Le Pont, Switzerland

Being here was a happy accident. After my train got delayed, I realised that I couldn’t catch my connection. As I walked out of the train onto the scorching platform in summer, I turned around and saw a friend – Ana. She was as surprised to see me as I was to see her.

We talked for a while on the platform as we both missed the same train and I found out that she lived in the area that I was going to visit. The next train in the direction of Le Pont wouldn’t arrive until an hour later so she offered to bring me up a peculiar funicular railway and drive me into town. “Peculiar” because the funicular was the straightest thing I’d seen in Switzerland that goes up a mountain. A part from the bit in middle where two trains pass each other, the tracks were completely straight.

Along the way we exchanged numbers, exchanged accents, and exchanged life stories. I complained about Switzerland’s lack of air conditioning and she ridiculed me for my pronunciation of “Yverdon-les-Bains”. Really. How would you say it?

In the middle of both Lac de Joux and Lac Brenet, Le Pont is an important tourist destination in the Joux Valley. With a string of restaurants lined up along the eastern bend of the lake diners have a perfect view of the families having fun at the shore. On the lake, there is a 100-ton statue of a pegasus sculpted in 1959 by an artist from Veyrier – my French is limited so that’s all I understood from the historical information.

My favourite part of this town is the Temple le Pont, a church perched up on the side of a hill with a commanding view of the Lac de Joux. Ana recommended I have ice cream, but I didn’t bring any money so I missed out. Upon leaving, wave hello to the train conductor, he will most likely wave back.