Saturday 23rd February
Another day, another bus journey, this time to Lausanne!
The bus transport is amazing, super comfortable reclining seats, free wifi, free luggage, and toilet on board, what more could you need?
We arrived in Lausanne and were met by our home owners who showed us around the town, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, before taking us to the house to meet Mango, the boxer cross pug we are looking after! He is such a sweet boy, with big puppy dog eyes and thinks he's a lap dog (although he most definitely is not)!
The house is beautiful, situated in a more rural part of Switzerland. It is surrounded by fields, farms and woods for hiking, while still being within easy access to the city of Lausanne. The house is lovely and light with a sun room and sauna, as well as a babbling brook running through the yard!
Our home owners kindly took us to the discount grocery stores. It was so bizzare, the store was like a warehouse with normal food, but literally all discounted, like an outlet clothes store. We then stopped at the BIGGEST Migros we have ever seen to pick up the last few things, it was almost the size of a small shopping centre in itself!
We then headed back to take Mango for a walk, before our home owners took us out for dinner at an amazing local Italian restaurant. They had the tastiest food, all super fresh. I had a delicious pasta and Sam had a pizza. It was so funny though, being expats from America, our home owners are still learning French themselves, and our home owner mum thought she had ordered veal dish. Well, it was not veal. She made us all try some and we were convinced it was testicle. Once we left the restaurant we looked up the menu and translated it, turns out it was liver, from what animal I don't know! Safe to say it was the fanciest meal the dog has ever had brought home to him!
Sunday 24th February
We had the morning with the homeowners and were given all the tips and local knowledge about the area before we took Mango for a walk and they headed off.
Later on we took Mango with us for another stroll through fields in the Swiss country side! We then enjoyed the afternoon and evening relaxing in the sun room eating nibbles and watching the sun set. As it started to get colder we moved ourselves into the house to cozy on up by the fire.
Monday 25th February
I'm feeling 22 (ooo ooo)!!!
I had THE MOST amazing birthday!
It started off with some big birthday cuddles from Mango, and a lovely card from Sam with the surprise that he was taking me to some thermal baths for the day!!
While the rosti was being cooked up for birthday breakfast I spoke to everyone back home and virtually blew out my candles for the cake my family were eating back home!
After a lovely time talking to family, we headed out for a gorgeous walk through the countryside with Mango.
Once we were back, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed for the train!
We had the most beautiful train journey through the mountains and along side Lake Geneva to St Maurice (which FYI is a super cute town)!
A short walk through the country side just outside St Maurice and we arrived at the thermal baths! Oh. My. Goodness. It was such a fun day, the baths were amazing!
It was a massive bath that was like a pool, but hot! It had a whirl pool in the centre, where you lifted your legs up and the current carried you around in a circle, which was so much fun!
We weren't allowed to take photos within the facility so the following photos of the the baths are from the Les Bains, de Lavey website.
There were also a number of hotter smaller baths that resembled spas jutting off from the main bath. Within the main bath, there were little fountains which were fun to stand under and be rained on with warm water.
Then, within the bath was a shallow section that you lift yourself up onto and the ground is molded into the shape of beach chairs with spa jets to massage you! So here I was on my birthday laying on these "beach chairs" in Switzerland, in a thermal bath, staring up at the mountains. It was insane, I still can't believe it was real!
We then spent some time in the sauna, which was lovely and hot. When leaving the sauna, right outside the door, there is a big chain which is attached to a bucket of water, so naturally, we pulled the chain and had a bucket of icy water dumped on us. From here, you walk forward to a plunge pool of ice water, and I mean ICE water. I can't even begin to tell you how cold that was. I was in and out before you could even blink, and diving right back into the thermal pool for warmth!
We then found a glass room that has deck chairs in it and is warmed with a wood fire! So we lay back in there staring out at the snow capped mountains as the fire crackled behind us.
From there we then found my favourite part of the whole place, the Hammam rooms.
They were so relaxing. It was like a sauna room, actually more like a humid room, but doesn't make you feel like you can't breath. There was a thin layer of water on the floor and a tricking fountain in the middle of the room, that lightly splashed you with cool water, and the humidity, or I guess steam, was scented with essential oils. It was so amazing and relaxing, and my skin felt incredible afterwards.
We spent the remaining hours that we had there moving between all the facilities that the place had to offer, loving every moment.
It was such an amazing way to spend the day, I loved every minute of it, and all too soon it was time to go.
We made the train journey back to our house sit, albeit it took a lot longer than expected as our train didn't show up...it wasn't cancelled or anything, it just didn't show, so we had to wait an hour for the next one. That's alright though, the view was pretty spectacular.
We eventually arrived back home and took a very excited Mango for a walk, before talking to more family and enjoying some camembert and ice tea while making a satay curry for dinner.
