Mint juleps at Melty in Lausanne Switzerland

We are in Renes, a district of Lausanne.  There are under 2,00 people in this area.it does have a very small business street with 2 grocery stores and restaurants and shops. 

So today we were there at the grocery store and on our way back to the airbnb. I wanted a coffee so I looked for a place. I came across a shop with cups on the front so walked in and noticed no list of prices so I walked out. 

I'm a little leary after paying 8.50 for a mocha at Starbucks. One of the guys came out and asked what we wanted.I said coffee and I asked how much it was. He said free! Free for you today! It's your lucky day!

So we went in and it was obvious their business was in the process of being set up. It was a brand new place that was opening next week. 

One of the women offered us a mint julep with no alcohol. Sure, we'll try it. The man kept asking if we wanted coffee. At one point he offered to fix us something to eat. All for free.

We said no. We asked about the restaurant and the man's son said it was a family effort, first time they had done it. The original man was his father. The son had his son there too, maybe about 14.There was a women who made the drink. 

They showed us what the menu would look like. It looked good. As we left I gave the lady a tip for making the drinks for us. They were a very nice family here's hoping that Melty (store name) succeeds.

You can make $53,000/yr at McDonalds in Switzerland

In Switzerland you can make $53,000 working at McDonalds. Not bad for flipping burgers. The salaries are high here. The minimum wage is $23/hr.  The salaries have to be high here because it's so expensive to live in Switzerland.

You find that out real quick. Early on, I went to Starbucks, not paying attention, order a small(tall) mocha. It was 8.50! No Starbucks mocha is worth that much. You might as well say that everything here is twice as much as it would be in the U.S. 

Whats weird is that our Airbnb was relatively cheap. We are in a 2 bedroom condo with two balconies overlooking Lake Geneva and two sets of mountains. Lausanne lies between the Jura mountains and the Swiss Alps. I'm sure this condo is worth a couple mill.

We are up the hill in Lausanne in Renes. To get down to Lausanne we take a train for 5 minutes. Sounds weird but otherwise it's a 52 minute walk down there. You would not want to walk back up. Just walking from the Renes train station up the hill to the air bnb is a challenge.

This entire city is on 3 hills. From the shore of Lake Geneva to where we are is straight uphill. It's amazing. I see people biking up the hills and I can't believe it. Lots of practice I guess. 

It makes for beautiful views.

I get the feeling that Lausanne is made up of the rich and everybody else. The average house price here is just under 2,500,000. Obviously the vast majority live in apartments.  The average house price in the whole of Switzerland is 1,092,000. 

Switzerland has one of the highest standards of living in Europe. Great schools, public transportation, environmentally progressive, absolutely beautiful. College for bachelors and masters is $400- 3700 a year. BTW, everything is closed on Sunday.

Renato Hausler watches over Lausanne from 10 pm to 2 am

 

Switzerland is surrounded by five countries:  Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Liechtenstein. The official language is Swiss German but there are areas of the country where the language is French and Italian. Lausanne is a French speaking area. 

Lausanne is a combination of Swiss and French and the architecture reflects that. The house have tiled red roofs that are upturned. In the downtown area there are apartment buildings that look like they could be in France.

The steep winding cobblestone streets look European. This is the first place that we have been in that has more of a European feel. No sidewalk cafes though, the streets are too steep. 

They have the Norte Dame cathedral, built in the 1100's. (Weren't they all built in the 1100's?) It started out Catholic with all the fancy statues and doo dads of your typical Catholic cathedral. In 1500 the Protestants took over and removed all of that. It is now very simple and stark. 

Interesting thing about the cathedral is that it has a night watchman. From 10 pm to 2 am, he stands in the bell towers and each hour shouts the time. Historically he rang the bell too but it's automated now. The  role was also to keep watch over the city, protect it, watch for fires. This has been going on for 600 years. Current watchman is Renato Hausler.

The Switzerland you never knew

The Switzerland you never knew
The Switzerland you never knew

 

What do I know about Switzerland? Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, Swiss banks, Swiss watches, Alps. I know it is neutral. Oh yeah, Geneva convention. 

We hadn't planned to come to Switzerland. We needed places to substitute for planning to stay in Berlin which was too expensive. Geneva became one of those places. We ended up in Lausanne - about 30 miles from Geneva. So glad we did. It is so beautiful. 

Swiss cheese. Ham and Swiss sandwiches popular in US. Swiss cheese has holes in it because of carbon dioxide bubbles that form in the cheese. Swiss chocolate. More milk than other chocolate. I like Cadbury better. Swiss banks-advantages are economic stability of the Switzerland  and privacy. I didn't know Rolex is made in Switzerland So is Tag Huer, Omega. I'm glad I can look at them through a window. 

