Catch up: Adventure 1 - Geneva Switzerland

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I am a slacker, and I will now have to update you on my adventures that have come to pass before I started this blog. The first of my adventures was to spend 4 days in Geneva Switzerland. This had also been my first opportunity to enjoy Starbucks coffee since leaving home for the land of the Dutch.

The first thing one should know about Geneva is that it is the most expensive city I have been to yet... OUCH... Another thing to mention is that Geneva is in the French speaking portion of Switzerland, and it was nice for me to be able to at least understand the things that were being said to me.

Day One: Was a short day, I arrived in Geneva, found the hotel, dropped the luggage, and went out for an adventure with Mikkel. It is my philosophy that to best get to know a city, you must explore it on foot...( a philosophy that doesn't allows go well for me... as you will find out.) We walked around lake Geneva, saw the large water fountain, and found and enjoyed a nice Caramel Machiatto at Starbucks!

Day Two: Mikkel would be spending all the rest of our days in Geneva in a conference, so I was off to explore it all on my own. I decided to walk around the old village of Geneva. I wasn't using a map, and the old streets a buildings were so beautiful, that I soon found that I had followed my curious feet to far and I had absolutely no clue were I was. The good thing about getting lost was that 1. I was sure I was still in Geneva,  and 2. I had seen some really cool parts of the city. I had found the opera house, a castle turned into a college, a large park that contained the "reformation wall", the house of John Calvin, and numerous statues and monuments.

Day 2 also was my birthday, and my little brother caught the train into Geneva from Grenoble France, and had dinner with Mikkel and myself. We had tasty sushi, and Chance ensured that they sang happy birthday to me.

Day Three: I decided that when one visits Geneva, they must absolutely visit the UN offices of Geneva. They are located in a complex that contains the original Palace of Nations, that was used as the head quarters for the League of Nations, that was Founded by President Wilson after WWI. Although there is a charge for the tour, I found it well worth the price. I got a great tour, by a very knowledgeable and friendly guide, and I also got the coolest visitors badge. It has the UN logo on it, it says visitor's pass, and it even has a photo of me on it ( although it is not the best photo of me...) If anyone were to ask me what one thing they should do in Geneva, I would, without hesitation, say "Visit the UN offices in Geneva."

Day Four: The last day in Geneva, and a short one because my flight left early in the evening. I took all of my luggage and dropped it off with Mikkel to keep with him while he was in his last day of his conference. I then hailed a cab and headed off to the city of Cern. Cern is about 10 min cab ride away from the airport and it is the location of the particle accelerator experiments. There are 2 big exhibits there and they are free to the public. The first exhibit I walked through was nice a peaceful, I was the only person there. Then I had to cross the street to see the other experiment. I had 5 minutes of peaceful enjoyment before a large class of 15 yr old school kids descended on the exhibit. After about 15 minutes of fighting to see everything I gave up, and decided to head back to the main building. On my walk back to the main building, it started to snow... How sad, I am (and already was at this point) several tired of snow... I made it back to the airport, got some lunch, and then caught my flight back to Amsterdam.

I was extremely glad to be back in the land of the Dutch, and close to being home. 4 days in Geneva was enough for me, I feel as if I had seen and done everything there was for a tourist to do, and I do not have plans to go back anytime soon.