Lausanne to Morges, 13Km along the shore
I can’t believe how badly I speak French. So far on this trip I’ve been spoilt by Eveline and then Walter making all the accommodation bookings in German. I’m lucky because I can’t speak a word of German. But it’s French all the way from now on so I wasn’t too worried having spent many years at school studying the language. I even passed the exam. But most pilgrim accommodation must be booked by telephone. I tried my best; I wrote down my simple request to reserve a bed for tomorrow, checked it on Google Translate then dialled the number.
Surely he could have guessed what I wanted? “Demain… dimanche… un lit”. He couldn’t understand. Was I German? Eventually it dawned on him that I was calling to reserve a bed for tomorrow night. I was going to pretend that I didn’t understand his English but we settled the call. Doubtless the place will be empty.
I set off to the station wondering why I could routinely book the accommodation in Japanese but not in French. The train took 15 minutes for the ride to Lausanne and then I turned around and walked back to Morges along the shoreline of Lake Geneva, looking across the lake to France. Delightful walk. Lots of people enjoying their Saturday morning in the sun. Lots of expensive houses. Lots of bird life.
Back at the hotel, I made a reservation at the Château de Bossey for Monday night on hotels.com and then settled down to watch the tennis. That was my rest day.
Pilgrimage 
Most pilgrim accommodation booked by telephone? I had visions of exhausted pilgrims knocking on random doors every evening, seeking shelter, bread and water. C’est la vie!
Not at all! It’s all high tech. I dial the telephone number and eventually they write Monsieur Tim in their book. Just imagine such conveniences when Joseph was searching for shelter in Bethlehem
I loved Lausanne and it was a real rest day for me on the VF as I had a friend of a friend to stay with AND had more friends of my own to stay with the next day in Geneva. Yes, for the eagle-eyed Geneva is the wrong direction but I got the train there and a lift back to Lausanne and picked up where I left off. In Geneva I fulfilled a lifelong wish to see if it was true that houses in Switzerland had nuclear bunkers. Well the one I stayed in did¬ Kofi Anan lived a few doors up along the lake.
I bet he had one too!
We had a good stay at an AirB&B too. I remember we all prepared a dish for dinner and I made the fruit salad which I thought was delicious but maybe Paul could add a comment?
I see that now you’re going solo it’s hotels from now on!
Hi Mary, not at all. My first choice is always pilgrim accommodation. The place I called is a pilgrim only gite costing 10 francs while the hotel in Gland is £151. I just hope there will be some pilgrims and maybe a washing machine. Once I get to France I think it will be mostly gites.
My tongue was in my cheek !
…there may be a few hotels!
Kia ora Tim, great photos of a gorgeous walking trail. I’m envious. In the photo of the herons there’s one Butor etalie (spg?) that looks like one we call a bittern – rather secretive birds which prefer damp places with tall grasses and, if threatened, will freeze with their heads held high trying to blend in with the grasses. Kia kaha.
Mary, the cheek was in your tongue!
I know the reed loving bittern. It was almost extinct in UK but in recent years has been reintroduced in preserved marshlands and appears to be thriving again
What’s this?…you took a ‘real’ train when you could’ve taken the toy version in your pic?! 🤭
I feel your pain re French pronunciation; it was a constant source of frustration & exasperation for me. Can my attempts be so bad they have no clue what I mean?! Afterall, I understand mispronunciation & accents of non-English speakers enough to know what they want/need… but such is the preciseness of Français… Good luck. 🤯
I think our only skill when it comes to language is in understanding the broken English of foreigners
I did try, very hard, to speak French on our recent walk, mais, malheureusement (can’t even tell now if that’s the right spelling) most of the French and Belgian walkers with whom we crossed paths spoke English far, far better than my feeble attempts at French. They kindly intervened when I was bumbling along. I long ago came to the conclusion that (sadly) I can read (and write) French far better than I can speak it. I guess it’s inevitable that we antipodeans (not having many opportunities to converse) are not fluent ….
I know the feeling but I will persist
Hi Tim, It’s always harder to converse in a foreign language by phone than in person, and some people seem more unforgiving about ‘foreign’ accents. Personally, I’m trying to improve my spoken French and have found a huge resource of online tips on YouTube. ‘French with Nelly’, for example. I also attend a local French conversation class. School French was biased towards written rather than spoken French.
There’s a lot of truth in what you say. When I talk French face to face it works much better, however ridiculous I may sound.
“parlez vous anglais sil vous plait” was always my opening line – but most didn’t
It’s surprising that for such close neighbours we struggle with each other’s language