Lausanne on a market day

On Saturday I visited Lausanne for the first time...From Besançon with a car,  it only took us about 1 1/2 hours for the 150 km or so of route. Along the country road that passes by the Jura, one of the most striking features is the pasturage on green and manicured fields and cows that reminds me of the cow in Milka Chocolate bars. The crossing of checkpoint was a breeze and before we knew it, we were in Switzerland. For one, the Swiss farms seemed to be very organized and clean compared to their more "natural" looking French cousins...

The exhibit on a stop at the autoroute in Bavais...Milka's diverse incarnations

At Lausanne...

The cathedral...

decorated ceiling of the cathedral...

As Lausanne sits on a hillslope next to Lac Léman, the streets are sloping too, towards the lake...

Cathedrale de Lausanne sits atop a hill overlooking Lac Léman...

a museum in front of the Cathedrale

a fountain at the town square which also functions as a market square on a Saturday...

nice bouquet for 4.80 swiss francs

the town hall

A regional produce shop selling traditional Swiss products but way too expensive for my fancy...

Mushrooms, cultivated and wild selling side by side. Don't look at the price...

a nice harmony of yellow...

tomatoes of all shades...

We had our lunch in a speciality brasserie, an alsatian restaurant serving freshly brewed beer. I ordered local speciality which is also local speciality in Alsace - the choucroute

Cléron and Le miroir de Scey: tiny villages of Doubs

This paisible picture says it all - the water is calm and forms a 'mirror' of the landscape seen from the roadside. My friend took me here for a quick discovery of the region on the way to Ornans and in between the rush, we managed to steal a moment for this specific view famous in the region and the rock walls around the river bend imortalized in Gustave Courbet's paintings...

 the tiny village of Cléron with the Loue river...

 A freehand translation of the text:

G. Courbet spent the autumn of 1865 between his friend's Max Buchon at Salins and his family home in Ornans. The philosopher Proudhon, his political guide, passed away. Nature became difficult for him to endure and so he chose to paint the landscape near Maisieres in which the pathway lead to infiniti in the horizon, till the rocky walls of the clifts. Whatever! Tomorrow, he'll be in Paris and soon at Trouville where he'll forget: "I am at Trouville in a ravishing position. The Casino offered me a superb appartment by the sea..." (16 September 1865)

Ornans, mythical village of Doubs

Last Thursday after my classes, a friend took me to see a 'mythical' village near Besançon - a tiny village about 25 KM from the city called Ornans. It's the birth place of the celebrated great modernist painter of France Gustave Courbet. To get there, we took the village routes passing by the edge of the Jura mountains and farmlands.

The village is cut into 2 parts by the river Loue but gives it the advantages of water features. However, I was informed that despite the extreme clarity of the river, it is polluted and not safe for water activities. Too bad. The Musée Courbet was recently being renovated and will open its door soon to visitors. As we arrived late in the afternoon and was in a rush to go home, we took a short walk around the village and off we went...touch'n'go...

 door of the oldest maison in Ornans