For tourists contemplating Europe, the big cities are always a lure—Paris, Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Prague. But there is pleasure to be had in more modest places such as Lausanne, where the scene is languid—and yet urbane. Located just 30 miles from Geneva, an easy half-hour train trip, Lausanne is situated on a steep hillside overlooking the lake. It rises up from the former fishing village of Ouchy on the shore, where the Beau-Rivage squats, to the city center some 700 feet above. (And one could walk higher still.
It’s hard to avoid Gothic churches in Europe, and that is especially true in Lausanne. The massive Cathedral of Notre Dame, built in the 13th century and consecrated by Pope Gregory X, dominates the skyline. It looms—a stern reminder of the bishops who once ran the city before being ousted by the city-state of Berne in the 16th century.
The church has more than 100 stained glass windows and Europe’s only remaining night watchman. I’d heard that he appears nightly, on the hour, from 10:00 p.m. until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. My Virginia Living colleague and I showed up just before 10:00 and stood waiting near the front entrance. The hour seemed to come and go—we saw nothing. Then we heard a voice, but it was faint and barely discernible. Looking up, we saw the barest outline of a figure in the bell tower above. Then came the words, “C’est le guet—il a sonné l’heure” (“I am the night watchman; the hour has struck”). He then moved to each of the other three sides of the tower and repeated the same phrases.
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