This morning we woke up early and boarded a bus headed to Lausanne, Switzerland. Lausanne is located on the shore of Lake Geneva and is about half way between Laysin, where we are staying, and Geneva.
We visited IMD, International Institute of Management Development. IMD is a graduate school with the highest ranked MBA program outside of the US. I was really looking forward to this visit and was actually quite let down by the presentation. I expected more than an hour lecture about their programs. I also realized that the opportunities they were crediting to the success of their program almost fully mirror the experiences available in this program. Another reason why I love the Huntsman Scholars Program!
After IMD we were given the afternoon off to explore and experience Lausanne. We walked all through the city to this beautiful Cathedral. On the way we found this amazing little courtyard square where we stopped to get crapes and peruse this little farmer’s market. The crepes were delicious!
While we were waiting in line Becky was asking this very friendly lady which type of crepe was the best. She told us her favorite and said Crepes are more of a French and British thing rather than Switzerland, but that they are still very good in Switzerland.
The gentleman making the crepes spoke very good English and was also very friendly! We chatted with him about various topics, where we were from, why we were in Europe, and found a little bit about him.
We continued from the crepe place to the Cathedral following this outdoor shopping mall complete with cobblestone pathways and fun shops lining the street.
We arrived to the Cathedral and it was amazing!! This is the first real Cathedral I have ever been in and couldn’t believe the amazing stained glass windows and the overall size of the Cathedral. It was crazy to think it was built hundreds of years ago and they were able to construct something of such size and detail.
We paid 2 franc and were able to go up this tower to the very top of the Cathedral. There were about 258 steps up to the rooftop and was a stone spiral staircase the whole way up. The view from the rooftop was amazing! You could see all of Lausanne and an awesome view of Lake Geneva.
After visiting the Cathedral we boarded a train headed back toward Leysin on the way stopped at Chateau de Chillon, this amazing chateau right on Lake Geneva. This chateau did not have authentic furniture in so it was more just walking from room to room. The unique thing about this chateau was the layout. It was very maze-like and much larger than the previous chateau we went through. It was also cool because you could literally go to the very top room, of the very top tower! I did not find Fiona there and unfortunately no dragon chased me up there, but the view from the top was still pretty cool!
After touring the Chateau de Chillon we boarded our train headed back to Leysin for dinner. After dinner we finalized all of our Rome plans for the next weekend and made sure we had all of our transportation and accommodations. I still can’t believe I’m here and I love seeing the beautiful cities and rich history so wonderfully preserved.
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