LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The Olympic flame will be extinguished Feb. 28 in Vancouver. But it always burns in the Olympic Capital.
Welcome to Lausanne, population 130,000. Switzerland's fifth largest city. Home of the International Olympic Committee and Olympic Museum.
The former is at Chateau de Vidy, an 18th century mansion connected to a modern 1986-built complex on the former site of Expo '64 by Lake Geneva.
Guests are greeted at the reception desk by Miga, Quatchi and Sumi dolls. Marble floors and walls abound. A newly built cafeteria with a green roof is near a meeting room called Vancouver 2010. There's even an in-house Carlson Wagonlit travel agency. The Olympic movement likes to move about the planet.
Around the lake at Quai d'Ouchy is the Olympic Museum. Open to the public, it's where they say the Games never end. A sports sculpture-riddled park reaches a hilltop where the eternal flame has burned since it was lit by Katarina Witt in 1993. A Jim Hart-carved Haida totem pole greets visitors to a building dressed in Vancouver 2010's blue, white and green (sustainability and aboriginal art exhibits are on until April). The museum contains medals and torches from every Winter and Summer Games, plus Jesse Owens' Berlin 1936 spikes, Michael Jordan's Atlanta 1996 Air Jordans and Witt's Calgary 1988 dress.
Richmond cancelled a temporary Olympic Museum show because of the recession. So you'll have to travel to Lausanne or be among the lucky few invited to the high-security Olympic Club at the Vancouver Club in February.
