We Take Ourselves With Us

 I got my first Swatch in the 1980s, like most folks in my generation. I now have a few, and when I went to the Swatch motherland, I knew what my souvenirs would be. Here are the five I chose. They, and the cow bell that now tings  on our dog's collar * (such a great idea that no one will ever regret) will always remind me of our magical trip. Only in Luzern: Chapel Bridge Only in Interlaken: Cows in a Milk Can Limited Edition: How Majestic! Only in Switzerland: Cuckoo Clock  Only at Le Musee Olympique: Beijing 2008 (so many choices, but this one was irresistible) *  

 One last morning in Interlaken, and we bid Auf  Wiedersehen to our lovely river view and to the more German part of Switzerland. We were off for Lausanne, from which one can literally see France across Lake Geneva.   We hopped a train for the couple hour trip, which took us from the Alps through beautiful Swiss farmlands.   Ned had read that newcomers to Lausanne should avoid driving at all costs--the roads are confusing, the signage equally so, and the entire town rises from the lake on steep, steep hills. Well, after exiting the train station in the wrong direction, and finding ourselves pulling heavy luggage up cobblestone hills and then staircases that never ended--and getting pooped on by a bird and losing a suitcase wheel--we decided that newcomers to Lausanne should avoid walking at all costs. Then, it started to drizzle. But, eventually, we found our home for the next two nights, the Hotel de la Paix, and it became very clear why all that walking was importa...