Grand Saconnex part Quatre

On Sunday morning, we rose for a smaller breakfast for once as we had plans for a large lunch. At 11am, Camille’s uncle and his wife picked us and Lucette up and we drove the hour drive to “La Barillette,” a fondue restaurant situated on the top of a mountain range directly across from the Alps. Although it was cloudy, we were able to make out Lake Geneva and some of the mountains in the distance. The drive was a winding road through beautiful forestry before opening up at the summit to a pleasant meadow.

At La Barillette, we shared a plate of sliced meats and wines before digging into the main dish, cheese fondue. This being Corinne’s first fondue, the family was curious to see her response. Thumbs up (obviously). We ate until with were full, and then of course, we ate some more. Dessert was had (Tiramisu for Camille and a Café icecream sundae for Corinne) and the sights were taken in before heading back down the mountain.

Once below, Pierre-Alain (Camille’s uncle) engaged us in a tour of the area. We stopped in the small lake front ville of Nyon, starting at the Chateau (castle- each small town has one) and descending down to the lake front, weaving through a flea market of assorted antiques and souvenirs. At the end, we walked back up towards the chateau and stopped for a cool beverage on the terrace.

From Nyon, we headed back to Geneva. On the way, though, we passed through the small village of Collex-Bossey, the place of origin of Camille’s family. We viewed the old farm (since renovated) where Camille’s great-grandparents once lived.

From Collex-Bossy we drove to the childhood home of Camille’s mother and family. We walked through the grounds and Pierre-Alain told us stories of his sneaking girls in through his bedroom window and climbing the huge tree in the back yard.

From there, we made one more stop at the airport shopping center to see the Swatches before hurrying back to Lucette’s house as an important bicycle race was ending. We chatted in the dining room while Pierre-Alain watched the race intently in the living room. After it ended, they headed out and we settled in for dinner.

Lucette reheated some Potato Gratin (even more delicious after soaking in all the cream) and prepared some baked/fried apple bits. We ate until we could eat no more, and then settled in for some tele before heading to bed.

Monday morning, we slept in again until 10:30 before lazily beginning our morning routine of breakfast, showers and preparation. We took the bus to the hospital as Camille had a meeting with the doctor she was originally going to do research with. He proved to be an incredibly nice guy and will be a much appreciated resource for future connections. Corinne came along and sat in the park people watching and playing games on her iphone in the sunshine. Upon reuniting, we took the bus back into downtown Geneva as Corinne needed to return something at H&M and Camille needed to stop at Swatch to see if they could prepare her watch (they could not). We walked from the main street to the river front and sat in the park utilizing the free internet until it was time to return home.

Once home, obviously Lucette had prepared us a meal so we sat to eat the array of treats she set out: a plate of cheeses and meats, a large salad (complete with carrots cut into the shapes of tiny rabbits and flowers), and some potatoes. We finished and cleaned up before packing our things for our next adventure.

Just after 5:30, Bernadette came to pick us up for our 3 night stay at her place in the small town of Coppet. She toured us around the town and we passed by her husband’s butcher shop before heading home to prepare dinner. We weren’t especially hungry but the aroma of the beef stew and mashed potatoes was too hard to resist.

After dinner, Camille taught Corinne how to play chess. After a win for Camille and a stale mate, we made skype calls home before retiring to our bedroom. There, we stayed up for hours taking advantage of the internet to plan our journeys in the upcoming month. Finally, growing tired at around 3:30am, we packed up and fell asleep.

Grand Saconnex part Trois

Friday morning, we had the usual breakfast before heading into town with Lucette. She took us on a tour of the “Vielle Ville” (Old Town) in Geneva. We admired the old architecture and the ancient Cathedral. From the Vielle Ville, we walked to a neighboring park and Lucette told us the story of Geneva gaining its independence by pouring soup over the wall to scald the incoming troops. We gathered chestnuts for our own attempt at roasting the delicious treat. We watching some old men play chess and took photos of the monuments before heading back to catch the bus.

