Tourist in Lausanne

Lausanne (again, pronounced Loh-sahn, not lau-san) is a quiant town on the coast of Lake Geneva. Besides being known for the city with 2 prominent Swiss universities and the Olympic capital, it was also, evidently, an ancient roman city, much like Rome. Called Lousonna during the roman empire, it was mainly a port for ships plying the Lake. It was also a pretty small town, with about 1500 to 2000 people in the 1st BC.

How did I suddenly become so knowledgable about this? Easy, I visited the Roman museum and the Roman ruins that is just 15 to 20 mins walk away from my hostel. Essentially, I spent the whole of today exploring worthy sites that are around Maladiere, the area where the hostel is.

Really, what's up with these european cities? Like Rome, Milan or Paris, historical sites are like just round the corner. In this case, the ancient Roman ruins is now a "park" where people take walks there during the weekends, like today. Walk a little furthur up and you can see the Comite International Olympique. After taking a photo of the picturesque building and the statues beside it, just turn round the corner and you can see the Roman Museum, which actually houses the remains of an ancient roman mansion.

Suffice to say, I had a field day today. Very nice weather to take trip round the city as it wasn't very cold. If it was Singapore, I would probably have died from the heat...

The roman museum was very interesting. I'm actually impressed with the museum. It certainly is a very small museum in size, but it was very interesting. (Although I had a little difficulty as all the explanations were in French) The first floor was like a games station. You would have to search for the answers and write down the answers on a piece of paper. Of course they were questions on the Roman history.

It was very family friendly. The people that I saw there were mainly families, or an adult with kids, those kind of groups, you know. The kids were really engrossed in searching for the answers and it was really something I wouldn't expect to see in a museum, kids being interested, that is. Anyway, at the end of the games, you would input your answer (the numbers collected throughout the game) into a computer. If it is the correct sequence, the door would open. Well, obviously I failed at that, being the professor in ancient history that I am. The computer had a big "RATE!" (fail) and "REJOUEZ!!" (play again), but put together in a polite way, of course. The family who was standing beside me were laughing, haha. It was pretty funny at that point. You see, at the last station, it was something like a puzzle, and the family seemed to be at it for some time. Just nice, I helped them with some of the pieces (imagine me with my broken french going "ça, c'est la" and pointing at an empty space...) . So we got to the last station together, and the rest was history (no pun intended).

I really should have visited the exhibitions on the 2nd floor first, since some of the answers could be found there. But I doubt I've the stamina to go through all the french explanations anyway. In all, it was prety fun.

Besides the Roman ruins and museum, I went to the cemetary nearby too. In my defense, (before some of you question my sanity) the cemetary was featured in the tourist guide book for Lausanne. Also, I always passed by it on my way to school. So, I just popped over to take a look. The cemetary is supposed to be the resting place of Coco Chanel, the founder of Chanel, and a Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the moderniser of the Olympic games. I didn't see their graves but I did see a grave of a countess.

The grave stones are really elaborate. It is the western equivalent of the chinese style gravestone, but simpler. While the chinese tombstones' design look mainly the same, there were some very interesting designs here, especially for those tombstone of a recent year. I didn't take any pictures, so you would just have to take my word for it. What impresses me here was that the area looked so well maintained. The hedges were neatly trimmed, I can't see any visible weeds and no rubbish were in sight! The whole cemetary was very quiet although it was just beside a main road. In the day, it looked very peaceful and calming, but I can imagine how the place would feel in the night, with the ravens crawing overhead.

Oh ya, mentioning the ravens, did I mention how BIG those birds look like? Its about the same size as a chicken, I think, only slightly smaller. Its really all black and I heard that it attacks for food too. While those crows in Singapore claw your head to make you drop your food, I heard that these ravens only snatch your food away. Sounds better, but when you see a bird like that charging towards you, you really wanna get out of the way.

I also went to the lake today, Lake Geneva. I went earlier in the morning, trying to get a picture of the mountains (the Alps, I think) but they were blocked by some clouds and so were not too clear. I went again in the evening, the sun being nice and all, and the clouds had cleared, so I could take a good picture of the mountains and engage in a little cam-whoring (as fats put it ) so that mummy wouldn't feel that her money was wasted ;-D.

I picked an acorn up. Reminds me of the acorn at home...Me, cam-whoring with the acorn

can see the Alps behind?
Maybe this is clearer...
Flower arrangements with winter flowers for sale to place at the grave.
Entrance to the cemetary. The words on the pillars are excerpts from the psalm. In french, of course.
This too...
The International Olympic Commitee's headquarters, Chateau de Vidy...
Statue outside the IOC
Another statue outside the IOC...
The Roman Ruins... Funny that its all flat instead of the uneven ones we saw in Rome...


Me cam-whoring again...

You can see that these people really spend time with their families during the weekends, taking strolls, going to the lake, or visiting the museum. And that got me thinking about the way Singaporeans spend time with their families during the weekends. Our shopping centers are always so crowded with people during the weekends (and I don't mean with foreign workers) whereas the streets are so empty here. Maybe it would be a different case if I went to the town center, but the point is, I see more families taking strolls in the parks, strolling along the lake, or just playing at the playground. I can't help juxtaposing it with the families in the noisy, crowded shopping malls. Its just the difference in lifestyles, I guess. Singaporens seek to be entertained while the Swiss may prefer entertaining themselves...