Whenever I can do so, I walk back home. Be this from the train station or from town, whether I am carrying only a book in my rucksack or several books plus a bag of groceries, I try to shun M2 (the train system that links Lausanne’s harbour to the city’s northern outer edge) and go for the long walk back home that will get me to climb over two of Lausanne’s hills.
Revamp of the western entrance to the cathedral, ‘Lausanne style’, 2nd August 2015
The first climb usually takes me to the foot of this ‘Old Lady’, which today I was surprised to see that its western entrance was sporting a ‘Christo wrap’ look – I suppose they are going to clean the sculptures (this reminds me that I have yet to write an entry on this part of the cathedral).
The ‘Old Lady’, as seen from Sauvabelin, 7th May 2015 (can you spot the cranes?)
The second climb takes me to the ‘Celtic heartland’ of Lausanne: Sylva Belen (or Belena). This has its importance because some claim that the etymological root of Lausanne is Lug (one of the main Celtic divinities). Others say that the name is derived from two Celtic words: Laus, another name for the river Flon, and ona, river in that language.
One of my favourite spots in Lausanne, 2nd August 2015
I was a little taken aback by this apparent contradiction: at some places, this river (Flon) was very shallow (which is not surprising given the two major heatwaves we have had) but there were also traces of landslides not far away from the very spot where I shot the picture of the waterfall – they must have been caused by the diluvian downpours we have had on two occasions this past fortnight.
Should there be more heatwaves, I suppose that only a trickle of water will be left. This is why I decided to go back home along the ‘waterfall route’ after I had bumped into an elderly lady who was lost and was interested in seeing the many waterfalls higher up the river and hills.
The walk I had expected to last some 45 to 50 minutes took me more than twice that estimate to complete. Yet it was certainly worth it…
More in a future entry on my ‘other’ blog (i.e. at myfirstnamesurname.ch/blog/blog.html) or click here.
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