Audrey Hepburn - L'Ange des Enfants

[*Cat*]

Hello everyone, Richard and I had a great couple of days in Switzerland, here's my account of our visit to Audrey's house and grave in Tolochenaz.
Photo's to follow later...

Wednesday

I met Richard on Tuesday evening after he travelled down from Derby to London. We left my house nice and early (4am!) on Wednesday morning and drove up to Luton to catch our 7am flight to Geneva. From the airport, we caught the train up to Morges which is the nearest town to Tolochenaz and then wandered around the town in the pouring rain looking for a hotel after having failed to find anything online beforehand. We managed to secure the only room left in the whole town at the Hotel La Coronne. Quite why all the other hotels were full is a mystery.

We spent the rest of the day exploring Morges. It is right on the shore of Lake Geneva just south of Lausanne and is a very picturesque town with a lovely park full of beautiful trees and flowers. The walk along the side of the lake was equally impressive with it's flower gardens, though our view across the lake to the Alps was somewhat obscured by the cloud and rain. The rain did cease after a while which enabled us to get a few more photos that were less dull. We had a couple of nice meals in local restaurants, though we resisted in trying the local speciality which Morges is famous for, cheval, or horsemeat!

Thursday

The day started much brighter, pleasant warm sunshine and few clouds, so after a decent breakfast, we set off on the twenty minute walk from the hotel to Tolochenaz. After negotiating a particularly long and tiring hill, the first thing we came across was the now closed Audrey Hepburn pavillion. This was a little disappointing as it is no more than a prefabricated portacabin. It has been totally gutted inside, all that remains is a small framed poem hanging on the wall, the one called Smile which says that a smile takes seconds but the memory last forever, which I thought was quite appropriate. There is a small bust of Audrey outside on a stand, though the likeness leaves a little to be desired.

Coming into to Tolochenaz, we then saw the new appartments being built called Residence Audrey. These are appartments within a building which more or less identically replicated La Paisible. They are not quite finished yet, though structurally complete. Next, we saw the cemetary but decided to carry on into the village in search of a shop to find some flowers, but the only shop there is the post office. There are no other shops! There is a farm shop which sells its own procucts, but this is closed throughout May.

We then approached La Paisible from the rear, that is, we were at the far end of the garden. The hedges and bushes which surround all three sides of the garden make viewing particularly difficult and almost impossible to take photographs. We walked along the vineyard which is adjacent but again, views were limited. The few photos I took will explain this better. All I can say is that it is a huge garden and Audrey must have loved tending to it and walking her dogs there. The front of the house remains pretty much the same, the photos you will have seen already are not much different from ours. A dog barked as we walked by, suggesting that someone lives there.

We then went to the small cemetary which sits atop a little hill overlooking the village. Audrey's grave is by the back wall and is unmissable from the entrance. Many of the graves around hers are more recent than 1993, so you can imagine that in 1993 the cemetary was fairly empty and has only filled up in recent years. I left a white lily, I think, picked locally, and said my thank you's to Audrey. There were a few flowers on the grave but not as many as I had expected. After a while reflecting and thinking, and taking a few photos, we returned to Morges for another walk around the park and lakefront for a few more photos in the sunshine this time. You could even see the snowcapped Alps now, including Mont Blanc.

We returned home late in the evening, exhausted and aching from doing so much walking, but I personally felt happy and satisfied that I had done something I felt I had to do, in giving my thanks and respects to Audrey.

It was a pleasure meeting Richard and a pleasure too in having his company for this trip. It's a trip I'll probably never do again, but one I will never forget.

Watch this space for some photos.

Regards to everyone,

Graham

[~AudreyFan~]

Thank you so much for sharing your trip, I too would like to go someday and pay my respects to Audrey

[*Cat*]

Tolochenaz... I've had to size these photos down from the originals to fit them onto the forum.

[*Cat*]

La Paisible, the garden...

[*Cat*]

The house...

[*Cat*]

The Cemetary

[JikanRachel]

ohh.. ;( Thank You very much for these photos!!
The cemetary

[*Cat*]

Morges...the main town nearest to Tolochenaz -

[*Cat*]

The Park in Morges...

[*Cat*]

Some views of the Alps across Lake Geneva from Morges...

[Carl]

Thank you Cat and Beaker for taking these fantastic pictures for all of us to see! I'm glad you both had a good time and you got to see the sights of the areas that Audrey once frequented. I hope that someday I get to take that same trip which God willing,I will.

Again,thank you for posting these pictures for us,Cat.

[afaye1983]

hey,this is what I like for a long time,a real western trip and I saw that guy,and you this CAT,and her Audrey Hepburn

[kittengirl1000]

Lovely pictures

[HoLlY_gOlIgHtLyoxo]

your pictures are amazing, i'm glad you had a good trip.

[browniemancini]

Thanks so much for sharing all this Graham and Richard!!!