24 octobre 2009 (Day 54)
In Lyon I caught another train and enjoyed the early morning scenery on my way to Geneva, the second largest city in Switzerland. It was gorgeous! Geneva the city wasn’t as pretty as the things I saw on the way there. I roamed around for about two hours before Brooke’s train came in. Before she arrived, I saw a lot of parks, bought breakfast (orange juice and a German donut) and some Swiss chocolate. I happened to meander right into the United Nations and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (the company my brother works for)! Geneva is the worldwide center for diplomacy. The United Nations Headquarters, the Red Cross, and many financial centers can be found in Geneva. Currently, there is a really cool giant chair without a fourth leg by the UN as a memorial for those who have lost limbs in Afghanistan. I picked up Brooke from the gare (train station) and we went around town. We had a goose try to attack us while going to see the Jet d’Eau, saw a neat tomb, and some churches. We tried to catch a bus to Annecy. We had got lost trying to re-find the UN and ended up running half way across Geneva to catch a bus that wasn’t there! We looked at the weekday and not weekend schedule, so sadly we couldn’t go to Annecy.
Instead we bought some vache de tomme cheese, bread, and cottage cheese for lunch and enjoyed a skinny dipping show. We went to the pier with our delicious food (the cottage cheese was to die for!) and sat on some rocks overlooking the lake, Mont Blanc, and the colorful colonial-esque village. And the skinny dippers. Ho la la! We were tranquilly eating our food when the man of the couple next to us (not that close) stood up and began to unzip his pants. I thought he was going to relieve himself in the lake, but he continued to take off his pants. He then took off his shirt and I thought he was going to go bathing like that. But no! Off came his underwear, his girlfriend’s clothes as well and they both hopped on it. Bless their hearts and naked bums.
Apart from the skinny dipping show, we walked around and the city, played at the parks, and found the United Nations while Brooke was telling me about her first summer fling, her first boyfriend, her first kiss, and her first French boyfriend (all consequently the same person). We ate dinner by Lac Lemand. There were no skinny dippers this time as we ate our bread and cheese.
We walked to the older part of Geneva and I got some hot cocoa ancienne…hot milk and a packet of mix. It was still really good. Afterwards we talked a lot about France, French, and “not arriving” (In France you say “Je n’arrive pas” to say I don’t get it, etc.). You see, I used to kick Brooke’s butt at French but for the most part while Brooke and I were speaking French she was correcting my French. She is a LOT better at French. She says that you need to get over the 3 month hump and then you magically understand during month four. We came to the conclusion that we should be in each other’s French programs. She wants to pass the DELF/DALF and I want the basics!
We (illegally- gasp! Brooke is a rebel) took the bus to the airport and slept in the corner after getting ready for bed. It was freezing! At 1 am I finally went and put on my running tights, did some yoga in between Brooke and our little friend (some girl) who came and slept by us) to warm up and then went back to sleep.
So in Geneva: most of the people have dogs which they like to walk, they aren’t fashionable like in France, they use francs (weirdos!), have amazing chocolate, and there is no one there in the mornings. While I was walking around by myself, there really wasn’t anyone there!
