2024 Birthday Trip to Switzerland and France

The above photo was taken in Lausanne, Switzerland.

We decided to celebrate our birthdays this year with a trip to Switzerland and France. As an added bonus for Brock's birthday, we arranged for a tour of the Beneteau factory in Saint Gilles Croix de Vie, France. We have ordered a new sailboat to replace our 20 ft. sailboat that we are using in Arizona. We were hoping to get to see that sailboat being made, but that is being made at one of their factories in Poland that doesn't give tours. Just the same, we thought it would be pretty neat to tour this factory.

First: how we got to Europe. We boarded an American Airlines flight direct from Phoenix to London around 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20, 2024.

We were flying Premium Economy and were in the first row of that section, which gave us extra legroom.

The flight was delayed leaving Phoenix by about 45 minutes due to a thunder storm in the area, so it was around 8:00 p.m. when the flight finally took off.

During the flight we were served dinner and breakfast and probably a snack, too. We were scheduled to arrive at London Heathrow on Thursday, March 21 around 12:10 p.m. (though I believe we were a bit delayed) and then had to change terminals to catch our next flight, a British Airways flight to Geneva. By the time we found the gate for our next flight, it was already boarding, so we jumped on board. This flight left London at 2:00 p.m. and arrived in Geneva at 4:45 p.m. There was a 7 hour difference between Phoenix and London, and there was an 8 hour difference between Phoenix and Geneva.

Our first destination was Lausanne, Switzerland, about an hour from Geneva. We had been to Lausanne before, during our 2020 ski trip. It had been one of our unplanned destinations that was an unexpectedly nice surprise. Since we were hitting some of our favorite places on this trip, we were happy to have the chance to return to Lausanne and immerse ourselves once again.

We had reserved a room at the Lausanne Palace again, and they were nice enough to send us a driver to pick us up at the airport and deliver us to the hotel. It turned out to be a great idea, because we were dead tired and should not be driving.

Our driver picked us up in a luxurious Mercedes Limo.

We were not exactly slumming it!

My communications with the Lausanne Palace usually ended with them writing something like this: "We remain at your entire disposal." Can you imagine an American Hotel communicating like that? It was refreshing.

Our room for the next 3 days and nights was a lovely corner suite, an upgrade from the junior suite which we had reserved. Here is what greeted us when we walked into the room:

A fresh flower arrangement, orchid, food, iced champagne, and a handwritten note welcomed us. What else would you require?

Our room consisted of a bedroom, a living area, and two bathrooms, one with a double sink. What else would you require? This suite won best hotel room of the trip.

Main bathroom:

Half bath (Brock's):

Lovely fruit basket:

Closeup of the flowers:

I can't recall ever receiving such an exquisite bouquet of flowers before!

Lake view from the side porch:

City view from the main porch:

On Friday we would walk alongside the Curiosity shop to take the elevator down to the bottom floor to catch the Metro (free) to the Olympic Museum.

But first, we were famished! We ate dinner in the hotel's lobby bar. I over-ordered a chicken Caesar salad, which was huge, and Fish soup. Brock ordered Fish soup and a Club Sandwich. We had plenty of leftovers!

On Friday, March 22, we got a late start. After enjoying breakfast downstairs, we checked out the hotel spa at Brock's request because he was so sore. We stretched and enjoyed the spa, sauna, steam room, etc. However, a large number of local women descended upon the ladies locker room and ultimately ended up in the pool for a water aerobics class. This, combined with separated male/female spa facilities, caused us to mostly miss each other in the spa. It was late (1:00 p.m.) by the time we finally made it to the Olympic Museum.

Once we got off the Metro, we enjoyed a very nice spring day walking to the Olympic Museum. The area along the lake was called "Ouchy", and there were some lovely magnolia trees blooming:

There were also lots of daffodils:

It was such a lovely spring day (60's) that people were out swimming from the "beach":

We could spot this iconic "C" from our balcony:

The lake frontage provides the perfect photo op:

This boat looked rather lonely:

This clock was counting down the days to the Paris Summer Olympics:

As of this writing, we are actually about 100 days away. Exciting! Here, we finally made it to the museum:

This was one of Brock's favorite items being exhibited:

Here's why:

Jane discovered famous Tour de France rider (from Switzerland) Fabian Cancellara's helmet:

This was Jane's favorite thing in the museum this time:

And maybe Brock's, too:

The mascots for Paris 2024 posed with me for a photo:

There were several nice sculptures outside the museum. Brock related to the discus thrower:

This shows where the next Olympics will be:

For a snack, we stopped at a bakery in Ouchy and each had a slice of quiche.

On the way back from the Metro, we stopped in the Curiosity shop to see the unusual items they were selling.

Our dinner that evening was at the Brasserie Grand Chene, the hotel's restaurant. We enjoyed a mixed salad and escargot, and we split an order of Sole.

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On Saturday, March 23, we awoke to rain, but it cleared quickly. It was windy and cooler (50's).

After breakfast, we went shopping. The first order of business: we found a new watch for Brock at Junod, the same shop where we bought my dress watch in 2020!

He absolutely loves it!

Then, we went back to the hat shop, "Coup de Chapeau", where I found a crushable hat and my new navy blue beret:

Then, we shopped at my favorite dress shop, Phase Eight, and found this lovely dress and jacket which bring to mind Mrs. Maisel. (I also bought a lovely cashmere pink scarf.) I wore the new outfit to dinner:

We also bought some chocolates for Easter at one of the many chocolate shops.

There was a farmer's market going on in the shopping district, and I loved this vendor's flowers:

We ate lunch at the hotel's restaurant, Matcha Picchu, where I ordered a delicious Scallop Roll.

Then, we took the Metro again, getting off at Grancy exit, in search of Voltaire Street.

We found the street where Voltaire lived:

I think, therefore I am.

Here we are on our way to dinner at Le Theatre Restaurant, a close walk from the hotel:

Brock (still proud of his new watch) ordered Rack of Lamb:

I ate a mixed salad and Fried Scallops:

I am wearing my lovely new travel necklace, bought for the occasion.

We stopped back at the Brasserie Grand Chene for dessert: Profiteroles!

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On Sunday, March 24, we were scheduled to fly out of Geneva to Nantes, but not until 6:55 p.m. Since we had some time to kill, we decided to take the Metro back to the Olympic Museum, where we made some purchases in the gift shop for family members. Then, we had lunch in a historic building, L'Accademia, an Italian restaurant. Lord Byron write "The Prisoner of Chillon" in this building. I don't recall what we ordered, but it was pretty good.:

After shopping and lunch, we made our way back to the hotel, where I snapped this shot of Brock in front of the Lausanne Palace:

We checked out of the hotel at 3:45 p.m., and our driver picked us up and delivered us to the Geneva airport. Our Easyjet flight left Geneva at 6:55 p.m. and arrived in Nantes at 8:20 p.m.

We took a taxi to our hotel, the Radisson Blu, in Nantes. It was formerly the courthouse. We had a late dinner at the hotel and got as much rest as we could prior to our big day at the Beneteau factory.