One interesting (and expensive) night

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After getting some rest, I went out on the town tonight...looking to get a nice meal and find a cool bar to hang out. I had looked up the top bars (according to google) and so I went off in the general direction that they were in.

The Restaurant:

I found a restaurant that looked good, lots of people were inside and it seemed nice. I looked at the menu outside and it had all the wine & alcohol listed, plus all the desserts, but at a quick glance I didn't see any main courses. I figured I must have just missed them, as I walked inside. The hostess sat me down at a small table, and I was waiting for quite awhile to get a menu. Finally, the waitress came by, but instead of bringing me a menu she said "how do you want your meat cooked?". And I thought, well it depends on what kind of meat I'm getting...and I had no clue what was going on. But a quick look around the restaurant and I noticed everyone was eating some kind of steak and french fries. So I asked for "medium". When it came, it was a very tender steak, already cut into strips, and covered in some kind of green sauce. Since I didn't ever see a menu, I had know idea what kind of sauce it was. It tasted a bit like a pesto sauce, but with the consistency of gravy. It looked disgusting, but tasted quite delicious. Even after I finished my plate (and was getting very full), the waitress brought over ANOTHER serving, complete with another huge pile of fries. I don't know if it was "all you can eat" or something, but I was very much DONE after the 2nd plate. Unfortunately, the other downside of not actually seeing a menu is that I had no idea how much my meal was until the bill came.... 45 francs! (1 franc is about 1.10 canadian). So that sucked.

The first "bar"

So I left the restaurant thinking that I wouldn't stay long at the bar, since I just spent over half the money I had taken out of the bank machine. I went to the place that got the best hit on google for "Geneva night club". As soon as I walked in I was presented with the bar, so I ordered a beer. I very quickly found out, however, that "night club" in Geneva means "strip club". And apparently quite an expensive one at that. I finished my beer as quickly as I could and then was charged 22 francs!! I don't know if that's really the cost for a beer there, or an inflated cost since the bartender saw that I came and left so fast without spending any money on drinks and "other things". I was thinking about trying the 2nd club on my list from google, but just walking around in that area of town, it seemed like all the places were cabaret's and I figured it would be the same thing inside.

The second bar

So, since I had already spent about 70 francs, and really hadn't had much of a good time yet (although dinner tasted good), I decided to go back to my hotel early and call it a night. But on the way, I passed by a normal looking bar, which is what I was looking for all along. I looked inside, slowly went in and took a look around before sitting down (much more cautious this time). I even asked how much a beer costs before ordering, and fortunately it was only 5 francs. The music was nice, and I mostly watched the bartenders and servers scramble to prepare drinks and serve them. It was really busy, and I have no idea how they avoided colliding with each other. The bouncer was particularly nice to me. He made sure I had a seat at the bar, and when he heard me talking in english he offered to help me order something if I wanted him to. (Note: the first official language in Geneva is french, but they also speak german and english usually). But of course, I was ok to order in french without his help. A bit later on he came back to talk to me and asked where I was from. He said his wife originally came from Canada but he couldn't remember which town. 10 minutes later when I saw him again, he said he had called his wife to ask her, but she was at home asleep (it was after midnight by this point). He was really interested in the fact I was also from Canada. He asked how long I was staying in Geneva, and if I needed any help with anything. I told him I am leaving tomorrow, but will be coming back through here next weekend. He insisted on giving me his phone number in case I needed anything on my return trip, or even if I wanted to get into that bar again (if it was too busy or something, he'd still let me in for example). so that was really nice of him.

And now I'm back at the hotel after an interesting (and expensive) night in Geneva. I think I preferred the daytime experience...just walking around and seeing the sights. I already knew this coming in, but I've definitely confirmed it.....Switzerland is expensive.

Derek

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