Day 35: Lausanne To Vevey (1)

The waterfront, Lausanne. Peter walked on, but Pierre and I wanted to explore the city. We had a fabulous morning (the hostel looked after our backpacks), and we didn't leave till 2 pm.

Pierre gazes at the Alps across Lake Geneva.

Once a medieval castle, the Hôtel Château d'Ouchy on the shore of Lake Geneva is one of the small luxury hotels of the world. Needless to say, it was way beyond our budget!

Ouchy Marina, Lausanne.

The beautiful interior of the Église Saint-François in the centre of Lausanne. This was one of my favourite churches on the whole pilgrimage.

Camino sign next to the Banque Cantonale Vaudoise — the religious/spiritual and commercial/material world sit side by side in Switzerland.

 In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. Harry Lime in Carol Reed's film The Third Man.

Statue of Joan of Arc.

Another Swiss flag — and it's a big one!

Lausanne Cathedral.

The cathedral's exterior details . . .

. . . include all kinds of grotesqueries. Can you spot the snails and the naked buttocks? Trust me to photograph the profane rather than the sacred . . .

The Château de Maire, built as an episcopal palace in the early 15th century. It is now the seat of the cantonal government.

An al fresco lunch with young Pierre at a delightful terrace restaurant halfway along an ancient, wooden, covered staircase which led to the cathedral. I ordered freshly-made cheese tart and salad, with pistachio and chocolate ice cream to follow. To drink I had a non-alcoholic lager (some Swiss cafés and restaurants are alcohol-free). Here Pierre looks out over the rooftops from our restaurant table.

The 19th-century Palais de Justice in Parc Montbenon.

View over Lausanne and Lake Geneva from Parc Montbenon.

Day 34: Orbe To Lausanne

Knocking at this parish door in the Avenue de Thienne in Orbe produced a free basement floor for the night — with a kitchen, a WC, and a bathroom shared with the priest. I had a proper bath for a change, rather than just a shower. We did some food shopping, and I cooked us all a tagliatelle carbonara.

Orbe was a nice old town, with a castle and a maze of medieval streets. Here you can see the Swiss flag very much in evidence again . . .

There were clouds behind us over the Jura, but the rain had passed, and it became quite hot in the afternoon. We lost the path temporarily, but knew that all we had to do was head downhill towards Lake Geneva, which now glinted in the distance. The photo shows La Pontaise, Lausanne's Olympic stadium . . . 

This is the Renaissance-style Palais de Rumine, home to the university library . . .

. . . and this is the cathedral . . .

We carried on down, down, down the steep streets of Lausanne. It was a lively place, and I liked it a lot. Finally we found the Lausanne Guesthouse, a backpackers' hostel near the station — and this was the view from our room. Beyond the apartments you can just see the foothills of the Alps — which are actually in France!