Puppies, Area 51, Chocolate around Lausanne, Switzerland

NOTE: I've been having problems posting this blog. Photos are coming out smaller than they should and some are mistakenly being posted sideways. Supposedly Google (which owns Blogger) is working on a fix.

Anyway, one of my favorite bike rides from Lausanne takes me 15 miles to the farming town of Echallens, population around 5,000.

In this building (built 1790) there's a bakery/cafe plus, the Swiss Museum of Bread and Wheat. Bread

A castle anchors Echallens town center.

However, the primary reason for cycling through Echallen is to make a stop at
Onde de Cho, a chocolate shop tucked away on a side street. Though chocolate is the main lure, owner/chef Pascal Kropf makes several sweets that I find irresistible.

This is Madagascar, a dangerously decadent treat that is sooooo good that I always have to order two. The outside is thick chocolate fudge. Inside is chocolate mousse with a filling in the center of vanilla cream mixed in with pistachios. A thin layer of cake anchors the bottom.

Cycling down a quiet street I came upon a proud mom watching over her SIX puppies in a backyard.

I stopped, called the puppies and they eagerly came a running to the fence with ears a flopping and tails a wagging.

This sign, posted on a wall outside a home, looks authentic and was probably pilfered. Don't know about Area 51? It's a top secret military base in southern Nevada where the U.S. government tests new aircraft and weapons. PLUS, Area 51 supposedly stores alien aircraft.

This is a colorful mural around a water fountain. Normally I could fill my water bottle but the sign says it not safe to drink.

Flower display in the town of Crissier. Unfortunately I'm unable to rotate the photo.

Another photo that won't rotate.

More flowers in Crissier

Flower display outside the Justice building in Lausanne.

Flower display outside Film Archive building in Lausanne

Flowers outside Jutice building.

This is the head office building for SICPA, located a few miles from Lausanne. Never heard of this company? Good, that's the way they like it. SICPA has been around for 85 years and this secretive family-owned business has over a billion dollars in revenues. I visited the company back in 2002--go to the archives section of http://www.corporatetrivia.com/ , scroll down to 2002 and read about the visit. So, what do they do? Ink. SICPA supplies countries around the world with the ink used in producing money. You do know the United States is unique in the world in that its money is only one color?

Remember my last post where I mentioned Lausanne going from zero cupcake shops to all of a sudden, three? I showed two of the three and was asked why I didn's show the third. Here it is. The two women owners named it after the Mary Poppins movie..

Unfortunately, I became ill after sampling several of their cupcakes. Only see women going into the cupcake stores.