Temps are going to be the hottest we have encountered so far, so a boat ride sounds much cooler than walking around town.

There is a longer cruise that goes from Lausanne to Geneva and back that sounds perfect. It is on one of the paddle boats which is just what we wanted. We scampered over to the pier and caught the first boat leaving Lausanne. We found a shady spot on the upper deck and staked our claim to the seats. The lake looked very calm, even with a slight breeze blowing,

I never realized just how big Lake Geneva is. It’s about 73 km from end to end, which would roughly be Montreux to Geneva. It’s not overly wide, as you could always see both shorelines as we cruised along, but I wasn’t volunteering to swim it. Lausanne is probably about 60% of the way, so we will be embarking on a three hour cruise.

In case you were fearing for us, I checked and there were no unchartered islands and our boat had a full crew, not just the Skipper and Gilligan.

As the boat left the harbor and started on its way, we ordered glasses of champagne to toast to a nice day on the lake. I figured that was a good choice to appease the Water Gods so there would be nothing but good intervention – unlike Jason and his Argonauts.

Sculptures in the harbor of Lausanne – D’Ouchy. Top and Bottom

The boat sailed along the coast of the lake for the majority of the cruise, but did cross over to the French side for a stop along the way. The scenery all along the journey was beautiful – everything from chateaus, beaches, churches, sail boats, other cruisers and a whole lot more. Hopefully the pictures give you a feel for the sights.

While the other passengers disembarked and the new passengers came aboard, we re-arranged ourselves to be comfy for the ride home. The new people coming aboard would give a little look as we were already shaded and the open seats were in the sun. Many disappointedly headed inside for shade and a little protection from the sun.

Geneva looked nice along the waterfront, but we didn’t have much interest in walking around. It’s a bit of a walk to the old town and most people have told us that there isn’t much to see.

Before long, we were heading back to sea. The ride back provided some different perspectives on what we had already scene, plus some new sights. We passed by a sailboat regatta, piers and beaches that now had many more people, a girl who was fabulously wake-boarding behind a boat and some quiet spots where the sun seemed to have gotten the best of the people who were there earlier.

Again it was a relaxing and peaceful way to spend a hot, sunny day.

When we returned to Lausanne it had been a long day, but a delightful day on the lake. We were both a bit hungry and warm, so we headed back to the hotel to cool off and await dinner.

We will be dining at the hotel restaurant again tonight. Our meal the first night was delicious, so why not end at the same place ?

The folks at the restaurant recognized us and were very nice. We shared a shrimp cocktail appetizer and then shared a whole roasted chicken. The chicken came with french fries, a salad and ratatouille. We also ordered a bottle of white wine from the Morges region of Switzerland that paired well with our chicken. Everything was delicious once again. They also brought us a dessert because our ratatouille didn’t arrive along with with the chicken.

Since many of you know how we are, when they came out to the table to present the roasted chicken, we named it. So for the meal we were eating, our French chicken from the Gruyère region named… Étienne. He gave his feathers for a good cause.

All in all it was a great way to finish up our time in Lausanne.

We went up to the room to relax and ended up watching the heat lightning lighting up the lake. Didn’t take long for me to doze off while Sue relaxed. All that fresh air is working its magic.