Geneva

Wang and I planned on traveling to Geneva, Switzerland for two nights only to find out that the only hostel in the city was booked on the 28th the first night of our two nights. We decide to get a hotel for one night as to not spend too much on housing. While a hotel was about twice the cost of a hostel, we figured that on the grand scale of the trip that one night in a hotel was a small price to pay for a stay in Switzerland. Once we had worked out that we were going to go, we planned to take a night train on the 27th arriving in Geneva at 5 am so we had the whole day of the 28th to see the city. When we went to book the ticket it turned out that the train we planned on taking that night was not scheduled to run that night. Yet another difficulty in our trip to Geneva. It almost seemed as if Geneva didn’t want us there. We then asked if there were ways to make connections to get there around the same time the morning of the 28th. We were given an itinerary of three different trains to take to get there. We took the itinerary back to think it over and went back to the train station the next afternoon to book the travel. A major downside of this new itinerary was that we would have to use 2 days of our 15 on our eurail pass and not just one. After all of these additional expenses we decided to go for it anyways. The ticketing agent in Barcelona told us they would be unable to book our last train from Toulouse to Geneva because they didn’t have the French computer system to do it (thinking to myself one more reason not to like France). We would be arriving in Toulouse around 11:40 at night and we were very nervous that the ticket office wouldn’t be open because we would have to purchase the tickets right before we got on the train to Geneva. We figured let’s just go for it and hope it all works out. After traveling the entire afternoon and evening we arrived in Toulouse and there was one ticketing agent available… Finally something had gone right! We took our overnight train to Geneva and arrived with no further issues at 8 am. And as if to offset the hassles of getting to Geneva, no conductor checked our ticket to Geneva, and we didn’t have to use a day on our rail pass. The hotel was cheap and right next to the train station. Even better was that at 8 am our room was available for occupancy so we could get a hot shower before our day in Geneva.

The weather was ideal, sunny and 50. It was just like one of the first warm days after a long winter in the early spring in the Midwest. We decided to walk around the old part of the city first. We walked by the Norte-Dame, around the bay of Geneva to see the Jet d’eau. It is the tallest water fountain in the world and is quite spectacular. We then headed through the streets of old town past Saturday morning markets and some fantastic shopping. It was a very high end city with beautiful cars, stores, and restaurants. It was similar to a European Hong Kong at a slower pace (surprise surprise). Through old town we watched some locals playing checkers and chess with life sized pieces in the park as we walked down the Promenade de Bastions and up to the Cathedrale St Pierre. The city is definitely not full of tourist attractions but the scenery is beautiful. You could admire Lake Geneva all day with its crystal clear water and its backdrop of the snow capped Swiss Alps and Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Europe. It was a necessity that we get out on the water so we took a tour boat around the lake in the afternoon which took us past some unbelievably beautiful homes on the water. Since we couldn’t both enjoy the luxury of purchasing a Swiss watch we decided to settle for some Swiss chocolate which we enjoyed on the boat. After the boat ride we took PT, which is free to anyone staying in a hotel, to the Red Cross Museum and the former United Nations World Headquarters. Both places were closed for the weekend so we didn’t get to go in. We went back to the city center and decided to walk around a grab some dinner. Food in Geneva is damn expensive and sitting down to any real meal cost at least 25 dollars so we settled on one of the many kebab places which was provides cheap food relative to other local options. After dinner we grabbed a Swiss beer at Les Brasseurs which brewed four different types of beer. It had been a long 36 hours and we wanted to get some rest in the most comfortable bed we had been in since the states. In the morning we grabbed a quick breakfast of café, orange juice, and two croissants. A very fitting breakfast as the main language spoken in Geneva is French.

We couldn’t have enjoyed our stay anymore and were very glad we put up with all the hassels and decided to go. Our train to Rome left at 11 am with a connection in Milan so we were on our way!