Woke up to a beautiful view over the Lake at Lausanne. Mission of the day to find an internet cafe and get some Swiss Francs. Of course this being the French part of Switzerland one was easily distracted by the patisseries. Luckily Lausanne is quite hilly so maybe I walked off the brioche with chocolate pieces? One can only hope. It is very pretty with lots of little alleys and old steps and flower-filled squares with fountains. The architecture is very uniform and old-city like. I am developing a theory that architecture determines cultural behaviour. I guess this is not so original but here form and function are equal whereas in Australia at least today function is more important than the way the building looks. Also these old towns were designed before the car so are friendlier to pedestrians. Maybe that is why there are few overweight people (that and the smoking) and people care more about appearances.
After a sensational fondue dinner we had to walk around a fair bit to encourage digestion. Today we drove to Bern which is Swiss German although I am having trouble understanding it. I am reassured by a nice German colleague of Rafael´s who says she has trouble too. Switzerland is an interesting blend of European cultural differences and the food changes too. Always there is wonderful cheese and chocolate however - that must be the original swiss element. I am adding a photo of typical Swiss countryside taken from our bedroom window at Rafael´s house.
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