10 days off, SAY WHAT? Part 1: Geneva

The day after we got back from St. Anton we left at 9am for our 10-day adventure.  The journey started in Geneva, Switzerland.  We had a full day of travel that Saturday, March 23, 2013, and we arrived in Geneva around 4:30 pm.  We were pleasantly surprised when we got off the train at how nice it was even though it wasn’t that great of weather outside.  We hopped in a cab, which wasn’t too expensive between the four of us, and got to the apartment within 10 minutes if not less of getting in the cab.  As soon as we walked into the apartment I was in love.  It was super cute and not far from everything we wanted to see.  The rooms weren’t as open planned, as it is in the U.S and usually I don’t like that setup, but with this apartment it worked and each room was big enough that it didn’t feel cramped.  The beds weren’t the most comfortable beds, but they would do for a few nights.  The first night we were there we walked toward the store to get some food to cook because Geneva is just too ridiculously expensive, and it closed 10 minutes prior to us getting there.  We found a small convenient store close by, though, and were able to buy pasta, sauce and a baguette.  It was a great, relaxing evening.

The weather in Geneva was horrible.  It was rainy, windy and cold.  I really wish it hadn’t been so bad because it would have been the most beautiful place!  There was this area called Le Jet d'Eau and it is basically a fountain coming out of a dock going really high up in the air.  The fountain is on Lake Geneva and the surrounding area is gorgeous.  Behind the fountain is a mountain that has beautiful houses on it, but we weren’t able to see it very well because of the foggy weather and the rain, which was disappointing.

The first day we went out we passed by a great market that had all kinds of goods.  There was food, jewelry, clothing and much more.  We then walked quite a distance to see this monument called The Broken Chair, which was well worth the walk!  Also, in the same area there was the United Nations.  After walking back to the apartment we stopped at the same convenient store we went to the first night to get a few things because we still had leftovers from the night before.  Brittany, Jess and I shared 2 bottle of wine that night and we watched The Hunger Games.  Geneva is definitely not a “go out late” kind of place.  The owner of the apartment also told us that if we made too much noise after 10 pm we would get in trouble by the neighbors.

The next day we went and explored “The Old Town” of Geneva.  The main attraction was the St. Pierre Cathedral.  This cathedral was beautiful and made my jaw drop when I entered it.  The stain glass was flawless and even more jaw-dropping when we entered into the chapel area of the church.  After leaving the cathedral we walked the old streets, which was amazing to me.  I love walking on stone, narrow roads.  It makes me feel happy in an odd way, I sort of feel at home even though it is not at all like the area I grew up in.  I am a lot happier here than I am back in Florida, but I also miss my family and my friends.  It’s just a different life-style here.

After walking throughout the Old Town we started to head back to the apartment stopping at some places on the way back.  One of them being a bookstore, the other being ice cream, and I got Swiss chocolate, of course. J  We also stopped at the market we went to the first day to see if we could get a baguette for dinner.   We did not find much there, so we went to a local grocery store and bought a huge pizza for dinner and got a baguette there.  We had a flight at 6:50am the next day, so we stayed in a watched a couple movies that night as well.  We all hardly got any sleep that night, which was horrible the next day because we knew it was going to be a busy one.  We got up at 3am so we could walk to the train station to get to the airport in time for our flight.  We had no lag time between checking in, going through security and getting some food.  I was happy to leave Switzerland because of the prices alone, but I want to go back when the weather is much nicer so I can really see it, instead of just half seeing its beauty.

Another thing to add about Switzerland is that they still mainly take Swiss Franc, but will NOT accept any other franc. L I was very upset about that because they refused my franc that was not Swiss.  They do take Euro, but they give you the change back in Franc, and some places only take the bills, no the dollar or 2 dollar coins.