We went a few stops before stopping for lunch at “the oldest” pizza restaurant in Geneva (est. 1955). Lucette, as with most meals, ordered us all a glass of wine. In error, she ordered another round and after our delicious meal of pizza, salad, a plate of salami, and icecream she was quite toasted. She held Corinne’s arm as we made our way to the grocery store. At the market, Lucette purchased foods for dinner as well as a menagerie of other random goods. We walked to the bus station and made our way home as we were late for our next engagement.

Once home, we left Lucette to rest and departed for the home of a family friend who were holding our train tickets. Upon arrival, as per-usual, we were offered homemade apple pie, cookies, chocolates and iced-tea. We conversed in their beautiful garden about our plans, their recent trip to America and life in general. Soon the sun began to set so we bid our adieus and headed onward.

We stopped on the way back at Camille’s uncle’s house (well, in front of it) to steal their wi-fi internet. There, we had some brief skype conversations with family at home and attempted to plan our trip to Munich for the following day. However, after examining the train schedule, it became evident that a 6 hour train ride (each way) would not be worth the 3 hours we would get to spend at Oktoberfest. Alas, we sadly had to scrap our plans for our day trip. We will still be visiting Munich but it will be after the festivities of Oktoberfest have ceased.

Noticing that it was getting late, we hurried back to Lucette’s house as we knew she would be worried. Upon arrival, we received “spankings” for our tardiness and she commenced cooking our dinner. We ate kebabs of scallops and salmon, along with potatoes, salad, bread and an assortment of cheese samples that Lucette had acquired over time. For once, we weren’t forced to eat dessert which we did not mention as the break from food was a welcome one. Lucette headed to bed shortly after and we were left to watch television. We found an interesting show on the BBC network (in English) before turning in ourselves.

Saturday, having scrapped our plans for Munich, we slept in until 10:30, a new record. We had breakfast before walking with Lucette to the grocery store and back. Upon arriving home, we attempted to roast the chestnuts we had gathered on Friday. However, this attempt failed. Luckily, Lucette had purchased some edible chestnuts so we were able to enjoy some after all.

We passed the day lazily by watching TV until Camille’s cousin and his girlfriend came over for a visit. We conversed about places to go out to this evening for a drink. Eventually they left and we began the preparations for dinner.

While cutting the potatoes and cheese, we snacked on salami and a Swiss version of Prosciutto. After the meal was in the oven, we settled down to watch some TV with Lucette. After a bit, dinner was ready. We ate Camille’s grandma’s famous potato gratin along with sausage (the house still reeks of sausage), salad and wine of course. Thankfully, again, a simple no thank you to ice-cream sufficed and we went dessert free.

We took turns showering after a bit and preparing for our night out in Geneva. After deciding on outfits and hairstyles, we gathered up some wine for our bus ride into town. Upon arrival (and finishing our drink) we realized it was too early to go to the bar just yet (it was an early 10pm- late for us). We set out in search of internet.

Turning a corner in search of a public park as they have free Wi-Fi, we were joined by two young men who begged to make our acquaintance. They asked us the usual questions of where we were from and how old we were, mentioning that they were from the Ivory Coast. After exchanged glances, we understood, between the two of us, that we were not interested in these fellows. However, they indicated that they knew where internet was. Intrigued, we let them lead us to a nearby public internet café. (Note to parents: there were people around and we, of course, would not follow a stranger to anyplace of any danger). Once at the internet café, we turned our attention to Facebook and online conversation, only answering a brief question here and there. Growing bored (thankfully) the fellows left us with the promise to return (not so thankfully). To our dismay, they did. As we had not yet finished our internetting, we told them we needed more time. Again they left, but this time we planned our escape.

We turned to each other and exchanged one of our favorite phrases: “Run away!” We packed up our things and made our way out of the café. We peered around the corner and once we saw the coast was clear, we hastily made our way back towards the train station. We found the neighboring bar that we had intended to visit and entered for a much needed drink. While walking through, we were welcomed with many “Bon Soir!”s and winks from some friendly looking young men. However, having just escaped some over the top fellows, we did not return their advances. We found a table and ordered a round of beer.

