Rolle, Vufflens-le-Château, and Morges (1/24/1982)

Sunday, January 24, 1982

I did get up at 6:30, but when I saw it was raining I hopped back into bed!

Train day pass

Later it started drying up as I caught the 11:04 train to Geneva. I got off in Morges at 12:30, where I just managed to catch the 12:31 train. The train started up, but stopped to allow two little old ladies who came huffing and puffing to board. I got off 15 minutes later in Rolle. Walked down to the lakeside of Lac Léman to see the three-sided castle, set in a large grassy area. Started down a tree-lined avenue and started to take a photo of the castle. A lady walking by commented on the cold and I nodded. Then she said something quite complicated and I had to say “Pardon?” She repeated it while nodding at the castle. and so I nodded. She then asked where I was from, and I could use my newly learned French! “Je suis américaine!” “Ah,” she said, “American,” and she continued babbling away in English! She was Peruvian; sometimes a resident of Spain. She loved to travel and did so by working as a governess or aide to the elderly. She took photos from which she did paintings. She went to the Art Academy in Philadelphia.

Château de Rolle

Château de Rolle

Château de Rolle

Finally I was able to make my way around the castle, finding a limp rose and rose buds in the garden, and some pansies under an evergreen branch.

A rose in January

At the edge of the lake I saw the artificial island with an obelisk erected to Frédéric-César de La Harpe, a champion of Vaud independence.

de la Harpe Memorial

Leaving Château de Rolle

Took an alley to reach the main street and returned to the modern train station where the pre-fab plastic wood-like paneling was already slipping out of place. I waited with all the little old ladies for the 13:53 train towards Lausanne.

I got off at Morges at 14:10 and saw the Bière-Apples-Morges (BAM) Railway train leaving at 14:19.

Bière-Apples-Morges train

Bière-Apples-Morges new train

I boarded the brand new car, and after the conductor checked my day pass, he asked if I knew where I was going. I said in my terrible French accent, Vufflens-le-Château. He nodded and went to start the train! We climbed slowly past new housing developments. I saw a castle up on a hill, similar to the one in Rolle, which I thought might be my destination, but we were not heading in that direction. Suddenly the train slowed and I saw out the other side of the train a different-looking castle. I got off at the first stop at 14:25 and hiked down the road to the Vufflens-le-Château castle.

Château de Vufflens-le-Château

Went through a gate in a stone wall into the barren vineyards that surrounded the castle for pictures.

Château de Vufflens-le-Château

Château de Vufflens-le-Château

Walked back on the wall and up to the castle, greeting a lone duck and disturbing a coop full of chickens. The place was deserted. I was able to go into a courtyard, which it seemed the neighboring farmers used as storage. Or did someone live here?

Château de Vufflens-le-Château

I walked around the castle in the other direction and found the lean-to where the traditional cow bells are hung.

Traditional cow bells

The weather was generally nice with the blue sky and white clouds, but occasionally a dark storm cloud rolled by. Lots of wanderers/hikers.

Château de Vufflens-le-Château

Back at the train station caught the 15:20 train to Morges. There I went to their castle by the lake. It was fenced in and closed.

Château de Morges

It houses a military museum and on the grounds you could see a fighter jet and a cannon. The port was small and simple, and I guess the lake doesn’t freeze because the boats and yachts were kept in the water.

Morges port with north jetty lighthouse

Morges Grand Rue/Main Street

Morges Town Hall

Walked through town to see a fine mansion that houses another museum, then caught the 16:04 train to Lausanne.  
At some small station, an Asian man was looking in the train windows, and then he boarded the car I was in and sat across the aisle from me, crowding a young couple, when there were plenty of other seats! I studiously ignored him. As we approached Lausanne, people got up to prepare to get off. I stayed seated and so did the Asian. At the last second, I suddenly got up to get off the train, and he was just as suddenly behind me. I went to look unnecessarily at a schedule and let him walk past me and ahead. I slowly made my way to the exit stairs, only to find him waiting there! He then kept going down the stairs and towards the exit, but oh, he stopped and turned in time to see me go up to track one, and he went up the stairs to track one on the opposite side. We exited out to the street at our respective ends. I had planned on going to McDonald’s, and sure enough he was headed that way. He turned right at McDonald’s, then oh, he stopped and came back to scrutinize a sign at McDonald’s. I turned left and headed up the hill, thinking after he read the sign he would continue on his way to the right. Even though I was being cautious, I really didn’t believe I’d see him again. I turned into a side street, then peeked back around the corner, to see this guy heading up the hill toward me! Aargh! I ran behind a building, trotted past some back doors, and fortunately found stairs back to the street. Cautiously looked up and down the street, and even behind me, before slipping into McDonald’s. I was hoping to order quickly and go hide in a back corner, but had to anxiously wait a while for the food. Hopefully the guy was still on a goose chase up the hill, and I didn’t see him again. But I ate my food so fast that I felt sick when I returned to the train station for the 17:09 train back to Biel.