It was Sunday morning around 10AM+ when I arrived in Lausanne and much to my disappointment the weather hasn’t cooperated at all. It is almost June and it is still wet, cold and grey. I truly wish I have arrived somewhere else where there is sun, but that’s too late now.
At the train station I right away searched for the tourist information center. I’ve read on the internet that there is a small market on Sunday mornings in Ouchy, a neighborhood in Lausanne along the shores of Lake Geneva so before getting on the tram to Ouchy I thought I might as well confirm this. The younger woman behind the tourist information counter wasn’t really very helpful, she said there is no such market, and markets and stores in Lausanne are closed on Sundays. I didn’t want to believe her so I persisted and spoke to her colleague, an older woman who confirmed that there is indeed a small market in Ouchy every Sunday morning, all throughout the year.
You can say that I was a bit annoyed at the younger woman but I guess that’s where ‘age’ and ‘experience’ comes in.
The market isn’t really impressive. It is very small, only a handful of vendors were selling farm produce and baked goods; however, considering that shops in Lausanne are closed that day, this is already the best deal. In most of Europe, Sundays are dead so I was actually taking a risk in coming to Lausanne on a Sunday. The nice thing though of this market is its location, in the park called Quai d’Ouchy along the shores of Lake Geneva.
I bought three Italian types of dried sausages from the Swiss-Italian vendor, two of which are whole cured sausages from Abruzzo and the other one, normal salami sliced into thin pieces that I ate for lunch.
The deli vendor was very nice and generous; he let me try all of the cured sausages that I fancied. The hilarious part here is that he only speaks French and Italian so I had to resort to communicating the rudimentary way—hand gestures including facial features et al. It was so awkward and comical. It took a while for us to understand each other and I’m thankful to one of the shoppers, an old gentleman with a hat and cane who speaks English. He was listening to our conversation the whole time and perhaps couldn’t take it anymore so he came forward and helped with the translation before both of us falls into frustration relapse!
There are ferries from Ouchy traveling to other parts of Lake Geneva and even crossing to the French part. I briefly met a guy who was going to Evian in France with the boat and I was contemplating of doing the same thing but decided last minute not to do it. The weather was depressing and the last thing I want to do would be sailing on a boat.
Ouchy is pronounced as oo-chi.
Travel Period: May 2010
Destination: Puchy-Laussane (Vaud), Switzerland
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