The beautiful Alps. Sixty five percent of Switzerland is covered in mountains. There are two mountain ranges - the Alps and the Jura mountains. There is a plateau in between them and that is where most cities lie. The tallest mountain is the Dufourspitze at 15,203 feet. 

Switzerland is a neutral country. In its constitution it says it cannot get involved in any wars among other countries. It will defend itself obviously and has a military. Men have compulsory military service. They go through basic training and then have yearly training for ten years. You can choose civilian service instead. People who do neither are fined 3% of their salaries until age 37.

During WWII Switzerland sold arms to the nazis. They kept their gold in their banks. They refused Jewish refugees after the war. Not good. 

Last, the Geneva convention, something every soldier knows about. It lays out rules of humane treatment during times of war.

Switzerland is one of the most expensive places to live in Europe. It has a very good quality of life and stunning scenery. I have decided I am never leaving. (Har)

*Picture is Lake Neufchâtel. Another beautiful lake we saw on the train here.

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September 11, 2022 at 08:07PM
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The most interesting man in the world was on my train

 

Today I took a trip withe most interesting man in the world. Remember that commercial? Well this was the guy or perhaps his brother. 

So this man, probably in his 60's sat next to a kid in his early 20's for over 3 hours. He proceeded to tell this kid everything about himself. (Yes I'm an eavesdropper and proud of it)

He was born in Germany. He is a linguistics professor. He apparently travels the world giving lectures. He knows 50 languages. Literally you name the country and this guy claims to speak the language , German, Swiss German, French, Russian, Korean, Spanish, several African languages, English of course. 

He has also lived in Germany, Switzerland, Costa Rica, Africa, United States, Mexico, etc etc etc. He was jailed in Switzerland for 3 days for something. 

This kid was a college student wanting to be a doctor and he barely got a word in edgewise. Every time he would bring something up, the guy would relate some part of his life it and tell about the time he....

He has Two kids, both girls. The whole family travelled the world. Oh I forgot he trained for the Olympics in running. Don't know what came of that. Played a musical instrumental at some point.

What can't this guy do? He has yet to negotiate world peace. There's still time. 

Is this trip really worth it?

 

There are times whenI think about just going home. 

I am 67 years old and this isn't easy physically. I am walking up to 8 miles some days. Ridiculous. I was walking 4-5 miles a day most days at home so that has helped a lot. I still get sore legs. Sore back. I've got really good shoes that were expensive but I'm glad to have them.

So there's the physical aches and pains. Then there is the mental/emotional part. The physical aches and pains get me down and I find myself questioning whether I can do this for a year. 

Mentally it's hard to constantly going from place to place. Different place to stay, different bed. In Vienna the bed was like a rock. Air bnbs are far from perfect and you never know what they will be like.

Trying to figure out food is probably the worst. It unrealistic to think you are going to make complicated meals in an Airbnb. You would waste a lot of food. So you have keep it real simple. At hotels you to eat out, which is expensive. So keeping a somewhat good diet is hard. 

You probably think what a whiner! Most people would love to be in my position. I know that. I wouldn't change anything and I intend to complete the year. This is a life changing, exciting experience and I still cant believe we're doing it. 

I want to give a real picture of what it's like to do this. It is challenging . There are ups and downs. But it's so much fun!

**The picture above is Lausanne,Switzerland, our next destination. It's outside Geneva.

Fun at a German laundromat

 Went the laundromat one block from the hotel today by myself. I had looked at German laundromats and their were actual videos so I new I didn't need change and sort of how they work.

They are all computer driven. You put money in a machine at the wall, choose the number of the machine and you can now use that machine. If only it were that simple. 

Put the clothes in, detergent in. Then there is an electronic display asking what temp you want. So I pressed the lowest and start. Nope. Nothing. Tried a couple more times. Nothing. There was a old guy there and I threw my hands up and he came to help. He spoke no English. Tried same thing, pressed every temp except the last one with the word. Pressed that and it started. Yippee! 

Guy left to get coffee (asked if I wanted one). I'm sitting there and a guy comes in to repair a machine. Turns out he's the owners son, speaks English. He gave me a free dry after a woman was taking so long at the thing you put your money in. 

So he spoke good English, got into a long conversation. He told me about Augsburg, prices of apartments and houses. How houses are out of reach of average person. How the Plarrer was Augsburgs version of Octoberfest just earlier in the fall. The cost of beer at Octoberfest is $14 for a liter. (The beer mugs at the Plarrer probably hold a liter). Outrageous prices at Octoberfest he says. 

All in all, a really nice guy. It really is fun to talk to locals. You find out everybody has the same problems and views no matter where you go. You find out what everyday life is life. No different than yours.