Day Tripper

You know that you are having an enriching holiday when you are in a XII century Gothic cathedral one moment and a 6 million dollar helicopter the next. Sounds extravagent, but I suppose it comes with the territory when you are in the "sexiest city in Switzerland", otherwise known as the Olympic City, Lausanne. Lausanne is surrounded by vineyards and is situated in the French speaking part of Switzerland, north of Geneva about 40 miles, flowing upward from the lake via tight cobblestone alleys and bustling marketplaces. The city has stunning panoramic views of the French Alps and the lake below, on which the white sails resemble brilliant diamonds speckled across a topaz sea. Indeed, its romantic feel is enduring.

For most of the day I traipsed up and down the cities streets, in and out of museums, and stopping for a while to wash my overworked feet in the Fountain of Justice, of all places. Perhaps the most memorable part was my stroll along the lake. I have a great fondness for nature, particularly large trees, and the lakefront was truly an arborists dream. Majestic sequoias, cedars, pines, and deciduous specimens lined the path, in such an orderly pattern that I knew I could only have been two places in the world, Switzerland or Japan.

In the evening I was privy to a very local, and I suppose quite rare, inside look into the most well known medi-vac agency in Switzerland, Rega. A chance meeting on the plane ride over here landed me, pun intended, at the Lausanne Rega airbase. A new friend, who happens to be the bases doctor, gave me a tour of a Eurocopter EC-145, fully equipped for emergency rescues (which they do plenty of in the high mountains). I spent time in the hangar, too, conversing about the operation over dinner with some of the crew. My brothers, one a helicopter pilot in the US Army and the other a firefighter paramedic would have been, with great reason, envious, though I did actually do it for their future pleasure.

Tomorrow is my final day in Geneva (I should have stayed a month!) and I will get a chance to step into the mountains for the first time. As I plan on living in the desert for the next 4 months it is sure to be a momentous experience on my present course. Au revoir