Day46 Dizy to Lausanne –

We woke early and got downstairs quickly (well quickly for us anyway). Despite a poor night sleep for me due to some flies and mosquitoes in the room, I felt pretty good after some coffee and bread and toast.

Day46 Morning Update

We left to another cool morning but it was significantly warmer at this lower altitude than it had been the last few mornings.

The sunrise was brilliant and colorful and lit up Mont Blanc like a beacon in the distance. As our host mentioned last evening Mont Blanc is the “cream on the top” of the summer alps.

The morning wove through small suburban villages and corn fields. But for the second straight day the path was mostly downhill so it went quickly.

Eating lunch today under a tree was relaxing but a bit cool with a coming wind. We feasted on grocery store salad and a pasta dish. You can only eat so many sandwiches.

Unfortunately most of the rest of the day was walking through the extensive suburbs of Lausanne. Walking into a city often means walking through industrial areas and poorly kept areas that are often trashy. The walk into Lausanne was no exception. Some of the time it was along a nice creek at least.

After a couple of hours into the city limits we decided to detour from the VF and cut off 5km. We wove our way through the city streets to our destination.

We booked the nights stay at the Jeunotel which is the city youth hostel. This place is huge and felt quite empty when we arrived. That soon changed however when bus-load after bus-load of teens (school kids) began arriving. The place is loud and hopping now.

We’d always intended to mail our tent and a few other items back from the last stop in France. That turned out to be Saturday however so that plan was scrapped. We did manage to get to the post office here in Lausanne however and that chore is done. So we’re officially tentless now. The bonus is that our packs are also lighter just in time for our Alpine crossing in a few days.

As part of our post office trip we negotiated the bus and underground metro services in town. I’m always a bit intimidated by bus lines for some reason. I’ve never had a bad experience, but even in London I tend to avoid them. I wonder why? The underground metro in town is the world’s steepest and moving from the train to the platform is disorienting for a second. Our chore completed we headed back to the hostel.

There is no kitchen here in Jeunotel, but they do offer a cheap meal. I think that will be our destination. The experience here will make up for living high-on-the-hog the last few nights. I’d take a picture but somehow I think an image of cafeteria food might not be worth posting.

Well, it’s time for bed now. The natives have settled a little bit. Wish us luck in sleeping!