Lausanne Things to Do

Yes were the fancy water is from!

There are about 28 boats a day going over there. It takes only 35 minutes and is quite scenic. Evian is pittoresque and worth a trip. Specially to go over there for lunch.

With small kids a great outdoor pool! There is heaps of different pools for the little ones and a playground and lots of slides. Restaurant, Snack bar, 50 meter pool lots of shade and free parking.

Entrance for adults 5 CHF
For the big slides you will have to pay extra

Located in the Olympic Park in Ouchy, the Olympic Museum was opened in 1993. It was architectonically designed and built not only considering its location near the lake, but also with some Greek heritage included (there are six colums before the entrance of the Museum, similar to those of Zeus temple).
The Olympic Museum contains the history of the Olympic games through pictures, video, documents and others (coins, stamps,etc.) from ancient times till now. It also hosts both permanent and temporary exhibitions about sport history and competitions.

The Lavaux landscape was formed during the last ice age (13,000 years BC). The moraines left by the Rhone glaciers carved out the steep hills, which were subsequently covered by vegetation.

The sharp drop of the hillsides (from 15 to 100%) made the terrain unsuitable for agriculture. Nevertheless, from the XIIth century, following the gift given by the King of Burgundy to the Bishop of Lausanne, several convents began to clear the hills and cultivate vineyards. It was the start of the winegrowing era…They went on to build walls and create a system of terraces in order to support and flatten the terrain.

Then, the orders (monks and nuns) delegated this cultivation to lay people, who maintained the plants and walls. Thus, some of today’s winegrowers are direct descendants of the first winegrowers, perpetuating their love of the vineyards for over 17 generations.

On 28 June 2007, Lavaux was officially registered as one of the UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Fashioned over the ages by man’s cultivation, this landscape is composed of terraced vineyards and typical villages, which have enabled Lavaux to be considered as a site of universal interest.

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Cathedral Notre Dame of Lausanne dominates the cityscape of Lausanne. The main architect of the Cathedral – the largest and generally acclaimed as the Switzerland's finest Gothic building, was Jean de Cotereel.

The construction of the Cathedral began about 1150, but the two great fires, in 1219 and 1235, prevent the completion of the building for quite a long time. The 20th of October 1275 is important day in the Cathedral history – Pope Gregory X and king Rudolph I of Germany meet inside the Cathedral for its consecration – the work of more than a century had been finished! In 1536 Lausanne citizens converted to Reformation faith, and the Cathedral's last Roman-Catholic bishop Sebastien de Montfalcon rest his position in favour of new pastors, among them Pierre Viret. Despite extensive renovations and alterations just before the Reformation, and the loss of the altars, screens, and most of the statuary, paintings and glass during and after it, the Cathedral has lost none of its beauty and grace. The architect-restorer Eugene Viollet-le-Duc began a restoration of the Cathedral in the 19th century – and it is still going on today.

Entrance to the Cathedral is through the west portal, 20th century replica of so called Montfalcon Portal after a 16th century bishop Aymon de Montfalcon, antecedent and uncle of bishop Sebastien de Montfalcon. Inside, visitors first pass through the narthex, with several severely damaged frescoes and a few large sculptures. In the north-west corner of the Cathedral is the Chapel of Theban Martyrs called also the Chapel of Montfalcon, with magnificent 16th century woodcarvings. The interior is Gothic at its most elegant and beautiful. It is mostly bare of decorations, but there are some notable exceptions of medieval art surviving here and there. One example is the south portal, known as the Painted Porch. The statues on its exterior are 13th century originals. They still have a few remnants of paint. The glorious South Rose Window also survived from the 13th century; only the central piece is not original. The rose was a popular medieval representation of the universe and Lausanne's huge rose contains images representing the four seasons, four elements, four winds, four rivers of paradise, and the twelve labors of the months and signs of the zodiac. The Cathedral is burial place of Otton de Grandson, a famous medieval knight.

