Lausanne, los primeros días

Tengo la suerte de tener gente alrededor que me ayuda a recordar que es bueno escribir las memorias iniciales al llegar a una nuevo sitio. Normalmente estoy tan metida en los detalles del día a día que la sorpresa de encontrase con algo nuevo me va pasando por enfrente y aunque la noto, no me tomo el tiempo de apreciarlo como debería. Por eso decidí escribir un poco sobre las primeras impresiones de lausanne, mientras estoy "fresca"

Lausanne hasta hoy tiene cosas que la hacen resaltar de entre los sitios donde he vivido. Una de las cosas que mi memoria esta tratando de empujar al papel (en este caso a la pantalla) es la bondad o quizá esa no es la palabra correcta, me sale "politness" pero no me refiero al politness inglés ... sino más bien la amabilidad y la cordialidad con la que los Laussanoises y quizá todos los Suizos viven su vida. Uno camina por la calle, y la gente sonría y te dice, Bonjour madame, le tocan el pelo a Sebastian or le dicen algo dulce en francés. Es una ciudad y tiene su caos como cualquier otra pero nadie deja de hacer contacto visual y saludar... esa familiaridad de villa, pero extendidas a toda una ciudad.


Of course the hills, ... the first week we got here, I seriously cried (really) at the prospect of having to come up and down a major hill. Our temporary apartment is located near a park called Mon Repos, there are beautiful view of the lake and the mountains and we are just a few minutes away from the coast... idyllic, except for that to get to that beautiful view we have to walk up from the road on an almost 50 degree angle, come on legs! you should see us by now, we have trained ourselves to the point of not fainting when we get to the top, we only pant and pant until we get our breaths back. How's Sebastian doing with the hills? he's thankful he's still allowed in a stroller.

Green, Green, yes, Lausanne is a city full of gardens, trees, flowers, in fact I have heard that there are more green areas per sq meter in this city than any other city in Switzerland, or was it Europe. Well, to me it's like talking about billions and trillions, at that level, I don;t see the difference. Coming from a not so green city, Europe in general looks very green indeed, but I guess I still make the point about Lausanne because compared to London, or Luxembourg, it does feel green greeen.

oh that view ... being able to see the lake and the mountains from your window apartment is a pleasure. Lausanne has breathtaking views ... it really spoils you. Before moving here our checklist for apartment requirements were the usual ones: a minimum number of sq meters, proximity to a park, washer and dryer, garage; after seeing Lausanne, well, you are almost obliged to include and prioritise "the view" (and you usually end up paying well for it). We ended up finding a really good apartment (more about it in another post) but sadly no view. Something to look forward to when we go for our walks.