BonJOUR Geneve!

The Alps



Bonjour family and friends!!!! So my reputation has preceded me not to sound too smug and obnoxious but I am now being scolded if I wait longer than a week to update my blog, they like me they really like me. So as most of you know who stalk my facebook, correspond with me through email, or have ever gotten your teeth cleaned by my mother, I recently went to the land of Swiss Army knives, Toblerone, and the Alps. That´s right I went to Portugal. Only kidding, I had the privilege of going with other hard core backpackers like myself Rachael, Alicia, and Christa Lee to Geneve, Switzerland (fact: the details are not for your benefit but for my memory or lack there of). My first flight on a discount air Easy Jet went less than smoothly thanks to my genetically inherited paranoia. I spent the better part of the flight cutting off the circulation in Christa Lee´s hand and probing her with questions like ¨do you think the flight was so cheap because its the pilot´s first time flying?!¨ There wasn´t even turbulance.
Yes my inner nature girl was truely let loose with morning trips to the coffee machine conveniently located on the first floor of my hostel and using the above ground metro system any time the idea of walking was brought up. In my head the word hostel evokes images of PE locker room changing areas and Dodger Stadium bathrooms. I was prepared to sleep cuddling my purse like a safety blanket. If my stereotypical notion of a hostel is indeed accurate then City Hostel Geneva is the Ritz Carlton of the cheap accomodations world. They had flatscreens playing MTV, they had an internet cafe, they had private rooms, they even had heat (something my residence in Madrid cannot boast more times than not)! Granted we were the only guests checked in under the age of 80 making it somewhat of a geriatrics hot spot but my dismay was quickly quieted by the discovery of Switzerland´s greatest creation: museli. It looks like granola but the resemblance ends there, the taste is far superior. The hazelnut flavor was quite literally my life support sustaining me after it was made apparent that something as lower tier and repulsive as a McDonald´s burger costs as much as 12 franks (roughly 12 US dollars).

Spending four days there our trip was virtually a what NOT to do guide of Switzerland. I could make a living being the antithesis of Rick Steves. Somewhere between booking our flight and scanning tourist websites we failed to read that if you come to Switzerland before March or April bring a good read because nothing will be open. April is when tourist season ( thats not just an expression) begins so don´t expect to see the Jet dau fountain, take a tour of the United Nations, take a gondola up the Alps, or go wine tasting. We should know, we tried every one of these without success. But when youre in Switzerland its hard to complain and there is no such thing as an off season for shopping, eating, and frequenting parks. Not even the unfamiliar falling snowflakes could stop us from spending the day about the quiet town. Against our will we were forced to leave on Valentine´s Day, a holiday I discovered was universal when I was flooded with flowers on the street and an offering of two heart shaped chocolates was made to me by the coffee barista at the airport. The simulated hospitality was all very romantic. All in all the food was good but don´t expect to have money to go on living after youre through, the french incomprehensible and most likely tied to the holier than thou attitude of some locals, and the mountains too beautiful to explain without pictures. Until next time I miss and love you all!!!!!

un besito

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