Hello, Hello!
My weekend in Geneva, Switzerland with two new friends (not from Santa Clara) was absolutely DEE-lightful! It was one of those really long, lovely weekends. I have only been to Zurich Airport before in Switzerland but I do remember being charmed by the kindness of the Swiss ( I was apparently in the wrong terminal for my international flight...first time flying to England by myself).
Anyways, so my two new friends, Jess (short for Jessica) is from Wake Forest and her roommate Lauren attends Denver University (but from the Bay Area!). I knew Jess well enough but hardly knew Lauren, but we became great friends over the course of the weekend! Lots of great memories.
And the reason for this post's title? Because I really do love Switzerland...it's gorgeous, people are so friendly and inviting, everyone's super international (5 official languages...makes being bilingual seem really silly in comparison), mouth watering chocolate, and European quaintness at its finest. So, let's talk about my weekend!
FRIDAY
Swiss Air = Fav New Airline
We flew Swiss Airlines from Barcelona directly to Geneva for a very pleasant 1.5 hour flight. We were welcomed with croissants, fruit juice, and of course, the signature Swiss air treat, CHOCOLATE! I only took two...but in my mind, I took the whole tray of chocolates. Jess and I sat in the same row but became good friends with our neighbor in the middle named Jacquie. She is from Columbia originally but lives in Barcelona. She gave us all kinds of recommendations about where to go, eat, explore, etc. She was going to Switzerland to visit her younger daughters.
Expensive Lunch
We arrived in Geneva around 11 am, took the extremely prompt underground train to downtown Geneva, and rode the bus to our hostel. The hostel was very basic and clean, but that's all we needed because we were ready to explore our new home for the weekend! We unloaded our bags and got lunch at a local cafe. We each had really delicious paninins...but were shocked when the bill came out to 14 CHF (about $15 USD) for a sandwhich and drink. We knew Switzerland was expensive...but not that expensive!
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| Smoked salmon, tomato, and mozzarella toasted panini with Jus de Pomme...delish but expensive! |
Exploring Geneva and Making New Friends
After a filling lunch, we took a stroll around the famous lake of Geneva. It was absolutely stunning...the sun was out, weather pleasant, and just all around incredible views of the city. While walking near the dock, we met two hitchikers from Copenhagan, Denmark who were in Genveva for a few days. They escorted us to the central part of Geneva and gave us a mini tour of the sites they had visited. We ended Friday afternoon with a delightful discussion of politics, differences in American vs European culture/education/lifestyle, and their travels.
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| Geneva Lake |
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| Geneva Lake |
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| Swans native to Geneva's Lake |
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| Jet D'Eau in the distance |
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| View of Geneva's downtown |
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| Adam, Emil, Jess, Lauren,and myself at the Flower Clock |
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| Downtown Geneva |
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| Shopping District in Geneva |
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| Chocolates & Tea Room = my kind of place! |
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| Fall in Geneva |
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| Beautiful park in Geneva |
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| Fall in Geneva |
A new friend from a Tunisian Patisserie
For dinner, as we walked back to the Hostel, we stumbled upon a delightful patisserie called La Perla. The 5 CHF sandwhich and salad caught our attention. I practiced my french while ordering a salad and soup of the day. Apparently, we'd charmed our new friend named Lamine (from Tunisia) so much that he gave us free samples of baklava and cookies! Such a sweet way to end the night! We munched on our salads and slurped our soups at the park across the street.
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| Jess, Lauren and I holding baklava from La Perle Patiserrie |
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| Lamine, our new Tunisian friend, and I at the bakery |
Back at the hostel, we became good friends with one of our roommates named Sarah. She's studying to get her masters and phd at a university in England through the Erasmus Mundus program. However, now she's moving to Geneva to complete her studies. So, she's been staying in a hostel the past few weeks while looking for university housing (apparently the demand is very high and supply very low). Fortunately, she did find an apartment that weekend.
SATURDAY
Museum Visits
The girls and I were psyched about exploring Geneva. We showered, got dressed, and had a hearty (free) breakfast at the hostel consisting of yogurt (either plain or blueberry ) with oats/corn flakes, juice, AWESOME hot chocolate (made with milk not water!),and coffee.
We decided to visit the United Nations Headquarters (about a 10 minute lightrail ride from the Hostel). Unfortunately, they only give tours Monday - Thursday...but that didn't stop us from taking pictures!
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| Me at the UN Headquarters |
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| UN Headquarters in Geneva |
Afterwards, we checked out Geneva's Ariana Museum, which was just around the corner from the UN. This museum hosts a wide collection of ceramics, glass, and pottery and is free admission. We ooh-ed and aah-ed at numerous art pieces.
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| Ariana Museum |
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| Pink pottery with flowers...my fav! |
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| This reminds me of English Dalton |
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| I would sure love to have this clock in my room! |
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| Interior of Ariana Museum |
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| Gorgeous handpainted plates |
Next, we hiked up the hill to tour the International Red Cross Museum, but we soon found out it was closed for remodeling (along with the Voltaire Museum) until 2013. Looks like we'll have to come back to Switzerland I suppose!
