We arrived in Lausanne by train from Nรฎmes, with a change in Dijon. While travelling by train is much more dignified that travelling by air, and you get to see where you are travelling, there is the down side of you taking your luggage with you. In Dijon we found a small waiting area to sit with our bags. Inside the station was a piano, the public were encouraged to play it.
Our accommodation in Lausanne was an Airbnb. We got a whole apartment to ourselves. The apartment design was quite smart, they had all the services (water, gas) in the centre, with the other rooms around the outside. We were on the top floor of a small apartment block, and could just spy the lake from the balcony.
That evening I went for a walk, not the brightest of ideas considering my knee had started to hurt, and it was really hot, and everywhere in Lausanne was up a hill. But I needed a SIM card for my phone. While my Spanish SIM had served me well in France (yay for the EU), Switzerland is of course fiercely independent, and I needed a Swiss SIM.
I eventually made it to the town centre and located a Swisscom store. Not being the first time I had bought a SIM in Switzerland I brought all the appropriate pieces of paper with me. They had a queue manager who asked what I was there for (in French), I replied ‘prepaid SIM’ in English and they took my name down.
After a wait or two someone came looking for me, when they realised I didn’t speak French or German they said they couldn’t help me and would get someone else, so I sat down again. Eventually someone came and asked what I was after, I said ‘prepaid SIM’ and we conducted the entire exchange without saying another word, simple gestures on where to sign, and asking for my passport when needed.
