Classy Weekend in Genève, Suisse: Part 1 (March 26, 2011)

Bonjour, everybody!


I'm sitting here on the world's comfiest bed in Geneva, Switzerland.

This is it. It's from IKEA, my fave.

We're leaving in about an hour to spend the day in the French Alps.  France surrounds Geneva on three sides so it'll only take us about 10 minutes by car to cross the border.


By car.  I don't think you understand how wonderful it is to say that.  To know I won't have to figure out public transportation, hoping I get a seat on the metro and praying there are no creepers there.  Yes, we will go by car because Abby and I are staying with her cousin, Sara, and Sara's boyfriend, Frank, in their beautiful apartment, which is about a block or so from the lake.

This is the dining room and kitchen. I looooove the design of everything.  Especially the red refrigerator.  Also, the brand of the kitchen appliances is "Die Dietrich," which means "The Dietrich," i.e. ME.

This, so far, has been the best weekend this semester, if not ever in my life, and it's only been a day or so in.  Our hosts are so generous, and we have been literally wined and dined since we arrived (emphasis on the "wined").  I'm pretty sure this is what luxury travel is, and I'm almost certain I will never be able to do this again, unless I marry rich or win the lottery.


We were picked up (!) at the airport and after we dropped our things off, headed out to find somewhere to eat.  Along the way we stopped at a bar for some wine, at which point (before I'd even had a sip, mind you) I bumped into Abby and spilled red wine all over her shirt... oops...  As we walked along the streets of Geneva, we ran into a couple of Sara and Frank's friends.  They spoke French, and not much English, and if they asked me a question I would just blink and smile until someone translated.  French sounds so nice, even though I don't understand anything more than "Bonsoir," "Merci," and a few other words here and there.  Sadly, I think I've forgotten nearly everything I learned in that semester of French I took.  Anyway, almost every restaurant was closed (it was 10pm, and the Swiss eat dinner at a normal time) except for a raclette place.  Raclette is melted cheese that you eat with potatoes.  That's right, for dinner we each had a full plate of melted cheese.  YES SWITZERLAND.


Yesterday morning we slept in a little bit, ate some chocolate croissants that Sara and Frank had left out for us, and watched some good ol' American television on their Apple TV (Perfect Couples is a pretty good show, as it turns out).  Around noon we walked over to Frank's restaurant Soupçon (how I had the good fortune to stay with the owner of a gourmet restaurant, I will never know), which is located in Old Town, an absolutely adorable and quintessentially European part of the city.

Très cute, n'est-ce pas?

Here we met a friend of Frank's (who did speak English and was quite entertaining), ate some amazing asparagus with fancy mushrooms, sesame-seared tuna, and sea bass atop a bed of perfectly-cooked vegetables and potatoes (and some fresh cherry tomatoes that were delicious, and I bet have never seen the inside of a refrigerator *cough*Carmen*cough*), and drank some more wine; it was white this time, don't worry, and I didn't spill on anyone anyway.

After this delicious experience, Abby and I did a tour of the UN building, where, though it is not the headquarters (which is in NYC), important committees meet, such as the Economic and Social Committee (ECOSOC, of which I was often a member in Model UN).  We saw lots of rooms where great international events occurred, such as the creation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (of which I am a fan).

The view alone would make anyone want to be a diplomat

"If you are being chased by fire, please run to the right."

Me with my snazzy official visitor's badge... Legit.

Protestors against Eritrea's dictator, in front of  "Broken Chair," which is a symbol of the damage land mines and cluster bombs cause.

After our tour we met up with Sara, who just got out of work at the WHO (which is right by the UN building), and we walked back to the apartment along the lake.  It was a perfect day out, the lake was clear, the sky was blue, and we could see the French alps.  We ate ice cream and I took pictures of the buildings around the lake and the swans that call it home [insert comment about "lucky ducks" here].  It was at this point that my ability to resist the macarons that Frank had brought Abby and me from Laduree failed. Soooo delicious.

This beautiful edifice is an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Geez.

You could honestly walk over to France if you felt like it.

"He wants to die in a lake in Geneva, the mountains can cover the shape of his nose..."

Flower clock!

After I'd attacked my macarons... 

Dinner last night was at a trendy pizzeria called Luigia.  The entrance is slightly hidden away if you're not looking straight on, and it's all lit up in red and green and white (like Christmas... or the Italian flag. I'd like to think both).  We had to wait a few minutes for a table so we went to the bar for a glass of wine.  I really should take a wine-tasting class someday so I can fully appreciate it, though I certainly enjoy it now.  We had some fantastic pizza and pasta and for dessert, fried bits of pizza dough covered in Nutella and powdered sugar, which sparked a conversation on the meaning of the word "decadent." In French it means basically the opposite of what it means in English, i.e. coming from the word "decay," as in, what is happening to the world such that this is an excuse for a good dessert? I thought it was delicious, and hey, I wasn't the one who ordered it! Nom nom nom.

mmmm pizza....

After dinner we went back to the apartment where Frank and Sara had Abby and I taste the various liquors they had that we had never heard of.  I liked Chartreuse (yes, like the color) which had an herbal flavour (pronounced "herbal" or "erbal"... you decide. But as Eddie Izzard once said, there's an effing 'H' in it, so the Brits are probably right), a Japanese plum wine, and an amber-colored port.  SO classy.

Well I'm off for now, as we're about to head over to Annecy.  Which is in France. In the Alps.


WHAT IS MY LIFE??