Toussaint

School was out for a week at Toussaint, or All Saints Day, the Catholic holiday on November 1 (also known as All Hallows, and thus, the evening before is Hallow Eve). We had nothing planned and grew increasingly panicked as the weekend approached. Finally, we settled on taking a train to Lausanne, Switzerland, and renting a car for a drive to Italy. Sky wanted to eat Spaghetti Bolognese in Bologna. It was the only reason we had for going anywhere.

We arrived in Lausanne in the evening after a comfortable train ride. We had booked a hotel that we found over the Internet. It was in a lovely old building on the port at Ouchy, the most scenic part of Lausanne. The hotel was very bare bones, however, and the room was not the suite we had been promised. Anna raised a ruckus and got the price down to less than it cost us for dinner.

The weather the next morning was dramatic, but not promising for a drive through the Swiss Alps.

True and I went out early for a walk along the lake.

We watched the fishermen hauling in their nets.

And True felt the glacier-fed lake water.

After breakfast, we rented a car and drove up the lake to the Chateau de Chillon. I had visited the castle when I hitchiked through Switzerland in 1976. It made a big impression on me then. It was as beautiful as I remember it.

I told the boys about Lord Byron's visit there and showed them his name carved in the pillar in the dungeon. I bought a copy of the poem, "Prisoner of Chillon," which he wrote while staying in Ouchy during his sailing tour of the lake.

"Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!"

The weather cleared while we were visiting the rest of the castle.

Here, True is sampling the latrine.

We left in the early afternoon and headed for the Alps. It was a beautiful drive. We went over Nufenen Pass, arriving at the summit just after sunset.

It was beautiful and quiet and cold.

We only stayed long enough to yodel and take a few pictures.

Then we drove on to Lugano. We arrived without a hotel and Anna managed to get us adjoining rooms at the best hotel in town, the Splendide, for a very reasonable rate. We went to have fondue at a restaurant above the town.

The weather in the morning was impeccable. We walked to the funicular and went to the top of Monte San Salvatore for views of the lake.

True took this picture on the way down.

Then we took a walk along the lake. The boys fed the ducks and a swan and the seagulls.

Afterward, we went back to the hotel for a swim and started on our way to Bologna.