Our unforgettable Alpine adventure has dwindled down to the last two days of the trip. On Tuesday 8/1 (day 20) we awoke again in Montreux and went for our daily morning walk along the promenade on the shore of Lake Geneva. The flowers, trees and plants along the lake are beautiful and, along with all of the sculptures, help to create such a wonderful and unique scene. Katie and I were actually considering staying in Lausanne before settling upon Montreux, and we both are happy with choosing the latter.
That being said, we decided to head out again to Lausanne today to visit the Olympic museum...and this time, it wasn't closed...even if it was a national holiday (Swiss National Day). So many businesses and offices were closed, but fortunately, not the museum. So, again we hopped aboard the train for the 25 minute jaunt to Lausanne. Once at the museum, we took in all the sights and enjoyed seeing all of the great statues/sculptures on the grounds outside of the building.
The first exhibit inside the museum focused on the history of the Olympic games, stretching back to the days of ancient Greece. Mike was excited because he used to teach a bit about this subject and actually saw a couple of ancient Greek vases he has actually talked about in class. The history lesson continued afterwards with an exhibit about Baron Pierre de Coubertin who helped to found the modern Olympic games (which were held in Athens in 1896). Many cool and interesting items from both the summer and winter Olympics were in the museum, including all of the Olympic torches, advertising posters, mascot stuffed animals, athletic artifacts (jerseys, equipment, shoes, etc.) and an original medal from every single Olympiad. Mike's favorite item was an autographed Jim Craig hockey jersey from the 1980 gold-medal winning USA hockey team. He also liked the speed-skating outfits from Eric Heiden and Dan Jansen....oh...and the figure skating dress from Katarina Witt. Katie enjoyed much of the summer Olympic memorabilia, including a sprinting jersey from Usain Bolt and a tennis racket from Roger Federer.
After a picnic lunch outside of the Olympic building, we hopped back on the train back to the hotel room to begin the process of packing up and preparing to head back home the following day. That evening, as we were winding down, we were treated to an amazing fireworks display right outside our hotel window as the Swiss celebrated their National Day holiday. Coincidentally, we were treated to a fireworks show the year before on our last night in Nice France. Either the countries were excited that Katie and Mike were finally leaving, or we just lucked out and got to see some amazing pyrotechnics.
Wednesday 8/2 (day 21) was our last day on the continent and we took some time again in the morning to walk along the promenade on the shores of Lake Geneva, and have a nice breakfast at the hotel. We checked out and took the train to the airport at Geneva on the opposite end of the lake. We had a fantastic trip and are truly grateful that we got to see so many amazing sights, meet some wonderful people, and make some unforgettable memories on our trip.
Thank you all for following along during our three week Alpine adventure. We hope you enjoyed the stories and the pictures of our journey.
Until our next adventure, and with all apologies to Lawrence Welk -- adios, au revoir, auf wiedersehen!!
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