Geneva

[March 17, 18, 21]

Jet lag was back again after 30 hours of travelling with 4 separate flights and lengthy layovers. But the weather in Geneva welcomed us with a crisp, cool breeze and cloudless days.

Our first order of business was to find a hostel. Gone are the days of jumping in an ever-present rickshaw for 30 cents or having dozens of desperate representatives stuff a hotel card into your hand. We were totally on our own with no map, dark streets, and lots of luggage for the upcoming ski trip.



The first hostel was full but they pointed us in the direction of the mega 300-bed hostel. We found a mixed dorm and set up camp. We were the only guests until 4 am when some others arrived. We wished that we could afford a double here, but it would eat up nearly an entire day's budget. As you can see in the photo above, we were worn out!



Wondering around Geneva was fairly easy to do on the cheap. We went to the free portions of the National Musuem and spent time on the park benches on the lake looking at the fountain (above). Our $30 lunch was no more than cheese spread on thin slices of bread with a bit of fancy garnishes, but it was a nice break. We began to save the extra butter packets from our included hostel breakfasts with the idea that we could get extra calories this way.


(Above: The old part of the city)


(Above: The sundial at the Science History Musuem.)

The next day it was time to met Sol and Rebecca, two frisbee friends living in London. Sol (last name Solomon) met Dean back in his Australian days and had met Rebecca (from England) through ultimate. We found an early morning bus headed to Chamonix and promptly fell asleep. At a few bumps in the road, I'd open my eyes to see the fantastic mountain scenary passing by. To be continued in the Chamonix post...

When we returned from Chamonix, we had another uneventful night in Geneva and just did fun things like laundry and checking email. Not every day of the world trip is fun and adventure, especially in an expensive town like Geneva!