Lausanne - Day 1 TO Day 3 - september 19-21, 2022
DAY 1 - TRAVEL DAY
Finally! After two years of starts and stops, off to Europe we go! I believe that the worst part of international travel is the plane ride to get there. We flew from Albuquerque to Minneapolis, then Minneapolis to Paris, then finally from Paris to Geneva, then a quick car ride to Lausanne. The only hiccup we had was an unplanned 4-5 hour layover in Paris, due to the flight leaving Minneapolis late.
At about 7 pm Geneva time we arrived at our hotel, the Lausanne Palace. The Lausanne Palace is the nicest hotel I perhaps have ever seen, absolutely beautiful. Our room had a beautiful view of Lake Geneva and France on the far shore.
DAY 2
Our tour will not start for another couple of days, so our plan for today is to take one of the Belle Epoque Steamers on Lake Geneva to Montreux to see the statue of Freddie Mercury. We boarded the “La Suisse” in Lausanne and switched over to the “Italia” part way down the coast. These paddle steamers have been touring Lake Geneva since the early 1900’s and it is a grand way to see the lake!
We arrived at the far East end of Lake Geneva to the town of Montreux. We hiked down the coast a little ways to find the statue of Freddie Mercury. Queen bought the Mountain Studios in the Montreux Casino in the 1970’s and many of Queen’s albums were created there. Other famous performers like David Bowie, Iggy Pop, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Yes, and ELP recorded some of their most famous albums there. After Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991 a statue was erected on the shores of Lake Geneva, the cover of Queen’s last album “made in Heaven” features the statue. It is a required pilgrimage for all Queen fans. The Montreux Casino has set up a museum called the “Queen: The Studio Experience” on the location of the former Mountain Studio, it was interesting as there are several handwritten album notes from Queen and other Queen memorabilia. On a total side note - the song “Smoke on the Water” by Deep Purple is about a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention Concert in 1971 at the Montreux Casino when a fan lit a flare and burned the casino to the ground.
We took the train back to Lausanne. It was an interesting experience trying to figure out how to buy a ticket and what train. In Switzerland, no one seems to care if you have a train or metro ticket, the country is based on trust - that was refreshing, and by the way, we always bought a ticket! We made it back to our hotel and looked for a local craft beer place. We Found Les Brasseurs not too far from the hotel. The wood fired pizza was excellent and beer was just okay.
DAY 3
We were pooped from all the activity on Day 2 on our own and today the plan was to go to the Lausanne Cathedral and rest a little before our Welcome Dinner tonight. The entire town of Lausanne is built on a rather steep slope, so getting around is no easy feat. We headed up to the Lausanne with the aide of the local Metro. It is a beautiful Cathedral from the 1200’s and well worth the climb. Shelly climbed the 232 steps up to the top, I did not. I enjoyed my time listening to the organ and people watching. Our “official” tour started this evening with a welcome reception and dinner. There will be 20 of us travelling around Switzerland for the next week and half - it looks fun!