The Swiss get l'eau

Okay, so I'm not actually IN Switzerland as I'm writing this, but I wanted another map pin. Yes, I am lame. It's okay.

Swiss Chocolate!

Now, on to more important business. Geneva. What a gorgeous city! Allie, Danielle, Erika, and Lauren all had earlier trains but Katrice and I had class until 3:30 Friday so we met the rest of the girls at the train station on Friday night. I've decided that the SNCF people are not very bright. They over booked our train, so we got to stand for about an hour and a half between Nimes and Geneva. It was widly hilarious and we ended up being the obnoxious giggly American girls. But it's cool, we had fun.
Friday night we checked in at the hostel, and we were all pretty beat by that time, so we just went to bed. Saturday morning we woke up for breakfast then headed out to see the city! FYI: Switzerland is cold in February. Our first stop was the botanical gardens. While we were waiting for the bus we stopped in to a little boutique to warm up. This is the last weekend of the soldes in France, and we're pretty sure Geneva is confused and thinks it's in France, so it was their last weekend of soldes too. But, boy is it an expensive city! We did a lot of window shopping and no buying since we're all trying to save money for travel.
The Gardens were pretty and fun, and we saw some giant bunny squirrel things, and they made me think of you Jep, and I tried to get a picture, but it didn't work out too well.
Then we walked to the United Nations building, took some pics with the sign and the flags, and the GIANT three legged chair across the street. By that time we were hungry again, so where do we eat? That's right McDo. Outrageously overpriced McDo. It was delicious, and I got an Asterix musical toy in my Happy Meal. That right there pretty much made the trip! After lunch, it was time to see the jet d'eau. We walked all the way out to the lake, out on the pier. No l'eau. Just a sign that gives some facts, like the jet is over 400 meters tall, and pumps a lot of liters every second. Disappointed, we started to wander around the city. We stopped at the Musee d'art et d'histoire de Geneve. Want to know whats in that museum? Replicas of paintings from other museums. Good thing it was free.

Museum of Fake paintings.

The building itself was really pretty though, so I guess that's something. We headed to the cathedral and found a cute little square where Allie and Erika bought gelato. Then while were playing in the playground outside the cathedral, I notice the tip of the jet d'eau over buildings!! So, we walked back down to the lake and saw the l'eau.

jet d'eau!

It's pretty sweet, with the mountains in the backgroud and the boats and architecture. It makes for some good pics. After that we decided that as true fans of Dan Brown and the Internet, we should go see CERN. We get on a bus, which drops us off on the on-ramp to an interstate! and wait for our connecting route. Pretty amusing. Turns out that CERN has some pretty strict security codes, and you can't just walk in. Who knew?

they invented the internet. I'm a fan.

So we got to see the Alps for the first time, took some pics of the campus and ended up going back into town on the same bus we came out on, made our first stop at a Carrefour and head back to the hostel to find dinner. Erika and I ate at a Japanese place and I got some really great Curry. I think I may attempt to learn to make curry. I've been proven to be a terrible cook here though, so we'll see how that actually turns out.
Sunday, Katrice and I wandered around the city, near the lake to stay in the sun. We took some of the most random ridiculous pictures ever, and it was a lot of fun! Then to warm up, we stopped at Starbucks and got lattees and treats and filled out our postcards for a while. The train ride home was pretty uneventful. No standing. We did however, end up being the only people in BOTH of the train stations we had layovers in. What fun!

This week has been good. I had to renew my tram pass and go grocery shopping yesterday. There is an Aldi here!! Andrea and I found it a couple of weeks ago. I love it because I'd really rather spend my money on something other than groceries thank you very much. Then today Mariah and I booked our trip to Paris in two weeks! I can't wait for my first time in the City of Lights! Ah! Then I get to go back when dad comes to visit on the 22nd!

I really am a very lucky little girl...

Tomorrow I'm going to get my culture pass so that we can go to discounted French films, and Andrea and I are going with Fanja and her friend Caps to a concert!! I am really excited to hear some French music. Seriously, all they play here is American/British music and I'm sick of it!!

Well seeing as I've got class at 8:30 tomorrow morning, I think that will be all for now.
A Bientot mes amis!