Geneva - Day 2

Ahh, a full day in Geneva. We didn't have a strict agenda, but we had some ideas in mind as to what to do. Of course, we got off to a late start as we finally were able to sleep in a bit and took our time with breakfast (Speculoos mmmhmmm). But after awhile, we made our way to the entrance to the United Nations - European hub. We crossed into the dead-zone: international territory - not sure what nation to call it? - for a tour of this great place where nations hold thousands of meetings and get surprisingly little done. We saw the new section first - with gifts from many countries - and then the old, home to the big assembly hall, security council chamber, and relics from the time of the precursor to the UN: the League of Nations.
After the UN, we stopped for lunch and eventually found our way via the complicated bus system to CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research - home of the famous particle accelerator, which seeks to recreate the Big Bang and discover "antimatter" (anyone read "Angels and Demons"? - this is the same place). Here we checked out a couple exhibits - definitely worthwhile but as someone who is not so amazed with science, it wasn't paradise for me. The others enjoyed it very much though.
At this point, we were pretty darn tired - so we headed back to the hotel and chilled, napped, and ate for a bit. Around 7pm, we walked up to Vieille Ville, the old part of the city perched atop a hill and home to John Calvin's famous cathedral, which was architecturally interesting because the facade did not at all resemble a church - but rather a museum with large columns.
Old Town truly is beautiful and full of great little fountains, parks, statues, etc. We settled on eating at a salad place, which somehow made Hansky and I sick later but was good at the time (though, like usual in Switzerland, expensive).
About 20 minutes later, after we walked down to the festival again, I really wasn't feeling very good - something wasn't settling well in my stomach - and the rest were tired, so we didn't hang out for too much longer. We walked along the lake until we got to a pathway leading out to the Jet d'Eau (which wasn't on :( ), where we got a nice view of the city. It was so peaceful here - and I took 10 minutes alone to appreciate it - at this point, I went into reflective mode - thinking about my 6 weeks in Europe thusfar, the great time I have had, and the sadness of leaving as well as the stress I know this next semester will bring in comparison to this relaxed summer. I spent the walk back to the hotel in silence - sick, tired, and reflective.

Geneva - Day 1

And so ends the last weekend trip of Europe madness 2010 - we just got back from Geneva, Switzerland, where Hansky, Jacque, Lauren, and I trounced around, saw the sights, ate lots of Speculoos, crossed into international territory, learned about alternative universes, and went through way too many hypothetical questions brought to you by Lauren on the long train ride.
So the story begins on Friday with a lengthy train ride on a slow train from Tours to Lyon, through the countryside of France - towns I figured I would never see and that are so far off the beaten path they haven't heard of a tourist. But a lovely ride nonetheless, though we kept getting kicked out of our seats to pesky people with reservations haha.
From there it was a 2-hour ride through the beautiful Jura range from Lyon to Geneva, where we arrived around 10pm, crossing into Switzerland. On the train ride, we ran into a group of 4 girls we had no idea were from the same Tours program we were in until one of them recognized Jacque. Wow - small world - they were on the same ride back on Sunday too!
So anyway - we got into Geneva and found out that our hotel was of course in the red light district - full of sketchy prostitutes. Hmmm...we never felt unsafe, it was just a bit strange - the other, grittier side of Europe, if you will.
But our hotel was very nice - and a good deal, as we squeezed four people onto four twin beds pushed together - after Pamplona, this cuddle sesh was not so strange haha.
So that night we explored a bit - went down to the lake, saw the Jet d'Eau (a giant fountain) from afar, and danced for a bit to some American music at the carnival/festival in one of the gardens on the south bank. A nice time, but I guess we were tired and wanted to conserve energy for tomorrow - so we headed back, still franc-less (the Swiss currency), and hit the sack in our luxury hotel.