Friday June 27
We are actually getting the hang of this booking flights thing. We were smart and booked out flight for later. We got to sleep in and enjoy free breakfast from the school. So nice.
What is not nice, we had to pack all of our things up again and move them to a different room! Already stressed out before a week long trip and now we have to clear out or room on top of it! NOT COOL ROBERT FROST!!!
Breakfast and then off to the library for printing.
Back in my room, I scramble packed and made lunch. I gathered my things and prepared myself for the spiral descent with 4 bags this time (1 50 lb suitcase, 1 25 lb suitcase, 1 backpack, and 1 purse). I successfully got everything down in 2 trips. Lindsey still had a lot of packing to do at that time, and it was almost time to go. Karli went and retrieved the key for the security office and took one load. I helped Lindsey with her loads down the stairs. By that time, Karli was back. I convinced them that we could take everything in 1 trip. They weren't so sure. There wasn't time to argue. We mad it in 1 trip. Slowly, but we made it. Apparently, there was a conference in the place we were taking our bags. Even though it was only 200 yards away, we were all sweaty and disheveled. It was sad. With our bags safe, we went back to the security office and called a cab.
This airport thing is old hat to is now. We knew exactly where to go, what documents to show at what time, and the best places to sit. Check in and security proved to be no problem for us master travelers. We moved to Boots for some water.
We got food and shifted to Starbucks to eat. We scarfed our food and waited to board.
The plane ride was 1.5 hours. I read and then got sleepy, so I fought my droopy eyelids. I didn't get much sleep. It was fine.
Landed in Geneva. We had a list of things we needed to do. Customs, collect bag, get money, and find a way to our hostel. The info booth told us to take the train that was attached to the airport. That was nice. We followed the path and ended up on a train. First stop, next to our hostel. We stepped out of the station and got our barings. It was a short walk. We made it in no time.
It looked like an office building from the outside. Interesting. It was very modern inside. We checked in and got our bed rolls. We are on the 5th floor, so 6 flights of stairs. We make it to our 6 bed female dorm and crash. We were so tired. Karli and Lindsey dozed off for a little bit. The view from our room is amazing.
The view from our room
Food time. We backtracked and went to a small shop. We all got paninis. They were delicious. Then we say that they had Nutella crepes. We HAD to get one. Since it was $8 we decided to split it. Good life choice. That thing was amazing! So delicious. We waited forever and we didn't get a check. We headed inside. The worker didn't speak much English, the guy that took our order did, but not this new guy. We knew Lindsey's total was $16. He told her $21. We argued for about 10 minutes. We pointed to the menu to here the prices were. He was not understanding. It sucked. We eventually got it all settled.
Nutella crepe
Since we were close to the lake, we walked over to it. It was breathtaking. So beautiful. Lake and mountains in the background. It was so clear. We sat for a long time. Just soaking it all in.
Around 8 we headed back to our hostel. We arrived in our room and discovered 2 new bedrolls. NOOOOO!!!! We had to share the room. Soon after the two girls walk in. Americas. At least they spoke the same language. They were both from California. And they had just graduated.
While getting ready for bed, our 3rd roommate moves in. Florida. She seemed nice.
Saturday June 28
The alarm went off at 8:20 so we could make it to breakfast. Free breakfast! It was pretty good. Yogurt, cereal, toast, and fruit. We had to sit in a huge dining area with others but it wast too bad. The. We went upstairs to finish getting ready.
We wanted to go to Chillon Castle. There were several ways to get there. We decided to try boat. We walk up to the boat taxis. I ask a man which one we got on since there were 4. He gave me a deer in the headlights look and started speaking French. He pointed so we followed his point. We reached a big boat. It was really cute. We get in line to get on. Before getting on, we asked some of the crew members if we were on the right boat. Yet again met with no English. This was becoming a big problem. Eventually we figured out that this was a good boat. We board and marvel at its adorable charm. While looking for a seat, we were approaches by a person who looked like the captain. He asked for our tickets. We showed him the tickets we got from the hostel. He told us those wouldn't work. Awesome!
We leave the adorable boat and head for a train. We had no clue what train we needed to be on. The info desk was our first stop. She told us that we needed to but tickets because the ones that we receives from our hostel didn't work. We go in and buy our round trip tickets and enter acne into the castle at 57.60! Holy moly! That was expensive.
We boarded the train and switched stations no problem. Soon we were in a very small town which consisted of beautiful views and the castle. That was about it. We were starving so we hit up the little shop thing outside the castle. We all got sandwiches. It was so stinking expensive. While eating outside, it started raining. We ran for cover in the castle.
