Town of Gruyeres
Gruyèyes is the town after which the cheese is named. It's a very small town with four points of interest (none of which we had any interest). First is the church which Rick Steves doesn't even recommend. The second POI is the castle. We walked up to it but there was no way we were going to visit one more castle. Third is the HR Giger Museum (and the bar across the street). This was set up by the inventor of the Alien monsters. Love SiFy...no interest in this. Finally there is the Tibet Museum. Tibet Museum in Switzerland? Members of our group visited most of these POIs and some found them worthwhile. So...we found a place for lunch and had a great bowl of soup (see Where We Ate below).
From the sign at the start of the town:
Gruyères, seat of the Counts of Gruyère from the twelfth century onwards, beckons you to explore the little medieval town with its picturesque house fronts, inviting restaurants and beguiling shops.
The majestic castle with its historic collection, exhibitions and multimedia show can take you on a fabulous journey through time.
The HR Giger Museum, set up by the creator of Alien and the Tibet Museum will further enrich your visit with a touch of mystery and refinement
Gruyères has given its name to the surrounding area as well as to it tasty famous cheese.
Our last stop on the way to Lausanne was the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc. The visit included a multimedia presentation (you walk through a number of "rooms", i.e., Disney style). We were given a listening device that provided the audio portion of the program (in German, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, Russian or Arabic). Each of the rooms contained a audio/visual display telling us the history of the company.
After the multimedia presentation was complete we found ourselves in a circular room with pictures depicting the various entities involved in the production of Cailler's chocolate. To hear what they each had to tell us, you held your listening device next to a terminal (in the video above it's the little orange rectangle below Vincent's name) and your player automatically switched to the appropriate content. When you play the video what you are hearing is what was play through my headset.
The final stop was a tasting room where you choose from a half dozen tasty treats. The person you see behind the counter was there to answer questions and encourage people to try as many (and as much) as they'd like. What a way to ruin ordinary chocolate. Cailler's chocolate is so much better!
After the tasting was complete, we stopped by the Cailler boutique (their word) to stock up on chocolate treats, look over the souvenirs (t-shirts, posters & mug) and have some refreshments in Cafe Cailler
Some may have questioned whether this was a little hokey (because the presentation is aimed at all ages)...but we didn't think so. It's worth the stop.
The Callier Factory
A lot of choices
Cailler Boutique
Pictorial History
Pictorial History
Part of the presentation
More of the presentation
Pasture
Nestles & Cailler are actually the same company
Linda listens to Beat, the Farmer
Demonstration equipment
The steps to properly taste chocolate
The tasting room
The samples
Introduction the key actors in the chocolate business
Another example of the multimedia presentation
Vincent the Milk Farmer
Cailler Chocolate of Switzerland Rue Jules Bellet 7 1636 Broc, Switzerland Tel: +41 26 921 59 60
What We Saw
Welcome Walk In Lausanne
The subway stops along the line we used
Very clean and efficient (although not very long)
Thank you memorial from the children of Belgium WWII
Olympic Museum from across the street
Fountain near the entrance
Commemorative Steps
Remembering Muhammad Ali from 1996
The Entrance
Our guide Irene
Hotel Savoy (with a very happy Geoffrey)
From down the block
Overlooking Lausanne from the Cathedral
Looking over to Italy
Place de la Riponne
The town hall (at the end of our street)
Celebrating 100 Years of the Olympics in Lausanne
A fountain near our hotel
What We Saw
Lausanne Cathedral
One of the rather short stops on the walking tour of Lausanne. Here's some history from Wikipedia:
Construction of the Cathedral began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason. Twenty years later another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer, Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current day belfry. The other tower was never completed. The cathedral was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady in 1275 by Pope Gregory X, Rudolph of Habsburg, and the bishop of Lausanne at the time, Guillaume of Champvent.[1] The medieval architectVillard de Honnecourt drew the rose window of the south transept in his sketchbook in 1270.
Want to know more about the Cathedral?
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From down the block
Rose window outside
Around the corner
Down the block
The Nave
Some of the Stained Glass
The organ overhead
More stained glass
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A TINY Part of the Performance of the Children`s Choir
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Lausanne Cathedral Place de la Cathedrale 1005 Lausanne, Switzerland Tel: +41 21 316 71 60
What We Saw
Market Day
We spent market day looking for our lunch. Since we were going on a boat ride it was the perfect time to have ourselves an onboard picnic.
We've been to market day in a number of European towns. This one was similar to those with a few exceptions. It was spread out to a number of street around our hotel. It was much more focused on fresh produce, etc. While there were a few flee market type tables, most sold good stuff to eat.
We ended up buying some cold cuts, fresh baked sandwich rolls and, of course, some Gruyere cheese. The cheese was a little bit of a problem since the piece we bought would have fed a large number of people. We ate our fill and shared with others. Still we left a big piece behind.
