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Doing some research for our trip to Lausanne, Switzerland this week and my first surprise was to learn that ice hockey and soccer are their top two sports. Who knew? Let’s get started.

Lausanne is in Romandy, the French speaking part of the country, and is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva with the Jura Mountains to the northwest. 31 miles northeast of Geneva, the city is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee and the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It lies in the middle of a wine region.

Lausanne tends to inspire hyperbole. In a country of spectacular natural beauty it is the most beautiful of cities with steep hills that have been developed into a tiered succession of compact, south-facing terraces. Vistas of blue water, glittering sunlight, and the purple and grey of the white-capped Savoy Alps frame the interior landscape. The city is still wooded with plenty of parks, and the tree-lined lakefront promenades spill into beds of vibrantly colorful flowers. It is Switzerland’s sexiest city.

If Switzerland has a counterculture, it lives in the clubs and cafés of Lausanne, a fact that supports its tradition of fostering intellectual and cultural innovation. From medieval times, Lausanne has been Swiss culture’s avant-garde. Students flock to Lausanne’s pioneering and prestigious University of Lausanne, while restless Romantics seek and find inspiration in its magnificent panorama and revolutionary cultural. It is a city that values and supports pleasure, generously subsidizing art and culture of all shades, resulting in a range of festivals, live music, clubs, theater, opera and dance to rival a metropolis ten times its size (merely 300,000 inhabitants.)

Along with the University of Lausanne, hundreds of language schools and private academies enhance the city’s reputation for learning, along with the world-famous Ecole Hoteliere, which is a world renowned training ground for top chefs and hotel staff. This array of international study helps define Lausanne’s uniquely diverse multi-ethnic makeup. The youthful spirit, and the city’s hilly aspect, have also given Lausanne a new role as Europe’s blading and skateboarding capital: when the sun shines, every public space hisses with the spinning of tiny wheels.

Fun fact: It’s a mark of Lausannois spirit that given the chance to host the 1994 winter games, they voted it down to instead host the annual International Roller and Skateboarding Contest.

Photo to right ‘Geneve-Lausanne l.’ by Szilard Torok. Prints are available at redbubble.com.