05-20 Swiss Don't Miss With This Tower

Our last few minutes in the lovely town of Zermatt and we shall be thankful for that very nice day when the Matterhorn Mt was visible all day.

Our huge hotel shuttle bus whisks away to the train station and we arrive on time. The front car we enter is empty allowing us to move back and forth across the seats for the best pictures heading down the valley toward Visp.

We pass valley town after valley town on the way down

Our train from Visp to Lausanne arrives in 10 minutes and it will take 3 hours to get to Lausanne.

We plug in the laptop and a-blogging I will go.

We pass field after field of crops growing and then Lake Geneva is by our sides.

Arriving at our hotel, Elite Hotel, and after walking up 4 flights of stairs from the train station we are checked in and our room is ready.

McDonald was just down the street for a quick lunch stop and now it was time to find the Sauvabelin Tower. We walked uphill a few blocks to the #16 bus and got off at the Signal stop - just like Rick Steves said to do.

Another 1/4 mile walk uphill and we found the 110' tower. What a mass of lumber.

No shortage of wood in this forest. Imagine a spiraling staircase made of 8 x 12 boards. That's how we climbed up it.

The structure was on a hill to begin with and it was the tallest structure around. Great 360 degree views of Lausanne.

Also in the park was a small lake that we walked around with other families on this lovely sunny Sunday. The French bring their old bread here, drop it on the ground, stomp on it to break it up, and then throw it to the ducks.

The bus pickup was near this lake so we headed back into town. I failed to mention that our hotel handed us bus passes during check in. Very nice.

My stomach wasnt feeling well so we went back to the room and I slept for a couple of hours. We wanted to get some info on a lake boat ride so we headed out for dinner to the waterfront. We picked up a panini, water, and coke light.

We found one of the steam paddle wheel ships at the dock and located the company that sells the excursion tickets.

We asked a bunch of questions and determined that we did not get into town early enough to get to ride one of these since they only run on the weekend.

We decided to decide in the morning after we see the weather. The boat we would be taking would be diesel and not steam, propeller and not paddle wheel. Hmm.

We walked along the waterfront where they had a bandstage setup. The guys were singing American songs.

We saw this giant "C" on the breakwater but could decide what it stood for.

Cool paddle boat to rent. Another of the steamboats in the background

We took the metro back up the hill about 4 stops and after the 4 flights of stairs to the hotel street level we were home.

I caved in and spent $7 francs on Internet for 24 hours so I could post some blogs.