It’s no secret that Ton and I love a good wine region. Next to Lausanne is a Swiss wine region that has an extensive series of trails that allow for hiking thru the vineyards. So once we got going in the morning we were off to check out the Lavaux wine region.
Wine has been grown in the region since the Romans, but the hills that the Lavaux wine area are on now first started producing grapes for wine in the 11th century. The vineyards are now protected from development by law and have been designated a UNESCO site
The primary wine produced is called Chasselas and is a white wine. They also produce some Gamay and Pinot Noir wine.
As part of the UNESCO designation there is an extensive network of trails that run for many miles thru the region. These trails are really well marked and developed. It is possible to go on hikes up to 15 miles thru the vineyards. We weren’t that ambitious and I found a nice 2 mile hike that started at a small train station at the top of the hill and ended at another train station next to Lake Geneva.
The hike was really beautiful and quiet. We almost had the trails to ourselves. Ton was immersed in taking pictures and I got to spend my time quietly taking in the immensity of the views across Lake Geneva towards the French Alps. I was also intrigued with some of the equipment they used to tend the vines on these really steep hills.
We finished up our hike/stroll (2 miles probably is pushing the term hike) around 1:30 and since the train was going to the center of Lausanne we decided to get off and give the old town a look.
As we have been driving in Switzerland we keep seeing advertisements for a limited time 1955 burger at McDonald’s. At first when we saw the signs we were wondering what the 1955 was referring to, was it the price (don’t laugh we are in Switzerland), the year 1955, but if it is the year 1955 what is the significance of that year to McDonald’s, or was it something else entirely. Each time we saw the advertisement the speculation would be rekindled. Finally Ton couldn’t resist and googled the meaning of the 1955 burger and it turns out it is a special burger only released periodically in Europe and parts of Asia. She also read me the ingredients that made it unique and “special”. So today as we were leaving the train station there was a McDonald’s and Ton proposed we split a 1955 burger, Ton usually won’t even consider eating fast food so I was surprised. So my congratulations to the marketing firm for McDonald’s in Switzerland because you lured in a customer who would not have considered eating in a McDonald’s before being caught up in the web of your advertisement. By the way the burger was pretty good.
We walked around downtown a little aimlessly for about 45 minutes, it is nice but not particularly memorable except for the steepness of the roads. Having taken in enough to satisfy our curiosity we decided to head back to François for the evening.