Lausanne, day 2: Museums and the Old City

[expedition_retirement]

 Our second day in Lausanne happened to be the first Saturday of the month, which meant that admission to many museums was free that day. So we began our day at the Cantonal Museum of Photography, located next tot he railway station. The photo exhibits included several galleries of photos by African-American photographer Tyler Mitchell, which was a emotionally powerful and deeply thought provoking look at life in black America. I was not aware of Mitchell's work prior to this, but I found his photography quite inspirational. We also spent some time in the museum's exhibit of sports photography, much of which was borrowed from the collection of the Olympic Museum. The exhibit raised interesting questions about how photography influences our perceptions of athletic competition, as well as the competition itself.

The museum also had a large design exhibit that focused on solar energy, its uses, and its potential to address climate change issues. Some of the displays were more interesting than others, and some of them were simply weird, but overall it was interesting to explore. After we finished that exhibit, we continued next door to the Cantonal Museum of Fine Art of Lausanne. We didn't spend a great deal of time in this museum, only really taking the time to take a close look at one or two works in each gallery.

After finishing at these museums, we started uphill towards the medieval heart of the city. As we walked, it began to rain, so we were happy to step into the Church of Saint-François. As we stepped in, we were greeted by the sounds of the organ being played. The organ played throughout our visit, but I couldn't tell if it was playing automatically or if there was actually an organist at the console. Either way, it was incredible to hear the organ as we took in the beauty of this church...I could have stayed and listened much longer.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we exited the church, and we continued to climb up into the Old City. We eventually reached the Cathedral at the top of the hill. This 12th century church is the largest Gothic church in Switzerland and is the seat of the bishop serving Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg. After visiting the cathedral, we continued to walk around the area, seeing the Palais de Rumine, built in a Renaissance-style and housing museums and the library for the University of Lausanne. There was extensive construction in the area around the Palais, which made it hard to get decent photos. Our next stop was the Château St-Maire, a former castle dating to the 15th century that has served as a government office building for more than two centuries.

Eventually, we began to make our way back down hill. We walked past the Palais de Justice and the statue of William Tell in front of it as we entered the Esplanade de Montbenon, a pleasant park with a spectacular view over the lower city and Lake Geneva. We enjoyed the view for a while, but it started to rain again, so we decided it was time to call it a night and return to our hotel. As we walked passed the train station, we noticed that it had the Olympic rings above the entrance!

Later, one of our tour guides from last year's bike tour in Alsace met us at the hotel. He was on his way home after completing another tour in Alsace and stopped to have dinner with us. It was good to see him again and to catch up. Hopefully, we'll get to see him again on future trips to Europe.