This past weekend I took a trip to the lovely Swiss town of Geneva (or Genève, as the French and French-speaking Swiss would say). It was approximately 50 degrees all weekend, but miracle of miracles, the sun was actually shining and not hidden behind clouds!
Our flight left Friday night, thankfully from Bordeaux… after arriving at the airport (thanks to my wonderful homestay mom Guadalupe, who dropped me and Lauren off) and browsing through a cheesy souvenir shop, Lauren and I headed to the gate, where we found five of our fellow EAP-ers sitting around. After a half an hour delay, we finally made it on to the white and bright orange EasyJet plane, all seven of us sitting together, and proceeded to be loud, obnoxious, American girls.
We landed at around 10:30, grabbed our baggage, and went our separate ways… some to the train, one to Interlocken, and me and Lauren to the taxi… yeah, the train was probably cheaper and just as adequate, but the ride in the heated Mercedes was quite lovely. That was basically the end of the night, since it was nearly midnight at this point and “tired” was an accurate statement of how I felt.
Saturday morning, we got up bright and early, headed to the free hostel breakfast, and then headed out to Old Town… not that this was extraordinarily older than any other part of town… it was fully equipped with several supermarkets, an H&M, and a McDonalds. We browsed the streets for a while, taking full advantage of the lovely walking path around the lake, then eventually worked our way to the cathedral… not before stopping at Starbucks, however! It was the most expensive Starbucks I’ve ever ordered… and you better believe I got the venti Dark Cherry Mocha in celebration of red cup season. And you also better believe that I took pictures with it… and asked someone else to take pictures of me with it in front of Starbucks. “Professional tourist” is one new thing I’ll be able to add to my résumé when I get back, that’s for sure! Back to the cathedral… Lauren and I climbed all the way up the tower, which permits those who survive the extremely small and tight spiral staircase to partake in the breathtakingly fantastic panoramic view of the city. And, as our luck would have it, it just happened to be turning noon right as we got up to the top, so we were serenaded by the church bells ringing the hour, and then were able to hear other bells ringing all throughout the city. Quite lovely, if I do say so myself.
Post-tower adventure, I grabbed a hot dog from a street vendor (the fact that it was indeed a street vendor advertising “American style” hot dogs, which were definitely not what I would call American style, made me feel like I was in New York, but still… fondue is expensive!), then headed back to the hostel to drop off the morning’s haul of loot… basically, I was lazy and didn’t want to carry it around all day. Lauren and I headed back out to the wild and crazy Genevan streets, directly towards MANOR.
Yes, MANOR does need to be in all capital letters. It is a huge mega store “where you can find everything,” as the woman at the Office of Tourism so eloquently put it. Seven floors of anything and everything, and my guess is that you could indeed purchase a kitchen sink as well. Luckily for me, I was not in need of plumbing equipment but of souvenirs, and that is exactly what I found, as the bright red “Switzerland!” display basically attacks you from the moment that you walk in the door. After fighting small children and angry old ladies in the chocolate department, I successfully paid and headed out, walking past the fully stocked grocery store and its sushi bar.
From MANOR it was back to Old Town, where my shopping was completed… I got a Swatch and probably spent way too much money on various Swiss paraphernalia and a gourmet meal from McDonalds. Pre-McDonalds I made a short stop at another large and very well stocked supermarket in search of Swiss sausage (saucisse Suisse seche), basically Swiss salami, which is incredibly hard to find and everyone at the meat counter gives you a funny look when you ask for it… nonetheless, mission accomplished.
Lauren and I found a paper for a free concert at the cathedral, so we headed back there to enjoy the free choir concert… until walking in and realizing that 1) everyone had tickets, 2) the concert was not free but 60 francs for the good seats and 30 for the cheapos, and 3) there were no good seats left, so our choir experience would have consisted of staring at a large stone pillar about four feet in diameter for an hour and a half. Needless to say, we passed on that experience and headed to (where else?) Starbucks!
After sufficiently caffiinating ourselves, we realized that there was basically nothing to do in Geneva after dark (unless we wanted to spend far too much money on fondue), so we stayed at Starbucks and continued our strict regiment of overpriced caffination. Eventually, we meandered our way back to the hostel and called it a night.
Sunday morning marked our final day in la Suisse, and a short one at that, since EasyJet only flies one or two flights a day on the Bordeaux-Geneva route, and our choices were either 7:30 am or 3:30pm… we opted for the latter.
Free breakfast and check-out (during which I had a mild panic attack… one of the other people in our room locked her key in the bathroom and borrowed mine… unbeknownst to me, until I tried to open my locker and went to the front desk, she accidentally switched our keys… I ran through the hostel and almost started screaming “Lauren! We need to find the Italians!” because I was extraordinarily worried that they had already checked out and my stuff was going to be locked in the locker forever, luckily they had yet to depart)… then we went back to Old Town and back to Starbucks! The barista didn’t quite understand “one White Mocha” so Lauren ended up with two grande White Mochas and one venti Cappuccino… I had no qualms finishing them both, to say the least.
We made a quick pit stop at McDo for some Chicken McNuggets (I think chicken nuggets are a universal fast food item… very reliable) and then to the hostel, to the train station (free train ride since we stood for the five minute trip!), and to the airport, where our flight was delayed for half an hour.
The seven of us snagged seats together again and repeated our obnoxiousness; upon arrival in Bordeaux, we all went our separate ways, as my homestay family was waiting for me and Lauren to emerge from the black hole called baggage claim. We made it home in time for dinner, but I think I’m having Starbucks withdrawals… this will soon be remedied, as the Starbucks Store Locater informs me that my next destination, Barcelona, is home to 20 stores… ahh, the joy of knowing I’m getting ripped off for the pleasure of holding that red cup and having someone take a picture of me…
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