1) Switzerland was one of the only countries in Western Europe I had yet to visit and frankly, was tired of explaining why it had always somehow alluded me on previous trips;
2) I wanted to see the headquarters of the United Nations.
The train ride from Paris to Geneva was 3 hours 15 minutes. About 45 minutes outside of Geneva there were some impressive mountains, but other than that the scenery was pretty unremarkable. I tried to take some photos, but the glare on the window – and probably the fact that we were going 320 km/h (200 mph) per hour – sort of hampered my ability to do so!
After a few hours of walking around I realized I was starving so I found an ATM, got some Swiss Francs and went to… McDonalds. Okay, listen…. this was the FIRST time since I’ve been in Europe that I had McDonalds (or ANY fast food actually).
It’s a little coder in Switzerland than in Paris. I was glad that I had brought with me some pocket hand warmers (little pouches that heat up when exposed to air and stay hot for up to 12 hours). They kept my hands nice and toasty as the temp dipped once the sun went down.
Anyhow, I digress. The hotel in Geneva had 6 whole channels in English and I actually got to watch the Daily Show w/Jon Stewart, the British version of “Dancing With the Stars” (which is oddly called “Strictly Come Dancing”) but has two of the same judges (Len & Bruno) and the British version of The Office. Mindless TV – yeah!!!!
You can probably tell that my first day in Geneva wasn’t that spectacular given that I’ve spent more time talking about McDonalds, television and the hot bath I got to take than anything I saw. To be honest, I just wasn’t that impressed. “Old Town” didn’t seem that old and frankly lacked the charm of Paris. To me, the city is very commercialized. Overall it just lacked that certain “je ne sais quoi”. I guess I'm turning into a Paris snob - ha!
Click here to view all of today's photos (11/15/08)
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