Frolics in Whimsy: Morges, Switzerland

We are spending three days with Felix and Madeline, friends of Andrew's mother from when she lived in Geneva during high school. Our first stop is the site where they are building a new house. Madeline compares the process to putting together a Lego kit. They have designed the house and it has been shipped from Germany in pieces (blocks and slabs of concrete). Since the pieces are cast off-site, everything (electrical, piping, ventilation, etc.) is already in the walls. So the workers just have to connect everything together. The "building" process takes all of three days!!! But it will take a couple of months for the freshly poured concrete used to "glue" everything together to set and dry.

Right now, though, Felix and Madeline live in a beautiful, vintage flat in Morges right on Lake Geneva. Boats fill the harbour and the Alps fill the horizon. Mont Blanc shines white during the day, orange at sunrise and sunset, and glimmers faintly in the distance at night. The wooden floors of the apartment are creaky, the ceilings high, and each floor has a terrace with a fabulous view.

Sailboats at Morges

Mont Blanc

Rainbow over the lake

View from the harbour at night

Night at Morges harbour

We go to Lausanne with Felix the second day. While he is at a meeting, we explore an art brut museum (works by artists, often mentally-ill patients or criminals, who are outside the mainstream/accepted art world and also who are self-taught). Many of the drawings have a child-like quality to them. Also included in the collection are carvings, sculptures, embroidery, and sea shell shadow box scenes. Afterwards, Felix walks us around the city, explaining its history and showing us areas of importance: the cathedral, the best street to find dance clubs, the upscale shopping areas, and a public restroom with clear walls that apparently become dark and opaque when the WC is in use. Then, after a coffee, he takes us driving through the vineyards behind Lausanne and Morges with a brief stop at a small chocolate shop. I have never been to a place where you could actually smell the chocolatey aromas as soon as you walk through the door. Yum!!!

On our third day, Felix and Madeline drive us three hours to their mountain flat in the Alps. We stop briefly in Montreux to see a small chateau on the water there. Once again, Felix is full of information, providing us with a steady stream of historical and cultural commentary during the drive. They own a flat in Finhaut, a village on the mountainside. The school, Felix says, will stay open as long as there are seven students attending. Across the valley, there is an even smaller town - four buildings and no permanent residents. Several of the surrounding mountains are capped with glaciers. After lunch, Felix takes Andrew to see the mountain power station reservoirs, and I go hiking with Madeline.