What We Saw
Boat Ride on the La Suisse Steam paddle boat to the Chateau de Chillon
The purpose of the boat ride was to get us to the Chateau de Chillon. But the ride itself was a pleasant way to spend part of the afternoon.The ride lasted over an hour and took us to the east end of the lake where the Chateau was located.
Map of the days activities
La Suisse Steam paddle boat
La Suisse Steam paddle boat
Settling in for the ride
More of our group
Looking to the stern of the boat
Looking ahead
Another boat like ours
Approaching the Chateau
Rebecca and Ben
Arriving at the Chateau (Castle) of Chillon
The engine pumps away..A beautiful piece of mechinery
A very relaxing ride
What We Saw
Chateau de Chillon
One of the chief points of interest in Lausanne was the Chateau de Chillon. As chateaus go, this one was in pretty good shape (we visited the south of France last year and saw a number of very beautiful chateaus). Our guide Elisa was very knowledgeable and did a great job presenting the information about the chateau. The chateau was worth the visit and the tour is recommended.
Approaching the Chateau
In the main courtyard
Our guide Elisa starts the tour
Elisa covers the history of the castle
The dinning room
Facing the fireplace
Close up of where a small part of the original decorations
Anti-room
The Count`s Bedroom
Banquet Room
The bathing room
The toilet Room
Artwork in the toilet room
The Counts Chaple
Some of the original artwork
The courtyard from the Chapel
Storage Room
Prison
Lord Byron`s garffiti
A parting shot of the Chateau
Guest Bedroom
Chateau de Chillon Avenue de Chillon 21 1820 Veytaux, Switzerland Tel: +41 21 966 89 10
What We Saw
Domaine du Daley Vineyard
On our way back to Lausanne, we made a stop at one of the vineyards which ring Lake Leman. First we boarded a tram that gave us a close-up view of the vines and the vineyards. While our bus could probably have taken us directly to vineyard, the tram travel slowly enough and close enough to give us a much better view.
Once we arrived we met Jeldos our guide and started our tour in the processing room. Much cooler then outside. Jeldos did a great job of describing the process from vine to wine and answered all our questions. While they are a relatively small operation it was clear that they have a great deal of pride in what they do and are very proud of the results. The three wines we tasted were delicious.
If you have an opportunity to visit Domaine du Daley, DO SO!
From the Vineyard's website:
The Domaine du Daley was founded in 1392, making it the oldest commercial entity in Switzerland. It stands on an historic site overlooking Lake Geneva. It is situated in the heart of the terraced vineyards of Lavaux, a UNESCO world heritage site.
Gruyere cheese was very good. However, the town by the same name was only so-so. The vegetable soup with Gruyere cheese at this restaurant was very good. If you visit the town, by-pass the POIs and take the time to enjoy soup for lunch.
Soup (Yummy) is served
A very large bowl
From out front
Auberge de la Halle Rue du Bourg 24 1663 Gruyeres Tel: +41 0 26 921 2178 FAX: +41 0 26 921 1470
Where We Ate
Cafe Romand
Fondue! YUM! We had traditional Swiss fondue. According to Wikipedia the fondue we had is called Neuchateloise. It's made of Gruyè​re and Emmental cheese with some white wine, garlic, Kirsch and corn starch. It was smooth and very tasty. We stuck with the traditional dippins...bread!
Highly recommended.
BTW why the table numbers? Why not.
One more thing. The video is after we left the restaurant. The festivities of the evening were ​just getting under way. Thought a taste should be included.
We had breakfast at the hotel both mornings. Again, it's like there was a standard menu for breakfasts. This hotel did not vary from that standard.
Our Group Enjoying Breakfast
Our Group Enjoying Breakfast
Entrance to the Breakfast Room
Where We Ate
Crazy Canucks Sports Bar & Bistro
On our final night in Lausanne we walked down the street from our hotel to the Place Pepine and had dinner at the Crazy Canucks. Burgers and fries. While certainly not fine cuisine the food was good at a reasonable price and located close by. We'd probably visit again if in the area.
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Our final dinner in Lausanne
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Crazy Canucks Sports Bar & Bistro Place Pepine 1003 Lausanne Tel: +41 21 312 93 33
Where We Stayed
Hotel Voyageurs
Our hotel in Lausanne was nicely located. The room was pleasant. The only issue with the room was the lack of air conditioning. It wasn't the heat that was the problem. It was the celebration going on right down the street that lasted until 2:00 am. Be sure to take your earplugs (as Rick is always saying) and you shouldn't have a problem.
Front of the Hotel
Looking down the street
Looking up the street
The view from our room
The view from our room
Gathered out front for our departure
Hotel Voyageurs Rue Grand Saint-Jean 19 Lausanne, 1003 Tel: 011 41 21 319 91 11
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