Lausanne was always going to be a highlight of our visit to Switzerland for Ton. The late king of Thailand King Rama IX lived here for 18 years when he was a boy. Rama IX was born in Boston while his father was studying medicine and his mother was studying to be a nurse. When he was an infant the family moved to Lausanne. It is a long story as he was not the crown prince but the younger brother of the crown prince. He only came to the throne due to the accidental death of his older brother right after he became king. Rama IX was king for over 70 years and is still beloved today by the Thai people. On the 60th anniversary of his reign the Thai government built a memorial in Lausanne in thanks to the city for the years he spent here when he was young. It was our first stop in Lausanne.

The Thai Pavilion faces lake Geneva, so after we finished our visit we started walking along the Lake Front. The views across Lake Geneva are beautiful, though today they were a little spoiled by a pretty thick haze.

Lausanne is also the home of the International Olympic Committee. As we were walking down the waterfront we saw a museum dedicated to the Olympics. We crossed the road to take a look. The grounds had a display primarily centered around the Paris Olympics. I didn’t know that this year was the third time Paris had hosted the Olympics, so the historical facts about the previous two were interesting to me. The main museum has an entrance fee so we passed today as it was getting late, but may return later.

By the time we had visited the grounds of the Olympic Museum it was late enough to head back to François for dinner. Once again we have full access to the local transit system thanks to the Swiss tourist tax, and we plan to take full advantage of it.

After dinner we decided to head back to the Lake for a sunset walk. Right outside the campground is a trail along the lake shore. I was a little surprised how busy it was with people running, there were also several groups out rowing along the lake and in the distance there were 8 or 10 sailboats out for an evening sail.

While all of the haze had not cleared it was much better than this afternoon and Ton was in her element taking photos. This time I was following her as she darted from the trail down to the shoreline, on to piers, and thru the grounds of the yacht club. She really enjoyed her walk as did I.

We both decided that Lausanne seems to be a place we are going to enjoy and are wondering if three days are going to be enough.
Enjoy! FYI – we showed our transit card (I think it was electronic?) at the IOC museum and they did not charge us for admission. I ❤️ that museum…I could have spent the entire day there. We also used the provided free audio tour. Highly recommend.
Thanks for the heads up about the transit card. We will definitely give it a try.