Geneva

Yesterday, we took a train from Interlaken through Bern to Geneva. After dropping our bags at the hostel, we headed out and found a nice sandwich place for lunch where we got bagels with cream cheese and lox. 

We booked a 24 hour city pass, so we stopped  by the tourist office to pick up the brochure and ask a few questions. Our first attraction was a little train tour of the old town which started next to the river at the end of lake Geneva. The train crossed the bridge into old town and totally surprised us when it went off the road and onto the sidewalk. From there, the train headed through the park before of heading back into old town and then back over the bridge. 

When the train was over, we walked around by the river for awhile and spent some time on a small island that had a cool glass art piece that was created by smashing a glass plate. After the island, we walked a little farther and got onto a boat for a tour from the lake before we went back to check into the hostel and change for our next stop. 

Our pass included entrance to a private beach and pool which we agreed would be a really fun and relaxing way to spend the afternoon and to cool off from the heat. The beach ended up being covered in rocks which was painful to walk across, so we didn’t spend a lot of time on the beach. Instead, we spent more time in the pool enjoying the cool water and the break from the heat. When we started getting hungry, we got out, dried off,  changed, and headed to get dinner. We ended up at the same sandwich place because we were already hungry and knew it was good. 

We got to bed easily with minimal disruptions, but unfortunately the morning was a little less smooth. Something we’ve yet to understand is why people think it’s okay to blare obnoxiously loud alarms in dorm rooms at 5:30am, but we made it back to sleep after it was turned off. 

In the morning, we set off to find a grocery store to get breakfast. The three closest stores we walked to were all closed, so we ended up back at the hotel and paid for their breakfast buffet. They have a really cool pancake maker that drops the batter onto a track that cooks it as it moves down the belt. 

After breakfast, we headed over to the UN buildings and the Ariana museum. Unfortunately, the UN buildings are closed on the weekend (and don’t offer tours for groups less than 15 people during the week), so we couldn’t get in (or even getting into the grounds), but it was fun to see from the outside and we had fun with the fountains. 

The Ariana museum of glass and ceramics was really cool to see. We couldn’t take pictures but they have a really cool exhibit of different ceramic pieces that are displayed with a mirror behind them and a one way glass in front so the mirrors reflected off of each other, but you could still look in from behind one of the mirrors. 

We spent a little time wandering through the bit of the garden we could access before hopping on a bus back toward the water. We got off at Jardin des Anglais which had beautiful hedges including a clock and a bumblebee. We also took a ride on the Ferris wheel which had a great view over the city and the lake. 

Again, when we went to find lunch, the fact that it was Sunday proved to be difficult. We ended up at the only open restaurant we could find where we shared pasta and a salad before heading back to the hostel to get our bags and get to the train. We are currently in Zurich where we cooked dinner and relaxed for the evening (and are about to go to sleep).