Settling In

Ashley:
It's an inevitable process, that as you move into a new area, you find hideouts and places that you love. I thought a mini-post to show some of my new favorites might make it clear that J and I are settling in. So, here are a few favorites (obviously subject to change) that I've found from my first month in Lausanne.

Best walk: Ouchy towards the Olympic park. Good people watching, nicely marked paths, and several water fountains.

Best outdoor space: The Botanical Gardens. As you climb up the hill, you can sit in the sun and look out over the whole city. It's very peaceful and not usually crowded, and the city of Lausanne even provides the lawn chairs!

Best cup of coffee: Coffee is a variable thing. Sometimes it is wonderfully rich and creamy, but served in a tiny cup. Other times it's expensive. You might get a piece of chocolate with it, or you might not. So far, my favorite place to go is a confectioner's called Moret on Ave de la Harpe. I think it's family-owned, as it is very small and I always see the same two people at work there. Since the rest of the place's name is Christophe and Sonja, and one's a woman and one's a man, I think the pleasant woman who gives me coffee (and didn't even laugh at me the time I fell out of my chair trying to pick up a coin I dropped) might be Sonja. At any rate, a cup of coffee there is nice and rich, moderately priced, and served with a small piece of homemade chocolate. The chocolate is delicious; much better than any chocolate I've had with any other coffee in town, and the shop also offers a rotating menu of unusual breads. Great find.

Best All-Around Shop: Manor. They sell everything from clothing, to vacuums, to fresh bread or fish in the deli downstairs. I also like Globus, but Manor has an inexpensive restaurant and more in the household goods departments, so it squeezes out a win from me.

Best Afternoon Snack: You may have heard from Jonathan that people in Lausanne tend to eat lightly at lunch. The restaurants are certainly full of people having nice meals in the midday, but I think most working folks go to a bakery. The bakery downstairs does a brisk business in sandwiches from about 11 until 2, and I confess that my lunches often imitate this habit. I eat a sandwich around 12, but since J and I usually don't eat dinner until at least 7, I am usually starving by 4 or 5. Currently, my favorite afternoon snack is green grapes and some fresh bread (hey, if YOU could buy wonderful bread for under $2 a loaf, you'd do it too!) with a soft cheese called Ail des Ours. This roughly translates to Bear's Garlic, which is sort of a funny pun because the cheese is filled with raw (or BARE) garlic. It's probably not good for anyone who has to speak to me, but I find it wonderfully tasty with some apple juice in the afternoon.

As you can see, we're settling in! Hopefully, these little snapshots give you a better idea of how we fill our days in between our trips. We are planning a day trip to Interlaken on Saturday, so be on the lookout for pictures and information about that!

Oh, and as promised: here are a couple pictures of the apartment now that it has furniture. :)
Interesting note: The kitchen table is covered with our Scrabble game. We play a lot. Dorks.