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| Int'l Red Cross Museum closed for remodeling :( |
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| What needs to be remodeled?! It's so pretty as it is! |
Botanical Gardens
Down the street from the UN, we found some delightful Botanical Gardens. I took so many photos it was ridiculous...so I've cut it down to the bare bones for you all! Here's just a sampling of how beautiful these gardens are.
It was midday and we'd already visited quite a lot of places, so headed back to the heart of Geneva and bought ourselves salads from a local market. We found another park (we really have a thing for parks and beautiful views!) and munched on our salads and talked about our universities, studies, where we're from, what we hope to get out of study abroad, etc. Good roommate bonding time!
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| Local park where we had Saturday lunch |
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| The incredible view form the park |
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| Park where we ate lunch. Can you see Fall is in full swing?! |
Exploring Geneva
To assimilate to our surroundings, the girls and I walked miles across the city from one end to the other. We absorbed the beauty, charm, and uniqueness of Geneva...and soon fell in love with its multilingual people, relaxed European culture, stunning architecture. Check out the photos below.
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| Local Market on Saturday afternoon |
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| Beautiful River Arve |
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| River Arve |
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| A stroll by the river's edge |
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| Heavenly Swiss chocolate ice cream I indulged in |
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| And this little guy...who I literally almost stole as a souvenir of Geneva |
Afternoon trip to Carouge
Carouge, a laid back town neighboring Geneva, is a world away in terms of architecture, atmosphere, and history. Apparently, it was built to be a trading rival of Geneva. But, over time, Carouge became a place where Catholics, moderate Protestants from Geneva, and Jewish traders fleeing persecution around Europe were able to live together peacefully.I can totally see why...it's absolutely adorable in every possible way and these pictures do not do it justice.
On the street you find artisan workshops, boutiques, small cafes & restaurants, pleasant locals, and elderly women doing the washing on their terraces. It's just too adorable for words really . Apparently, it was modeled to be a replica of Nice, France
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| Walking by the river on our way to Carouge! |
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| River Arve, separating Geneva and Carouge |
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| View of Geneva from Carouge's side of town |
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| River Arve & Geneva from the bridge |
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| Carouge |
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| downtown Carouge |
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| Dried lavender and autumn wreaths at a local boutique |
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| Carouge's main plaza |
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| Carouge |
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| Carouge |
Our First Dinner Out in Geneva
We were absolutely exhausted after the day's long but pleasant walk through Geneva. Unfortunately, stores in Switzerland close around 6/7 pm, so we couldn't grab dinner at a local market. We snacked on some roasted walnuts in the downtown area (they are DELICIOUS!). I think I ate about half of them...
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| Roasted Walnut Stand |
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| Marrons Chauds = Hot Walnuts = DELICIOUS on an autumn day |
After checking out several dinner options and gasping at the high prices, we settled on a pizza restaurant near the hostel. It was quite good if I must say so myself!
Then, we headed back to the hostel for an early night and chatted with our roommate Sarah.
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| My bed is the bottom one |
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| Lauren loving her first experience in the hostel! |
SUNDAY
Alas, our last morning in Geneva. Our flight was at 5:30 in the afternoon, so we got off to another early start. Sarah joined us in our stroll around downtown Geneva. We took a free ferry across Geneva's lake to the downtown area. Did I mention autumn in Geneva is stunning? Or have I not stressed that enough? I'll let the pictures speak for themselves :)
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| Our ferry captain! |
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| Our ferry being swarmed by Swans |
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| Aren't these little guys adorable?! |
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| Geneva's shopping district on a Sunday morning (most stores are closed) |
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| Plaza near Saint Peter's Cathedral |
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| Saint Peter's |
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| Autumn at a local park...ahh so beautiful! |
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| Sarah, Lauren, Jess, and I embracing Fall in Geneva! |
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| View of Geneva and Saint Peter's (tall Green spiky thing) |
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| Saint Peter's |
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| Alternate view of Saint Peter's |
Since the viewing deck from Saint Peter's wasn't going to be open for another hour, we checked out the Art and History Museum. Again, it was free admission but they didn't allow us to take pictures unfortunately. But, I did take a picture of a slice of carrot cake I bought for myself. Mmm!!
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| Art and History Museum in Geneva |
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| Art and History Museum's mouth watering carrot cake |
We returned to Saint Peter's to check out the viewing deck. My word...the views of Geneva were incredible! The clouds were melted by the sun's rays and all I could see was the beautiful blue sky and Geneva. It was well worth the 4 CHF admission.
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| Me at Saint Peter's viewing deck with Geneva in the background |
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| Geneva from Saint Peter's Viewing Deck |
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| Beautiful Geneva from Saint Peter's |
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| Jet D'eau and boats at the dock |
I think the trip to the viewing dock really was the icing on the cake for me during my stay at Geneva. It was a wonderful way to bid farewell but hopefully I'll be back soon.
To see ALL my photos from Switzerland, check out my
Geneva, Switzerland 2011 Album. I took a total of 441 but narrowed it down to 350ish I believe. I told you...I'm an OCD photographer. Did I ever mention I took two rolls of film at the Statue of Liberty when I was 8 years old? Old habits die hard...
Stay tuned! My next trip is to Montserrat (tomorrow morning!)
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