Lausanne, Switzerland
November 25th, 2008 by Doris
We are finally here in Lausanne, Switzerland after a 12 hours flight from Hong Kong to Munich, an hour flight from Munich to Geneva and another half an hour on the train from Geneva to Lausanne. It was such a mission with all together 2 big backpacks, one big luggage which merely has a rice cooker, a blanket and couple jackets, 2 small hand suitcase (one of them filled with computer parts), a laptop, a camera bag (with camera of course) and 2 personal handbags. Ruth, Doris’s boss was very nice and came to pick us up from the train station with her 3.5 years old daughter (Laura). They took us to the apartment and showed us a bit of the city so that we were not too lost.
Although the studio is quite compact, it is a clean, nice and comfy place. As we entered the studio, we were so grateful that we don’t need to buy a bed! Basic cooking utilities are also already available. I (Doris) specially enjoy the big wardrobe although we haven’t got many clothes with us. Another great thing is no matter how cold outside, it is always warm inside the building. We even have the window open at night while we sleep as it was too warm with the blanket. We are considering moving to a bigger place but housing here is quite limited and expensive.
Switzerland is well known to be a very expensive country but we only felt it when we saw the price tag. Fresh meat and seafood are particularly expensive with up to 60CHF per kilo! Some vegetable are about the same price as in New Zealand, but some like broccoli and cauliflower are expensive with 2-5 CHF per kilo. It is interesting to find that everything is priced per kilo. So, we only looks for things are the light 
.
There is market in Lausanne city every Wednesday and Saturday. Even though we can speak nearly none French, we decided to fit into the culture by doing our grocery shopping in the market. It is such an experience and we managed to get carrot, onion, tomatoes, spinach and some vegetable!
After exploring the city for a week, we also find that there are couple supermarket sells things much cheaper than the other. So, we have decided those are the place we will be shopping atJ. We also find there are quite a few Chinese restaurants around but we don’t see many Asian on the road. We are still looking for a Chinese grocery stall so that we can get a bottle of Soy sauce although we managed to get proper Thailand rice from one of the supermarketJ.
Guess what! This morning when we got up, as we opened the window, it was snowing! How beautiful! We can also see the mountain covered with snow from far, it is just magnificent. We are planning to go and take some photos tomorrow (Sunday) as on Sunday, nothing is opened and most people stay home.