Lausanne, Montreux and Vevey!

My friend Allie and I decided to travel to a different canton of Switzerland this weekend, Vaud.  At the beginning of the year, we both purchased half off cards for the swiss rail system.  Even though they also get you some discount on other trains, traveling in Switzerland you receive 50%.  We are also trying to get to places that are less accessible, really places we don't think we would go to if we weren't living here.  We took about a 5 hour train ride, because you can't travel over the mountain pass.  The train went via Luzern.  Arriving in Lausanne about 10pm Friday night, we checked into our hotel the Lausanne Guesthouse and then headed out to check out the city.  It was definitely lively, with lots of open restaurants, cafes, bars, and tons of very steep hills.  This seems to be a Swiss thing...mountains.  Walking around the town, we decided to check out a bar called Le XIIIeme Siecle (13th Century), a nightclub bar near the Old Town.  We found the area by seeing the massive cathedral from a distance, since the entire building was lit up a bright blue purple color.  As we walked up these ancient wooden stairs, we felt like we were entered some spooky haunted house, because there were also some kids hanging out listening to music and drinking near the cathedral.  I guess the legal age to go out is 18.  The bar was pretty much like a wine cellar, or cave.  After a drink, some Swiss mean ended up sharing our table and talking to us, luckily speaking English.  They were quite entertaining, telling us how they are serious mountaineer men that had traveled from Switzerland to China on a bike.  Yikes!  One of them also offered to be our tour guide the following day, but we graciously took his number and then decided not to call the next day.  Saturday morning we woke up energizing to see the rest of the city and venture to nearby areas, Vevey and Montreux.  We started our day with a long run along Lake Geneva and then enjoyed a omelette at a Boulangerie.  How exciting to have some new food!  Then we took the train, about a 20 min ride to Montreux, where we visited the Chateau along the  water, and then strolled along the lake back to the main part of town.  Montreux was a bit sleepy, so after covering the entire town on foot we decided to head back toward Lausanne and stop in Vevey.  Vevey turned out to be much more lively, we enjoyed a nice hot sandwich on a french baguette and then walked around the quaint town.  The cobblestone streets were lined with tea houses, wine bars and cute little shops.  We stopped in all of the above and then even got Starbucks before taking the train back to Lausanne.  Arriving back around 630pm, we took a little break and then heading to dinner at a restaurant called Lausanne Moudon.  It was a typical French Brasserie and Allie and I enjoyed a yummy green salad, with an amazing mustard dressing, and then I had salmon and we split the dessert sampler.  A little taste of creme brulee, a chocolate souffle, tiramisu, and something close to panna cotta.  Yum!  Sunday was spent exploring the rest of Lausanne.  This included more walking and a visit to the Musee de le Brut.  It is a very unique museum that houses the work of deranged artists displayed with full biographies of each artist.  They also had a special exhibit just on artists from Japan.  Some suffered from autism, depression and/or schizophrenia and all of them supposedly avoided societal influences.  The stories were very interesting and some of the art was pretty amazing.  From there, we grabbed some snacks for the train and  headed back to the Gare, or station.