Blogs from Geneva, South-West, Switzerland, Europe
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From Chamonix, at 7 o’clock in the morning I went by bus to Genève. I was so happy to be finally away from the 17-person room and constantly talking guys (I don’t mind people talking at all, if I hear them not; my headphones failed, so I couldn’t silence the talking plugging music in my ears), and I was supposed to be in the Swiss city in two hours, but thanks to traffic congestion the bus arrived an hour late. Everybody descended at the airport, me being the only person going to the terminus. There was a great lot of snow everywhere and the bus driver even announced that the airport was closed. I was almost sure, remembering Lyon’s mild weather, that there would be no snow, and indeed there was not. Genève bus station is ... read more
We started our morning in France. After a late start after a few early mornings, we had brunch at a French restaurant called McDonalds and then returned to Switzerland, Geneva in particular. Our first stop was the CERN headquarters - Jon really wanted to see the large hadron super collider, but no tours available over the Christmas season, so he had to settle for a picture at their office while wearing a BAZINGA shirt. Up next, a small park with a flower clock and huge fountain. While we were there, we actually got distracted by all the birds on the shore of Lake Geneva as people were feeding them. I guess we miss our birds! :) Next we went to the headquarters of the UN, Palais des Nations. Unfortunately there were no tours available, so our ... read more
Two Sunday’s ago my friend Ashraf and I worshiped at the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Geneva. I had a pretty good idea of where the church was supposed to be once we got off the bus, but I wasn’t entirely sure. As we waited for the bus it became clearer by the minute we were in the right place and at the right time. In a short matter of time quite a group of Ethiopians had gathered. The men mostly in Western clothes while the women reflected a mix of east and west with beautiful head scarves accenting their puffy European winter jackets. Our connection to the community, Daniel, another friend here at Bossey and a deacon in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, informed me the liturgy (worship service) began at 9:30 am, and would probably go ... read more
This is a View I Could get Used to
Published: December 12th 2012Europe » Switzerland » South-West » Geneva » La PlaineOne of the best places I've travelled to in my short life so far has to be Switzerland. Every aspect of it is absolutely breathtaking, and exactly like what you'd see in pictures or hear from other people. I flew here on my 2007 trip from Denmark. We stayed a week with my mom's childhood friend, Trille, who lives just outside Geneva in a little village called Niederwil. Every morning when I woke up, I could look out my window and see only mountains. I think the coolest part was the clouds that hung so low in the backyards of everyone in the village. During that week, my sister and I got to ride gondolas for the first time. The closer we got to the top of the mountains, the more intense and mysterious the climate ... read more
After a long day of traveling (roughly about 8 hours), we finally landed in Geneva. The temps when we landed were probably in the 50s but by the time the day ended, it was prob in the 60s. First thing first. We landed and we didn't really know what we were doing from a train perspective. There weren't as many information desks as we thought there would be at the Geneve Airport train station. We had a hard time finding our hotel. At least we had a hard time finding how to get to city centre from the airport. Turns out city center was only about a 7 min train ride from the airport and our hotel was just a stones throw away. We stayed at Hotel Cristal on 4 Rue Pradier. Very boutique hotel and ... read more
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After leaving Rome, we didn't get back to our hotel until about midnight Sunday night. I wasn't even sure we were going to make it to the airport! Our taxi driver showed up to pick us up from the hotel, spoke all of about 5 words to us, drove us through the slums of Rome to get to the highway, and then hit the highway at about 160 to 170 kph....or 100+ mph!! And it wasn't light traffic either! I was a bit concerned that we were gonna be on the evening news either from a massive pileup on the interstate, or some overstressed taxi driver who went beserk! Fortunately, neither happened, but I was quite happy to reach the airport safely! We then had a flight delay and ended up sitting on the floor for ... read more
Last night we went to dinner with three of Rob's colleagues at a Mexican resturant near Gare Cornavin near the main train station. It was nice to place faces with the names and meet them socially. Each spoke at least 2 languages and one spoke 5! One was from Belgium, another India and one from Switzerland. World travelers and it surprises me how much they are informed about world events. Charming and gracious, asking many questions about us and our life and truly interested in our answers. So one of them asked me what I thought of the Swiss. We live in a nice area of Switzerland, just a block or so away from very upscale apartments and it is not uncommon to see Ferrari's parked next to each other (usually black). People will not say ... read more
On the Road Again.....through the Alps!
Published: July 25th 2012Europe » Switzerland » South-West » GenevaGetting into Geneva was no problem and we picked up a rental car this time. Got to our hotel within about 20 minutes, sat and chatted with the guys that Kirk works with for a little bit, and then hit the sack. The next morning, the guys were working until 3 and then heading over to another part of Switzerland where the factory was located. Since we had two cars, I headed out around noon on my own since I knew we were headed into a pretty section of the mountains to a little ski resort town in the Alps. I thought I'd get there early and have a chance to look around and take some pictures. The only thing about driving is you can't really enjoy much of the scenery, especially when you're driving in ... read more
Today is laundry and shopping day. Shopping for groceries takes place daily because if you don't have a car you have to carry everything. Some older people pull their groceries on what looks like a miniature dolly with wheels. But since we are young strapping females who have eaten too many pastries, we carry. The two stores out here are Coop and Migros and they are as plentiful as Starbucks and Caribou are in an urban area. All grocery stores are closed on Sundays, so you had better plan ahead. If you run out of food you can always eat out, the cost for three to eat one meal is what one full day of groceries would cost. I spend between 60-90 francs a day depending on what we need. So that is up to $100/day ... read more
Who BBQs with a Hairdryer?
Published: July 21st 2012Europe » Switzerland » South-West » Geneva » La PlaineI will get to the title in a little while. However, if I had to compare this summer's holidays with last summer's holidays, it is clear that this summer, things went by without a hitch. For this we are thankful. The only down side of the trip to Italy was that France and Italy love to gouge your eyes out when you are driving on their highways. For example, the trip back today, from Lucca, Italy to Geneva cost us approximately 100 Euros. And this does not include gas money. On the way back, we did not go through the Mont Blanc tunnel. Just to go through the tunnel costs 35 Euros. I thought that I would outsmart the highway system. We took the A32 through Torino, Italy - only to discover that we had to ... read more
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