We drank and conversed while taking in the sights of an English bachelor party in the next room. After being ignored by the waitress for a while, we were growing impatient. However, just then, a new young fellow approached us. He used Camille as a translator to converse with Corinne, as he found her quite cute. He asked for her phone number to which we questioned how he would talk to her due to the language barrier. After some awkward translation through Camille, he politely expressed his hope for a rendezvous with Corinne and then left us to our drinks.

Having had an eventful night, we finished our beers and looked to the waitress for the bill. However, she was nowhere to be found. Eventually she came around only to spill some beer on Corinne and disappear yet again. Finally, we called it a night and headed home. We ran to the bus station, quickly bought our passes home and caught the bus just in time.

Once home, we quietly prepared for bed and reminisced about our adventurous night.

Grand Saconnex part Deux

Wednesday morning, after another delightful breakfast, we went to the bank to take care of some things before stopping by the pharmacy again, this time for Corinne’s allergies. Apparently Corinne is allergic to Switzerland. After a brief repose at the house, we headed out with Lucette to Camille’s other uncle’s house for “thai” food, stopping on the way at the grocery store (stop 1 of the day) to purchase ice cream for dessert. We had a good meal with Camille’s uncle, his son, his “lover” and her two daughters who speak English, so Corinne had someone to talk to.

On the way back from lunch we stopped at the grocery again to buy supplies for dinner. We returned home and Lucette prepared a meal of Filet Mignon with Morale mushrooms, green beans, pasta and salad. We were sent back to the grocery store (the third trip of the day) as we had forgotten to buy bread. Camille’s girl cousins and a friend came over for dinner and we conversed in a mixture of French and English about things to do in Switzerland. After much conversation and gossip, the girls headed out and we headed to bed.

This morning (Thursday) we slept until 9:30 (the latest so far on our trip!). We had the usual breakfast of tartines and hot cocoa before heading out on our own to explore Geneva. We did a little shopping before having a promenade along Lake Geneva, admiring the boats and monuments. We stopped for a sandwich on the bank before continuing on to a delightful park. Growing tired, we found the bus, grabbed some hot roasted chesnuts at the bus station, and made our way home.

Corinne fell asleep shortly thereafter while watching TV. Lucette prepared leftovers while Camille and Bernadette (a family friend) conversed about our plans. Bernadette stayed for dinner and then took us on a night tour of the area in her car. We stopped at the pre-school she works at and then continued on to downtown Geneva where we observed many things that had gone unnoticed in the daylight. After a two hour drive, our fatigue was evident. She drove us home and now, at 10:30pm we are again heading to another early night’s sleep.

Grand Saconnex

On Monday afternoon, we arrived in Geneva, Switzerland. We were met at the airport by Camille’s uncle, grandmother (Lucette) and great-aunt. After kisses hello, we drove to Lucette’s apartment in the town of Grand Saconnex, and had some fresh homemade apple pie. We conversed about our plans in French while Corinne sat and watched. After a while, we went for a short walk around the neighborhood before returning home to help prepare for dinner. Camille’s other uncle, his lover (as introduced) and cousin came over for Croute au Fromage (the Swiss version of a grilled cheese- kind of). After ice cream and some amusing “Friends” in French, we headed to bed.

Today, Tuesday, we woke up early and had a bountiful breakfast of tartines (break with butter and jam) and hot chocolate. Afterwards we ran errands with Lucette. We stopped by the farmer’s market, the pharmacy for some cream for Camille’s bug bites, and the bank before returning home for a lunch of chicken with mushrooms, grilled potatoes, carrots and salad. We rested for a bit before heading out again, this time to downtown Geneva with Lucette.

We stopped to buy some bus passes and continued on to the shopping district where we purchased (what we think is) skirt steak while Lucette went to buy her coffee. After a miscommunication, we spent a good half hour roaming around in search of Lucette. Finally, we found each other and celebrated with ice-cream. Afterwards, we walked along Lake Geneva and viewed the famous Jet d’Eau and flower clock before heading home.

After purchasing a few more ingredients at the store, we made Lucette dinner (“skirt” steak and tomato, mozzarella salad) and some delicious bread pudding for dessert. Camille’s cousin came over for a haircut and afterwards we settled into bed for another early night’s sleep (we are tired!).

