Day 3 - Lausanne to Montreux

On the road again... It's another gorgeous day, the sky is blue, the sun is dazzling, we are well rested and we have a short trip with many beautiful stops on the way. Really looking forward to it.

I am chief navigator, a very important job and lucky for me we have the Car's navigation system. The only problem is that the car wants to go its own way and the quickest way to all routes and we DO NOT! We needed to travel via the lake, but the car wanted to go via the highway. Driving on the wrong side of the road with lots of one-way roads, we get onto the highway and cannot get off for miles and miles. Actually, we are nearly at our first destination and we need to turn around so that we can travel along the lake to see the view.

We had our first disagreement! Anyway, toodle doo! We turn around and make our way back to "Jeneff" and then turn around and travel back via the Lake. Guess what the very rich residents have massive houses on the lakeside and together with their massive houses they have even bigger hedges so we can't see a thing!

Our first stop is Nyon, Nyon is famous for it's Arcades and Roman Columns and a very nice walk along the Lake. We missed the parking and got into a one way system in the town centre which is up a hill and very very very narrow streets. Then we accidentally went up a street the wrong way - John is swearing and we are stood in a town square (circle) and we have no idea where to go. Everyone is looking at us and we are like a deer in headlights not knowing what to do. I think we were in a pedestrian only bit - everywhere we looked there was a no entry sign. John did turn around and went back down the street we came up the wrong way and we wound ourselves back down the winding streets to the parking lot we missed on the way in.

Now we need to pay for parking, 1 Franc, the machine only takes coins, we don't have any cash. There is another tourist there trying to use the machine with John - he doesn't have money either. So I register for the pay-parking app, this takes so long, the other tourist has gone and withdrawn cash, got change and has 1 Franc coin. He did offer to pay for our parking, just as the app worked. Now we can pay for parking via our phone - yippee. Oh yes we are here to see the Roman Columns, Arcades and a promenade. We have a lovely cup of coffee, see the Roman Column (which has a dustbin attached to it) and we have a gorgeous stroll along the lake. It truly is spectacular - see the photos below.

Nyon to Lausanne - I have managed to persuade the Audi to let us select the route (ha ha a setting change), so now we can trust her! Navigation is much easier and John had done the research so knew exactly where to park and with the Navigator and Google Maps on my phone we found it without any bother at all. A short walk to the new art precinct called Platform 10. It is right next to Lausanne Central Station, which has 9 platforms. It has only been open a few months and John wanted to give it a go. We had lunch, Beef panini - which was the only thing we could understand on the menu. English, is now not spoken much at all. After the Geneva Art experience we were not that bothered to go into the galleries - but I figured we came all this way we may as well - I am so glad we did, it was fab. Totally new, and focussed on railways and trains. Photos below.

This installation deserves a special mention, it is made entirely out of Rose Thorns.

Lausanne to Lavaux

Lavaux owes its splendour to the decline of the Rhone glacier and the Cistercian monks who, in the 12th century, built miles of walls and terraces that are carefully maintained by today's winegrowers. These craftspeople produce excellent wines that ripen thanks to three sources of heat: the sun, the reverberation of Lake Geneva, and the heat given out by the stone walls at night. This is now a UNESCO World Heritage site and oh my goodness, nothing I write or show will tell you how gorgeous this is.

Poor John, the road was so steep and so narrow - he needed a whiskey after getting to the top. I have done a little video of the trip including the least scarey bit of the journey.

A very short video of scary road and pretty road. No marriages were harmed in the making of this video, (well not that I know of).

Lausanne to Vevey

Vevey is the home to the Nestlé Headquarters and Milk chocolate was invented in Vevey by Daniel Peter in 1875, with the aid of Henri Nestlé. Charlie Chaplin resided in Vevey from 1952 until his death in 1977. We are here to see the Fork in the Lake and the statue of Charlie Chaplin and to have a pre-dinner drink.

We parked in an underground parking garage - we had a suspicion that rouble was ahead when we alighted from the lift to come out of an office block that we couldn't get back into. That is a problem for later! As we are walking down to the Lakefront, we see the proper exit for the Car Park - all good. We see the Fork and Charlie Chaplin and have a cocktail at a bar on the lake shore. It is a hot bright sunny day and the locals are enjoying the foreshore - it was absolutely wonderful. I do not think that the photos do it justice at all but here they are. Note the dog wearing a hat!

It's now time to head to Montreux, our base for the night. Off we toodle up the hill to get the car - BUT, big BUT the car park entrance we saw is now closed. So we go to the bit where we drove down and walk in that way. John had seen a sign that said free parking for 2 hours, he was quite proud of that little saving.... Anyway we walk down to the the wrong floor, navigator was not in charge at this moment, but in no time we correct our mistake and find the car, and off we go. John puts the ticket in and it says something in french that doesn't look good. So we use the intercom, now someone is behind us. the guy on the intercom is speaking to us in French and we don't understand him and he doesn't understand us. Oh dear, man behind us is being very patient. Anyway, some locals walk in (obviously couldn't find the entrance to the car park either) and he spoke english and informed us that we had to pay. So he gets the guy behind John to reverse, John now has to do a 17 point turn to turn around the car on a circular ramp, so we can go back down to pay. Then the Car Park attendant comes running up the ramp to help us - we tell him we are going to pay (well the local tells him). So we drive back down and I can't find the machine, so I say "Coo Coo" and the attendant helps me with the machine. I put the ticket in and it asks for the CHF8 (GBP6.50) (AUD10) and I put my phone to the machine and it doesn't work, so we try again. We have a good partnership going the attendant and I, he speaks French, and I speak english back neither one of us knowing what the other w=one is saying. All the messages and buttons are in French - so I pressed this button that said "carte" I thought maybe I need to tell it I am paying by card. But after that the machine kept spitting out my card. The parking attendant then said to me, you go up to the top, push the button and I will let you out - this was done with a combination of French and gestures. Sorted - free parking.

Montreux is not far, we have an uneventful trip, check into the hotel. Our room has a wonderful view, we had dinner at the only place open at 8:30pm which was an Irish Pub. Back to the hotel to write blog and sleep for another adventure tomorrow.

The end.