Switzerland and Italy, June 2005

The plan on this trip was to meet L's best friend, in Geneva. She had already been in Europe for a week or so. The three of us would tour Switzerland, then split up, with L and I heading to Rome, and S heading to Paris. The whole concept of being able to tell a friend "OK, let's meet in Geneva at noon on July 23rd" is very cool. I recommend it.

Geneva is a beautiful city. Absolutely the cleanest place I have ever been. We were in Switzerland for five days and I never saw a single piece of paper, trash, or anything. It is a clean, efficient, well-run country. Consequently, it is expensive. Bring some money.

We flew in on Sunday morning, and the airport was deserted-we were the only people in our terminal. We took a cab (a Mercedes, which was nice) to the hotel, dropped off the bags, and went walking around the city. It was deserted-we saw maybe 10 people the first hour, but gradually people started showing up.

One of the big attractions in Geneva is the huge fountain (Jet d'eau) in Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman, as it's known there). Geneva basically wraps around the end west end of the lake, where the Rhone River leaves the lake. This thing is huge, those are five and six story buildings there on the other side of the lake.We were only in Geneva two days, so we didn't get to see that much. We stayed at the Hotel Central, which is near Old Town. The hotel was great, basically a small hotel occupying a couple of floors in a building. Look hard enough and you will see a small sign for it.
Nice place, and not that expensive (for Geneva). It was near Old Town, which is a really cool part of Geneva.
One night we got supper in what was described as the best Italian restaurant in Geneva, La Favola.It was awesome.

Geneva, City of Refuge, is also home to the Wall of the Reformation.
This is reported to be the oldest building in Geneva. I can't remember when it was built, exactly-the 16th century I think.
Geneva is also home to the famous "Flower Clock", which, frankly, was a little bit of a let-down for me. The jet d'eau was much cooler, IMHO. ( I mean, it's OK I guess, but I wouldn't fly to Geneva just too see it).

Here are a few more shots from Geneva.

My biggest regret from the whole trip is not going into this bar for a drink.
Next post, the coolest train ride ever, the Glacier Express.

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