Lausanne – Day 1 – City
Tour
After lunch,
accredited tour guide Ellis Pagani met us at the Café de Grancy, and led us to
the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Lausanne.
This grand
structure was built over a period of more than a century – beginning in about
1170 A.D. – on one of the area’s highest hills,
and must have dominated the city’s
skyline in medieval times. Pope Gregory X consecrated the cathedral in 1275
A.D.
The building
was taken over from the Catholics during the Protestant Reformation.
Its
opulently adorned and colourfully painted interior was covered in drab
“Protestant” grey paint in 1536 A.D.
Ellis showed us where many of the original
sculptures in the lofty entranceway – notably those of major Catholic saints
like Peter, John, and Paul – had their noses broken off. Was this some kind of
ritualistic emasculization? In short, don’t mess with those Reformers!
Ongoing work
has restored some of the painted interior décor.
A new pipe organ was also
added in 2003.
Perhaps the present owners, the Evangelical Reformed Church of
the Canton of Vaud, realized that a little sizzle and glitz might interest visitors
and, more importantly, new parishioners.
As we looked
back at the cathedral’s bell tower, Ellis told us that the city of Lausanne has
maintained a lookout there every night since the early 1400s! Originally, this
was to warn residents of fires, but today the lookout still dutifully calls out
the hour between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. We’re sure this town crier must still
watch out for fires, too.
The Escaliers
du Marché is a rather steep wooden staircase that is the most direct route from
the cathedral to the Place de la Palud.
The original staircase dates back to
about 1717 A.D. It’s also a great place to get a photo of the cathedral from
below.
This square, in the centre of a pedestrian-only zone,
is noted for its animated clock that was constructed for the 1964 Swiss
National Exhibition, and completely restored in 2005. Every hour, a parade of
figurines representing historical figures marches around the wall:
Also popular
is the Fontaine de la Justice in front of the clock, especially on hot days!
The figurine of the woman is usually adorned by a sword … which often goes
“missing.”
The square
itself, and streets radiating from it, host a farmer’s market twice a week that
features musicians and other entertainers as well as stalls selling fresh
produce, dairy products, baking, and crafts.
The Youth Olympic Games will be coming to Lausanne in 2020. This event will dovetail with existing infrastructure plans; indeed, how to make the Olympics more economical and sustainable is apparently under major discussion in the IOC.
Just about
anything to do with the Olympics is housed in the museum. Suzanne, Christie,
and I were curious to see how well Canada was represented in the museum’s vast collection
of items from previous games.
We were to meet
François Michel, Vice-President of the Lake Geneva Region tourist office, for
supper at the Brasserie de Montbenon. The brasserie is housed in the lovely Casino de Montbenon,
situated within an expansive park. Luckily for us,
Christie was there to make sure we found it.
The casino
was the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee from 1915 to 1922.
The building also contains two movie theatres (Cinématographie, for the Swiss
film Archive, and Salle Pederewski) and several multi-use assembly halls.
At the brasserie,
Christie bought us much-needed, restorative glasses of lemonade.
We enjoyed our
drinks on the restaurant’s big patio with a lovely view of the park.
Christie
stayed long enough to meet our host for dinner before heading home to rest up
for our next two busy days of touring the region.
Comments
Post a Comment