Lausanne: The Olympic Museum

The Olympic Museum is the kind of place that celebrates itself. There is a fine line here. When the Olympics manages to be about the athletics, then the so-called "Olympic Movement" is everything it claims to be: a positive celebration of humanity. However, when it aspires to be a positive celebration of humanity, it can end up being a silly charade. The museum treads both sides of the line.

It was the Nazis who dreamt up the idea of starting a relay with a torch lit on Mount Olympus. Of course, there's nothing wrong with invoking the historical precedents of the Games, but since the Nazis brazenly exploited the Games, their idea was more about them, not the Greeks.

It seems the Chinese sought to inflate their own Games by planning and staging the longest relay ever: world-wide, far-flung and even sky-high up Mount Everest. Since no one counted on the March uprising in Tibet and the fact that many non-Chinese would be upset with China's handling of it, the relay has been plagued by protests. They crossed that fine line, taking something simple and making it grandiose, and they are paying the price. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray....

The relay will and should survive......but for God's sake, keep it elegant, simple, and small.

Near closing time, I caught a 3-D film that showed highlights of the Sydney Games in 2000. It featured the full running of the women's 100 m final and the medal ceremony, complete with the angelic-looking Marion Jones tearing up throughout the national anthem. Since she owned up this year to taking steroids, it's difficult to watch this without feeling that the Games has become a sorry spectacle. Why are they still showing this clip at the Olympic Museum?

It was also interesting to see the pictures of all the Committee members. I couldn't help scanning this gallery of non-athletic looking people from small countries with bloated, despotic faces and wondering.....which ones are selling their votes for favors?

It's nice to see fairy tale stuff unfold at every games, but since the Olympics is just a reflection of humanity itself, the real fun is watching the whole shooting match....corruption, grace, pomp, courage, cheating, beauty and all.

Approaching Lausanne

It took seven flights and two days to get from Japan to Zurich. Since I crossed the date line, it was three actual days and two calendar days. I caught the first train to Lausanne and joined a couple from east Texas who worked for Mercy Ships, a charitable organization that provides medical care to developing countries from....this is no lie....a ship. (http://www.mercyships.org/) The woman was the group's CFO and had to attend a conference in Lausanne. They were lovely, and we traded Dallas and Iowa stories. (I don't have any real Iowa stories, but my fake ones entertained them well enough.) Monolingual and new to European travel, they leaned on me for some assurance. Is this the right train? What does that say? etc. Near Lausanne, a female train employee approached us and offered a gentle "Bon soir." The woman got a little nervous and said, "What? Tickets?" with some panic. I answered, "Bon soir" to bring some calm into the equation and shared a smile with the rail employee as we all produced our tickets. Innocents abroad.....her smile to me said. I'm not with them, said mine.

Nothing on the two-hour ride from Zurich prepares you for the stunning view of Lake Geneva when it finally comes. Any city that sits on a lake is made beautiful by the water. Add mountains, and you are tripling the beauty quotient. Many Swiss cities enjoy both factors, but given the size of Lake Geneva and positioning of the city on a gentle, open slope, Lausanne's view has an unparalleled grandeur to it, which is intensified every time you see a storm over the lake. During my stay, I found it's beauty bewitching me with obsessive thoughts: look at the lake, go to the water, see the mountains, watch the sky.

Lausanne is Switzerland's fifth largest city and has over ten quality museums. It's easy to travel in because everyone, in addition to French, seems to speak some German and English. Also, it has the most tourist-friendly policy I have ever encountered: hotel guests are given free city transport passes for the length of their stay. That is a revolutionary example of largesse. It left me speechless with gratitude. Dieu bénit Lausanne! Lots to see, lots to do.....but the view is reason enough to treat yourself to this place.