Traveling to Lausanne

After retiring quite early the night before from a sufficient amount of jet lag, 3am rolled around the next morning and I was wide awake. Well what do we do but lie in bed and try to fall back asleep when I suddenly realize it's already 9am and we need to get ourselves up and going to Lausanne.

We arrive at the airport by 10:30am or so to pick up our rental car from Europcar without any problems at all. In fact, we end up with a Skoda 6 speed 4x4 Octavia equivalent to the passat station wagon.



Patrick gets his first day of European driving lessons as I remind him every now and then to tell him not to do what he just did. A great example of forgotten "know how" is with the blinkers on a car. You simply press down lightly for one second and your turn signals work for 3 short clicks. It's also handy to make sure you turn on your headlights completely since you are sure to encounter a tunnel along the auto route. Patrick adjusted just fine and was quite a good sport about the entire driving thing, especially since we didn't realize we needed to shift into 6th gear! (Neither did I!)

We arrived in Lausanne with perfect time for 2pm check-in. I recalled the route quite well as we found our way perfectly into Vidy where Hotel Jeunotel was located. The hostel was very warm and welcoming us and our room was just like the one I stayed in here during March of 2002. The parking lot had enough parking spots for about 20 or cars which was very reassuring for us since we rented a car for the trip.



The hotel is located off of the street Bois de Vaux in Vidy which is a suberb or Ouchy and Lausanne. Patrick liked my hotel recommendation for the price as it was a bit out of the way of the tourists but still close to everything. We managed to be there during a big volleyball tournament which brought a lot of athletes for their overnight stays, including the Swiss National teams.

That same day, we bused up for 3.40CHF to the old town via the metro at flon. We visited the Lausanne Chapel, existing since the 12th century. We managed to grab our lunch from a Coop just a short distance away.

That night, we met my blogging friend for drinks at La Luna and dinner shortly after at the Gingerette pizzeria place I visited back in 2002. By the time we got back to the hotel it was already after 11pm and we were beat.