Dimanche - Trains 'n Coats 'n pains

Packing to vacate the apartment takes quite a lot of time. We meet the agent, Anne, at apartment and hand over the keys. Our TGV train (very fast) is scheduled to leave from Gare de Lyon to Lausanne Switzerland at 1.05 pm. These trains pride themselves in being on time.

We arrive at the station with an hour spare and have lunch at station eatery, Train Blue Brasserie. Walking down the platform, we realize we have left our coats in the restaurant. 10 minutes to go and Philip has to rush back to the restaurant. In the meantime Kwan looks for the correct carriage. Kwan fails to find the carriage and has to get on to the nearest carriage and Philip returns with the coats with a minute to spare. We have to now drag our bags (you know we are known for travelling light) through 5 carriages to find our seats, only to find someone have occupied them. They vacated seats but left their moaning, whining cat on the luggage shelf above for 1 ½ hours, while they presumably continued to seat hop. After the stop at Dijon they reclaimed the cat in the box only minutes before we may have committed felineacide. – real torture.

We arrive in Lausanne at 4.55 pm. There is very pretty scenery (canola flowers fields, water views) particularly for the last hour of the journey. Our hotel is up the hill with a great view of Lake Geneva – Lac Léman to the locals – and the snow caped alps as the backdrop.

Dinner at a lakeside Italian restaurant where the staff seem to be overwhelmed by the crowds of visitors the warm weather has attracted over the week end - quite a contrast to Paris where the service is usually very professional and efficient. Kwan thinks that the waterfront area reminds her of Brighton or Bournemouth - a kind of uninspiring resort.

Our hotel is wonderful, but the other first impressions of Lausanne below par.