After dinner we chilled out, all relaxed from our day at the baths and I enjoyed a waffle with blueberries and chocolate as my birthday cake!
What. A. Day. It was so special, and will certainly be a birthday I will never forget.
Tuesday 26th February
We had a slow morning today. After a mess of a rosti on the stovetop, we ended up popping our rosti in the oven to cook which took 45mins because the stupid induction cooktops and pans are no good for this golden potato goodness. While it was cooking we enjoyed some cuddles with Mango and sorted ourselves out for the day.
It was meant to be $2 Taco Tuesday at this place on the water in Lausanne that our home owners recommended, but upon further research we found that they had changed it! (Plot twist, I know). Well apparently "Taco Tuesday" is now Taco Wednesday, so that will have to wait until tomorrow.
Rather than heading into the city we headed out with Mango in tow for a hike through the Swiss country side. It's so lovely and peaceful and everyone we passed who were also out walking were so friendly, never failing to exchange "bonjour's".
We arrived back for a late lunch and a chill afternoon by the fire as we were all pretty tired from our outing!
Wednesday 27th February
I honestly can’t believe how lucky we are to be living the life we're living.
I woke up to a warm house, as Sam, bless him, had already gotten up and started the fire.
We had a scrumptious breakfast of pesto eggs and tomato with, you guessed it, rosti! We put some washing on, and then it was time for Mango’s walk. It is always so breath taking walking around here.
It was then time for a round of soccer in the back yard before we fixed the bicycles and then set out for an adventure.
I am honestly living my dream. The sun is shining and we are riding bicycles through Swiss country side and I'm feeling absolutely joyous! We rode through fields and down little roads until we reached our destination, the pizza restaurant!
I am so impressed with ourselves. This is the restaurant our home owners took us to, so we knew that they didn’t speak English. Well, we managed to order our takeaway pizza ENTIRELY in French!! Not a word of English was spoken! I was very chuffed with myself.
We took our pizza and rode through some fields and then hiked up a hill for the perfect pizza picnic spot, overlooking the country side and mountains (yes, it was a slightly cold pizza by the time we got there).
We enjoyed the sunshine and being in the country side, lapping up the views, before making our way back home.
The afternoon was spent in the sun room with nibbles, before heading out with Mango for a sunset walk.
Thursday 28th February
The day started by taking Mango for his morning walk. The fresh, crisp, Swiss air on our faces and beautiful clear skies above us.
We then jumped on a bus and headed into Lausanne for the day.
We wandered through the quaint streets until we reached the pier and harbour area on Lake Geneva. We found ourselves a nice place to sit and pulled out our picnic lunch. What a place for a picnic!
We spent a fair bit of time wandering around down by the waters edge, before winding our way through the cute streets of Lausanne.
The buildings are all so beautiful and picturesque, it was gorgeous to just get lost within the architecture.
We weaved our way up (and I mean up, Lausanne is not a flat city) to the cathedral overlooking the city. The views of the city, Lake Geneva, and the mountains were pretty impressive, although there was a fair bit of a haze over the mountains today.
The cathedral was absolutely astounding, the grandeur of the building, with vibrant stained glass windows was spectacular. There were also a number of crypts within the cathedral, but it was all written in French, so we don't know who they were.
After a little more wandering, we did our groceries (and yes, stocked up on rosti) before hopping on the bus back home.
We arrived back just in time for sunset, so we dumped our things inside, geared Mango up and headed out with dog and cameras in hand. It was such a lovely way to end a lovely day.
Friday 1st March
It was a rainy day today, and what better way to spend it than by chilling out by the fire with a dog who loves cuddles. We just had a cozy day, reading, looking through photos and playing Mario Party.
Mango is a special dog. A very sweet dog, but very needy of affection. He's the right amount of special that you kind of shake your head, laugh and get attached. He also has this very bizzare (and cute) trait that you have to tuck him (literally with a blanket) into bed for him to stay and go to sleep.
And he likes to just be wrapped in his blanket, which is the funniest thing and we think it makes hime look like Dobby!
Saturday 2nd March
It was another rainy day.
We put on our coats and took Mr Mango out for his morning walk before settling in by the fire for the day.
We stayed cozied up, chilling by the fire and having lots of cuddles, as well as starting to look at what we were going to do for the next week.
After Mango's evening walk we all headed downstairs to the movie room and made the most of a big screen for the evening entertainment.
Sunday 3rd March
Today was our last day in Lausanne. We took Mango for a nice long walk this morning, taking in the countryside, and soaking up the beauty.
We spent most of the day putting a bit of a plan together for the next week in France and booked our transport and accommodation.
Soon enough it was time for one last sunset walk with Mango before cleaning up the place, having some cuddles, and heading to bed.
We both absolutely loved our experience here, and have loved Switzerland as a whole. It has been so special to get to experience living in such amazing places and making furry friends in the process.
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