Doolin

After taking the ferry across the Shannon River (which does NOT have a glass bottom; many were duped by Murf’s constant sarcasm) we drove to the famous Cliffs of Moher. The breathtaking landscape was set off by the gorgeous weather and the setting sun (made possible by our missing the original ferry). We took many photos of the last of Irelands 3 most famous tourist destinations (Guinness, Blarney Castle and the Cliffs of Moher). After some time at the cliffs, we drove to the small town of Doolin for the night. We had a dinner of Irish stew and Lamb shank before enjoying some traditional Irish music in the pub. After a while, we grew tired and returned to the hostel for a good night’s rest, or so we thought. Camille was awoken by bed bugs and was forced to switch bunks (she has the bites to prove it). After the move, sleep was much easier.

The following morning, we loaded up the bus yet again for our last day. Our first stop was a Fairy Ring. Murf told us on the way of the different types of fairies. All of which, besides Leprechauns, appear to be explanations for hangovers and things you do when you’re black out drunk. At the fairy ring, we had to follow 4 rules: walk around the ring in a clockwise direction, you may not enter the fair ring, no swearing, and at the end, you must thank the fairies in Irish. If you break a rule, the fairies will curse you (apparently there have been bus break downs in the past.) We successfully navigated the ring, made our wishes and left the rest up to fairies.

The next stop was in the Burren terrain of the coast. The rocky ground resembled lava flows as we carefully made our way out to an ancient burial site. Murf told us tales of the burial grounds and a more uplifting version explaining the rock formation above the grave (it’s an ancient bed that a famous couple shared for their wedding night).

Another stop was made at a church ruin surrounded by a graveyard full of Celtic crosses. Some of the oldest and most detailed Celtic designs can be found here in the museum next to the site. With extra time on our hands, we ventured out to the pasture to take photos of the cows and leafetry.

After another short drive, we stopped at the Kilbeggan Whiskey Distillery. Although they no longer brew whiskey for distribution at this particular site, we were able to view the process and “enjoy” some samples.

Eventually the bus was loaded up one last time and we made our final journey back to Dublin. We walked back to our hostel and made calls home before heading out into the mayhem (the national Irish Soccer game had just ended with Kerry beating Cork) for dinner. We had Irish pear cider and our final meal in Ireland at the Bleeding Horse. Corinne had roast beef with mashed potatoes and some sort of vegetable while Camille had the Bleeding Horse Grill which consisted of bacon, one fried egg, a grilled tomato, sausages, a lamb chop and some Irish Pudding. We headed back to the hostel to pack up for our flights the next day and said goodnight and goodbye to Ireland.

Observations Abroad

1. 1. 1. Irish houses have no shrubbery. They are on a concrete slab that extends about 3 feet in every direction and that is it. However, the Irish do enjoy a good lawn ornament. Ceramic animals were placed around in abundance.

2. 22. Sequins are considered fashionable in Ireland. Even in the form of a full sequin dress in a small town pub on the western coast. We estimate that about 1 out of 4 girls going out for a drink were adorned in sequins and this is totally acceptable.

3. 33. Street signs are rare. If present, they are precariously placed on the sides of the building and incredibly difficult to find and read.

4. 44. Guinness in an appropriate beverage at anytime, anywhere, and in any amount.

5. 55. Sheep.

6. 66. Europeans do not like Americans.

Killarney

Yesterday (Friday) we left for our 3 day tour of Southern Ireland. When we arrived at the meeting point at an early 8:15am we were greeted by a chipper young bloke named Murf who would serve as our tour guide. This being his last tour, he decided to gift us all with free “Shamrocker Tour” t-shirts (free souvenir!). We departed Dublin and our first stop was Cashel where we took photos of the “Castle on the Rock.” Apparently this castle was the site of a mass murder: the citizens of the town, trying to save themselves, locked themselves within the church only to be baked alive by the intruder. (This theme of violence will continue we soon found out.)

Next we stopped at the Michelstown Caves, which are not in Michelstown or even the same county. However, despite the name flub, the caves were quite impressive. We went down a half mile’s worth of steps and trails until the cave eventually opened into a huge cavern. The stalagmites and stalactites were of great interest but the curtain formations were the most intriguing. Unfortunately photos were not allowed, although Camille tried to sneak a few.

