The Olympic Museum
On Wednesday we had rain on and off. We had planned to go to the Olympic Museum, but we got too late of a start, and the weather did not cooperate. When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping.
Thursday was a beautiful, sunny, warm day (50 degrees), so it was a perfect day to go to the museum.
The Metro station, right across from our hotel, could not have been more convenient. It dropped us off at the lake shore, where swans and sea gulls abounded.
We had a pleasant walk around looking at boats, one of Brock's favorite pastimes.
Then we had a short walk to the museum.
This statue reminded me of Brock's physique:
Brock attempted high-jumping and almost lost contact with the ground!
This was a wonderful museum. It explained how Olympic games were originally played in B. C. in Greece. You had to be a man to compete. Competitions were done naked, and men and unmarried women only could watch. In ancient times, 30,000 - 35,000 people would attend. Then there was a period of 1000 years when the games were not played. The games were revived in 1896, and women were allowed to compete starting in the early 1900's. Until recently, winter games and summer games were played in the same year.
I enjoyed the memorabilia displayed.
The costumes of gold medal ice dancers Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill of Great Britain, Sarajevo, 1984:
The costume of gold medal winner Katarina Witt of Germany, when she skated to "Carmen", Calgary, 1988:
The costumes of Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov, 2-time pairs and team skating champions of Russia from Sochi, 2014:
The outfit worn by Dan Jansen, speed skater. After 3 fruitless Olympics, he won gold in the 1000m in Lillehammer, 1984:
These are the ski's belonging to ski jumper Simon Ammann of Switzerland, which he used in PyeongChang in 2018. He won 2 gold medals in 2002 in Salt Lake City and 2 golds in 2010 in Vancouver. I remember his enthusiastic cry, "Olympics, YAAAAH!" when he won the first one.
This is Mark Spitz's Speedo, worn while winning 7 gold medals. He broke 7 world records in Munich in 1972.
This is Jamaican Usain Bolt's jersey from Beijing 2008. He set world records in the 100m and 200m in Beijing. He has a total of 8 gold medals from 3 Olympics and is still known as the world's fastest man!
Hockey jersey belonging to James Craig, a member of the USA hockey team, worn while defeating the "invincible" Russian team in the gold medal round at Lake Placid in 1980. This game came to be known as "The Miracle On Ice":
Brock enjoyed this slalom gate pole autographed by his hero, Alberto Tomba, who won gold and silver in Albertville in 1992. Tomba was known for arriving to the Olympics in style, usually by private helicopter with two scantily clad Italian bimbos under each arm, an espresso and a cigar in hand, announcing "Tomba is here! The Games may begin!":
Finally, the speed skating costume of Eric Heiden, who became the first athlete to win 5 gold medals in the same Olympic winter games (Lake Placid, 1980). He won every event he competed in and broke 5 Olympic records and 1 world record:
There was one more opportunity for the spear toucher to touch some fencing spears, so she went at it:
When we were done looking at the wonderful exhibits, we enjoyed lunch at the museum on their rooftop terrace overlooking the lake!
The museum left us with the feeling that we are all champions!
We returned back to the hotel via the Metro. What a great visit to the Olympic Museum!
We capped off the day with a fun shopping assignment. Brock needed a new driving cap, which he had spent years searching for. Within one hour, I found a hat shop and the cap he needed! He's not the only one who got a new hat.
We had another fine dinner at our hotel's French restaurant, Brasserie Grand Chene, and this time we shared the Dover Sole. It was a very special meal!
We have had such a good time in Lausanne! It's our new favorite city in Switzerland. We are going to cry when it's time to leave on Friday.