Lake Geneva

So last weekend, we decided to head west over to Lake Geneva. We decided this for two reasons: 1. We just wanted to see Lausanne and see large lake (24 miles long). 2. In our guide book, the sights in to see are all rated with triangles, 3 triangles means “YOU MUST SEE THIS!!!”, 2 triangles means “You must see this! (assuming you have sufficient means and time)”, 1 triangle means “meh”, and no triangles means “Who, in their right mind, would ever go to see such a thing?!”. The Chateau de Chillon (an old castle) was the only 3 triangle thing in the whole country that we had yet to see.

So here’s the castle. The view’s ok.

Apparently, it’s really old. The Dukes of Savoy built the Chateau in the 1200s. It’s still in good shape because it only went through one battle. That occurred in the 1500s when the Bernese (the rulers of Bern) basically snuck up on the castle in the night. In the morning, they started the attack, and by the end of the nextday, the Chateau had changed possession.

Here’ some pictures from inside the castle. See, it’s really tall!

Also, you can tell they were rich just by the opulence of the king’s room (sarcasm). Note that his bed is only five-and-a-half feet long. That imagery reminds me of Shrek – small king, big castle. Movie quote: “Do you think he’s compensating for something?”

Here’s a picture from the top of the keep (the tallest tower). Let me reiterate, I (Eric) have a slight case of acrophobia, at the time of taking this picture, I was just hoping that the tower didn’t suddenly fall over because of a strong wing :)

We then went into the city of Lausanne. The town is old. Thus, it has the requisite old church, and the same fancy shops that we saw in Bern. The most unique thing about this town, however, was that they LOVE Freddy Mercury! For those of you that neither grew up in the 70’s, nor love Queen (the band), Freddy Mercury is the lead sing of the band Queen. He opened a recording studio in the area, so they built a statue of him.

Ok, so the statue isn’t in Lausanne, it’s in the next town over. But the statue was the thing I was least expecting to see.

To conclude the day, we bought some of the best sandwiches either of us have ever had and sat in a park on the lake. See, here we are in the park with sandwiches.

And here’s the lake.

It was a pretty cool trip overall.  The lake is large, and that was neat.

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