Cat Comes to Lausanne

I was very nervous in anticipation for my trip to Lausanne because it has been over three years since my last French lesson and Mom and I would be traveling alone for much of my stay. I didn't think we would be able to get around in Paris, so I worried and fretted during my entire flight.

It wasn't until we made our final descent over Geneva shortly after sunrise, when I saw the alps towering over little French villages and the big city of Geneva, that my nervousness completely vanished and was finally replaced by excitement. If you have never seen the Alps in person before, there is no way to visualize it--but they really are truly majestic.

Mom drove all the way from their house to pick me up at the airport. I was really anxious when we started driving but Mom had the attitude of a professional international driver! :) The roads and highways in Switzerland are very orderly, organized, and as we like to say, "civilized". People don't speed and the roads are not a crazy free-for-all, like in most European cities.

After I got settled Mom and I took a walk through Lausanne so I wouldn't get tired. The city is beautiful--there are lots of public spaces and parks scattered throughout the city, characterized by immense and ancient-looking trees, well-primmed gardens, public art and fountains. We stopped at a rather large park, within which was situated an old house and what used to be stables. The city runs the facility now, and installed large bird cages outside.

There were exotic birds, chickens, and pheasants and mom and I really enjoyed watching them. The city runs the facility! I was very surprised by that. We stayed and enjoyed the peacocks and finches, but my favorite were the chickens, who liked to scratch in the sand and squabble with each other.

We wandered home after lunch--I was ready to escape inside because I'll admit I was still kind of nervous about my French--and I passed out at about 6:45 pm and slept gloriously for 13 hours.