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Published: February 1st 2006
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we meet again!
with Lausanne's brightly-lit cathedral in the background December has been a month of excitement and travel. The day I returned from Copenhagen my friend Matt, who is studying abroad in Madrid, came to visit me; Rachel popped down from Salzburg; and in between the Christmas markets and sightseeing we had a blast. Vienna is particularly beautiful during the advent season, which the Austrians celebrate in a relaxed, family-oriented way. Everything is decorated for the season; the cobbled streets of the old town are framed by christmas lights that crisscross between the buildings, and alpine-style huts spring up everywhere to sell Lebkuchen (soft gingerbread cookies), Gluehwein, and Punsch (spiced drinks).
The day Matt left, I went for a visit to my roommate's family in Upper Austria. I love visiting them - her mother always has something delicious waiting for us, like a piping hot apple strudel with whipped cream, or apple cake to accompany the mid-afternoon coffee. Their house is on a hill looking out over forest to the east and fields to the left. I think one of my favorite memories of Austria so far is walking through those fields, with Christine, her sister Lisa, and the dog Momo. There are no fences anywhere - you can walk
on and on, nothing but green fields patched with snow, feet encased in warm boots, the black dog bounding after rabbits and birds.
Then it was an overnight train to Switzerland, a switch from German to French... and a reunion with Lindsay and Rachel! Lindsay is living in Lausanne and studying Harp at the music conservatory. The conservatory seems to dominate a lot of life in Lausanne (definately, a lot of Lindsay's life!). A common sight in the city is small children running down the hills (or whizzing by, via scooter) with tiny violins or guitars strapped to their backs. As if that isn't inspiration enough for a student of music, the conservatory is a beautiful building with a welcoming and encouraging feel to it. I went with Lindsay to a choir rehersal and to see her choir concert (Brahms Liebesliederwalzer - german, just for me!), and the other musicians seemed really nice. The vibe I got was, who doesn't want to sing?! In German, for that matter?! Which is pretty special since my impression is that in general, conservatory atmosphere can be easily poisoned by competition.
I should have anticipated all the hills, because when Lindsay visited me
in Vienna I think her first comment was, "Whoa, it is so FLAT here!"
Hmmm, "I suppose it is..." I had replied, because flatness is hardly a striking feature. Hills, on the otherhand, are striking. Lausanne is a layered city. I have never seen a city so incorporated into the surrounding geography. At night we climbed up the biggest hill to the cathedral, a gothic monolith all lit up with bright pink and blue and purple lights, a little gaudy but at the same time perfect. With a big, silver moon we could see the layers of Lausanne - the lights of cars disappearing in tunnels or emerging over the tops of hills, buildings curiously stacked above one another, and in the middle of the panorama, a black hole - Lake Geneva. By day the lake is beautiful as well. Rumor has it, the alps are all around but unfortunately the whole time I was there it was cloudy, and so I never saw them.
But back to climbing hills at night. This was no idle hike - we were on a mission, namely on our way to experience a hallowed Swiss tradition. Fondue, the best in the city. I
was really looking forward to this, because to put it bluntly, I like cheese. And whoa did this restaurant reek like really, really stinky french cheese.
Fondue is such a silly excuse of a meal. I mean, the little pieces of bread are just a vehicle, a means to an end, the end being the consumption of an obscene amount of cheese. The wierd thing with cheese fondue is that when you start, you become ravenously hungry. You can't freakin dip fast enough. And then even though your hunger is quickly slaked, you KEEP ON dipping because it is still delicious, and you want to get your francs worth out of this never-ending pot of cheese. Then it hits you - human beings were not designed to digest this much cheese probabaly in the course of a natural life - and the sickening realization of how much pure fat you have just ingested hits home, and suddenly the whole thing is just repulsive! We tried not to think too much about it, went back to her appartment completely full, sipped mint tea and did our best to digest.
To try to do the intensity of this meal justice: in a
restaurant full of smokers, our clothes managed to retain the odour of CHEESE instead of smoke! What particularly amazed me though, is that the Swiss do this meal for lunch. They go back to work afterwords! I mean, we were seriously out of commission after this meal 😊
Other comments on Lausanne - what an international city! I was really surprised that such a small city hosts such a vibrant international community. Also, people were exceedingly nice. As someone with essentially no french, I was dreading unassisted communication. When Lindsay had class, it was up to me to order my own crepe or coffee - and I did, no problem! (it must have been all that time hanging out in the french apartment of the Language House last year. Here's to immersion with les biches!) Seriously, people were uniformly happy and helpful. There was none of the haughtiness that I generally, probably stereotypically, associate with the language (or my butchering of the language!) I would really love to visit again in the summer, and get in on some of the hiking, boating and swimming the lake and mountains offer.
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