Blarney Castle was our next stop. This tourist attraction definitely lives up to its reputation. Both of us made the climb to the top of the castle and kissed the Blarney Stone for the gift of gab. The task forces you to lie on your back and hang over the edge of the castle wall and kiss the stone above you. The Castle itself was an awesome adventure to explore, with numerous tunnels and paths, some of which were too scary to enter. Camille took a tumble down the steps, leaving her with a skinned elbow, literally seconds after warning Corinne of the slippery stairs (she’s fine). We toured the gardens and passed the beautiful Blarney House before heading into the shops to admire the Ireland Wool.

After a drive (all the driving was through gorgeous countryside) we ended up in the town of Killarney. After dinner in a local pub (fish n chips and a burger and fries) we retired for a must needed nap. After rising and showering, we met up with the rest of our tour group at a pub and Murf led us to the “Dishco” but not before a lesson on sizing up the Killarney farm boys (tractor color is of great importance). A great cover band played in the front room and a raging DJ blazed the back room, complete with strobe lights, lasers and a thumping beat (we went back to the front room). The local boys were drunk and jumping around with vigor but we were too tired to join in the mayhem. Despite the sex ratio of 4:1 in our favor, we finished our beers and journeyed back the hostel and slept in our room with ten others from the tour.

Day two came in with another early rise as we left Killarney for the small town of Dingle. At first the weather was looking dim but as we came around a bend the sky opened up and the sunlight filled the valley. A great day weather wise. After making a pit stop, we made the “sleigh drive” down the Dingle Peninsula. The picturesque location was breathtaking. We stopped for a photo op of the coast line and viewed the bee huts which were formerly monk dwellings. From there, we ventured down to the beach where we were reminded of home by the high cliffs and sandy shores. We spent some time playing catch on the beach and taking photos of all the nature, a truly impressive spot. From the beach, we made the quick drive to the most western point of Ireland. We hiked out to the cliff and Murf entertained us with a folk tale (one of many) about the sleeping giant (an island off the coast shaped like a giant) who was sleeping off his hangover from the three year party celebrating his saving Ireland.

Lunch took place in Dingle where we snacked on sandwiches and locally made wheat bread ice-cream. After packing up the bus, we drove to the Shannon River to take the ferry across. However, due to an unexpected bathroom break, we were late and missed our ferry. And that is where we are writing from, awaiting the next Shannon Ferry.

Dublin

Corinne and I made it safely to Dublin yesterday morning after a long day of flying. We had a layover in Philly (the delay from Obama being at the airport caused us to have to run to the next plane) and then another in Birmingham, UK. At the airport, we were the first people to the gate (even before the crew) in a near empty terminal with ten minutes until departure time so we were a little scared the flight didnt even exist. Low and behold as the crowd and crew come waltzing in and we were led down to the tarmac and up the rickety stairs onto our one hour flight over to Dublin, Ireland.
We took the bus into town and after some confusion (street signs are rare here), we made it to our hostel. Our room was being cleaned so we left our bags and went to wander the streets of Temple Bar. After a while, our jet lag overpowered any excitement we had as we returned back to the hostel for a rest. A late dinner of traditional Irish food was interesting. I don't think Ireland is especially known for its meals, or at least I hope not.
Today we woke up early and had a complimentary breakfast before heading out to town again. We wandered up to Trinity College campus, taking lots of photos along the way. From there we went to a few churches (both big and small) and got a history lesson on a free tour where we got to touch "the lucky stone" for good health. Finally, we ended our afternoon at the Guinness Storehouse (factory) with a tour of the entire stout making process complete with a pint of the foamy beer at the top of the panoramic building. Aside from the fabulous views, both Corinne and I were pooped. We made our way home, picked up some cheap sandwiches and laid down for a rest.
Tomorrow we leave on our 3 day tour of Southern Ireland. We'll be staying in Killarny and Doolin with stops along the way at the Cliffs of Moher, Blarney castle and others too. You can see the tour info here.
That's all for now- Cheers!