More on the #8 Bus Stops

26 July 2017

            Yesterday, the #8 bus took me from Alpes, past Jurigoz, Montchoisi, Musee Olympique, Denantou, Tour Haldimand, Bourdonniere, Verney, Chataignier, Chemin de Somais, Pully Port to the Vignes stop, which is closest to the swimming pools. The bus continued on to Verriere.

            When I finished my swim, I took the #47 bus to the Pully train station, or Gare. The next train was to Vevey, and in Vevey the next train was a little one that climbs back towards Lausanne through Chexbres, the one time home of MFK Fisher. I took it. Doubtful, she’d recognize the place, except for the vineyards. After the decades, it appears no longer a farming village. Above it, one of the main lines from the Mittelland to Lausanne has brought industry and agricultural processing.

            I went back down to Vevey. The next train went through Montreux to the Chateau of Chillon. My Byron days are done, and I have no desire to see yet another monument on which he carved his initials, but I did want to admire the lake from another vantage point. There are as well boats that sail from Chillon to Lausanne. Little matter that we charged into a brisk wind from the east: the enormous pistons of the steam-driven-side-wheeler have been serving since 1910, and did so yesterday.

            I’m unable to discover the origin of Chillon, but no matter. It has taken on the meaning given it by Byron, and is the third most visited site in Switzerland.

            And so back to the meanings of the stops of #8 bus. Jurigoz and Montchoisi are wonderful examples of names created from trying to represent words from one language in another.

            They sound like the French for Jericho and Chosen Mountain. Perhaps, but they are derived from place names for the area. Jovigo (Jericho) was a 12^th Century domain, of which Rongi Mel (Montchoisi) was a part. The previously mentioned Georgette was also a section of this domain, called La Jarjata.

            Musee Olympique is the location of the museum celebrating Lausanne’s foundational role in the modern Olympic movement.

Now we are close to the lake and its picturesque vistas. Next is Denantou, which was as an estate with a garden, now a park. Tour Haldiman is what the English call a folly, an ersatz ruin, designed by the landscape architect of that name.

The next stops speak to the former use of the land for agricultural pursuits:  Bourdonniere refers to bee keeping, Chataignier to the Chestnut tree, Vignes to vineyards, Verriere to a glass house.  

A lot of history in a ten minute bus ride!