To be continued in "The Tower of the Cathedral – Viewpoint"…

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[…] Musee cantonal des Beaux-Arts – Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts posses a collection of Swiss, French and Italian art from the Middle Ages to the present day. At the time of our visit, the museum presented the exhibition Eclairages. Regards sur les collections du Musee, featuring the works of several artists, among them Caroline Bachmann & Stefan Banz, Ilona Ruegg, Robert Ireland, USA born artist who lives and works in Lausanne…

Musee cantonal de geologie – Cantonal Museum of Geology was established in 1818 as the Cantonal Museum, "following public donations to acquire the mineral collection of Henri Struve. In 1874 the Cantonal Museum was reorganized thematically and the Museum of Geology installed itself in the former bishop's palace (present day Musee historique de Lausanne – Lausanne Historical Museum). The creation of the Museum encouraged those who were passionate about science to donate their collections. This is how such illustrious figures from the canton as Jean de Charpentier, director of the Bex salt mines and the patriotic vaudois, Frederic-Cesar de la Harpe, former private tutor to Tsar Alexander I, came to donate their impressive collections of minerals to the Museum. From 1850 onwards, Philippe de la Harpe, Eugene Renevier and later, Maurice Lugeon began to assemble the first paleontological collection and above all the great collection of regional geology […]." One of the most interesting parts of the museum is the dark room with fluorescent minerals.

Musee cantonal de zoologie – Cantonal Museum of Zoology displays a large collection of extinct animals from the region and other areas. Among the most astonishing is one of the largest white sharks to have ever been caught. In 1999 "the father of cryptozoology" Bernard Heuvelmans donated over 50,000 documents, photos, and specimens to the museum which made the Criptozoology Department of the Cantonal Museum of Zoology in Lausanne unique in the world.

Musee cantonal d'archeologie et d'historie – Cantonal Museum of Archeology and History was established in 1852. Its permanent exhibition was redesigned and modernized in 1997. It retraces the most ancient history of the canton of Vaud from the end of the Paleolithic times to the Neolithic era (12,000 – 2200 BC), displaying several small-scale model, slide shows and life-size reconstructions, presented in an innovative way, then continues with the Bronze Age (2200 – 800 BC), Iron Age (800 – 20 BC), the time of the Celts and Helvetians during the Roman era (20 BC – 450 AD), Middle Ages (450 – 800) and develop the villages, cities and religious monuments… and ends with modern era and predictions for the future.

Musee monetaire cantonal – Cantonal Money Museum is one of the richest museums of such type in Switzerland. Occupying tiny, beautifully designed space, it is heaven on earth for those interested in numismatics.

Museums in Palace Rumine offer very entertaining day for those interested in the subjects they are devoted to. They are very suitable for children.

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The most attractive part of Flon district certainly is the square called Esplanade du Flon with superb architectural achievement – Miroiterie building, designed by architects Brauen & Walchli. Miroiterie was opened in 2007. Its triangular cushions facade illuminated from the inside during night time is, as far as we heard, either highly admired or considered to be gross. We do think it is beautiful.

The huge nightclub Mad, opened in 1980, is at the same square (we have not been in it, but we still ask ourselves why, we will next time, for sure!).

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It was very hard for us to imagine that Flon, modern and greatly designed district of Lausanne, was considered to be a bad area of the city until the early 1990s. Flon, located between two bridges – Pont Chauderon and Grand-Pont, Rue de Geneve and Montbenon, was named after the river Flon, now running underground, once flowed in this area.

This ancient valley, during its history was wooded, latter covered with vineyards, and, to quote Wikipedia article: in "early industrial development in the 19th century saw new mills, tanneries and other fullers […], accompanied by a bad reputation due to the activity of leather work, which brought unpleasant smells, forcing Lausanne inhabitants to avoid the place". During the 19th century the valley was filled by the soil extracted when the first Swiss funicular was drilled, in 1877, connecting Ouchy with the Flon. Then warehouses were built to harbour the goods which came by boat from Ouchy.

In the late 20th century Flon developed into modern area with cafes, cinemas, art galleries…

During the our time in Lausanne, Flon was the venue of the open-air exhibition celebrating sport and announcing 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Among the most appealing was "Over the hurdles", artwork of Zhang Zhiyu, honouring the achievement of Chinese 110 metre hurdler Liu Xiang – Olympic Gold medal won in 2004, in Athens.