Chillon Castle
It was huge! And had so many different rooms. It was very confusing. We wandered about winding through the rooms for a while. It was pretty neat. Build out of stone and overlooking the lake. Beautiful!
After the castle, we snapped many pictures around the area. Then headed back to the train. Vevey was our destination. Why? We wanted to see a giant fork. Honestly, that is the only thing we really planned to see in Switzerland at all...I know, we are strange...
We arrived in the adorable town and went straight for the water. Where else would you put a giant fork?! We couldn't see it from our position as we walked up, we decided to head right. There were so many curves in the shore that we had to keep following it to see we were going the right way. Eventually, we reached a little park area with a pool and playground. It is there we asked for directions. We approaches an older couple. They saw that we were holding out a phone. So they said no pictures. Pictures?! We weren't going to take your fricken picture. We showed them the destination. The pointed back the way we came, but named a different own. I think they were confused.
I found free wifi and got a rough address. It was back the opposite way. Go figure! The rain started coming again. Not fun. We still trudged on. We wanted to see that fork. We literally passed the place we came in at and saw it. The 26 foot fork. We were so happy. They even had complimentary seats stuck in the rocks for people to sit on. How nice. We sat there for a long time. I liked it. The sun was beating on us. Until it started raining again cit was just in and off. Continuously.
The fork wasn't just randomly placed in the lake. It was across from the food museum. The only one in the world. Well I is museum. Don't mind if I do. We walk up wondering what it was all about. We found a lady ad asked her f we got to sample food there. Sadly no, you learn about how food is made, changed over the years, and how it is digested. Cool... We left there in search of chocolate. Sadly, we got lost on our way, but found ourselves back on the main road.
We walked to the mall for some food. Nothing. We went back on the streets for food. Too expensive. Starbucks. They never fail us. Well they had food, still somewhat expensive. Water was 4.50 and a frap cost 7.60, more than the sandwich. We ate them while heading back to the train.
We had to wait a little bit, but we eventually got on the train headed back to Geneva. As soon as we got off the train, we were starving. We wanted dessert. But we didn't know where. We started winding down the streets. We finally found an ice cream shop. Hallalujia! I got a chocolate truffle scoop. Holy cow was it rich! It was worth it!
We walked back to our hostel. Upon arrival, we discovered all of our roommates were in there. We got out as fast as we could. We headed to the fountain in Lake Geneva. We sat there for 2 hours. Talking, creeping on people, and taking pictures. It was nice. Very relaxing. We moved back to the hostel and used the free wifi.
Sunday June 29
Breakfast again at 8:20. Really good free breakfast. We went back up stairs to our sleeping roommates. We packed everything up and headed out for the day. In the rain… We just wanted some shopping. We bought a locker for 2 Franks and left all of our stuff in there. We then asked the people at the front desk how to get to shopping. We were crushed when they told us that everything in Geneva was closed on Sundays…. You're killing me smalls!!!! Not cool Robert Frost!!! GRRRR.
Still, we headed out in the rain, to the only shops open, in the train station. Yes, we shopped in the train station for over an hour. We didn't buy much, we just wanted to be out of the rain and find some souvenirs.
Soon we grew restless and we still had 7 hours in Geneva left. What to do. We decided to take the boat taxi across the lake to see what was over there. The ride was very short. Soon we were at the other side, with nothing to do.
We stopped and checked our map. There was a giant flower clock near by. Why not! We had time to kill, so we might as well kill time by watching a giant clock. That held our attention for 10 seconds. Soon we were bored again and needed something else to do. Yet again, we looked at the map and saw a church was near. We weaved through the cobblestone streets of Geneva. Then we heard singing. Church singing. We headed toward it. It was coming from a Lutheran church! Of course! We stood outside and listened for a while. It was nice. Then we decided to look for the church we came to see. St. Peter's. You could see the steeple from a long ways away, but we took the long way round to get to it. It was pretty and free to get in. We went in and just sat there for the longest time. It was nice.
Food was on our minds next. We passed several cafes with overpriced sandwiches. We decided to stop at a cheaper cafe. We walked in and saw 7 frank sandwiches. That was actually cheap. I got a ham and cheese quiche. It was delicious. Then we headed back toward the boat to the other side of the lake.
We made it back to our hostel with a few hours to spare. We grabbed the laptop and got on youtube and watched Mary Kate and Ashley: When in Rome. We thought it was fitting.
To the train we trudged. Not a long train ride before we were at the airport. We then made it through security and we were hungry. I decided to pay 7 franks for a ham and butter sandwich. That was the cheapest thing they had. And 5 franks for a water.
Goodbye Geneva-Hello Venice! Ta and Cheers!
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