Coppet

Tuesday morning, we slept in before enjoying a smaller breakfast for once on our own. We enjoyed the company of the family dog, Rocky, a “crunchy” and ferocious Jack Terrier. (Initially, when we asked what kind of dog they had, Bernadette replied with “un yack” leading to much confusion. Finally, after visual clarification, we figured “yack” meant “jack.”) After a calm morning, Bernadette came home and we sat for a small lunch with her and Jean-Daniel, her husband. Afterwards, she invited us on a tour of the nearby villages. We drove from town to town, along the lake, for almost 3 hours whist listening to James Blunt on repeat (As with any CD on repeat, we soon grew tired of him.) In each town we viewed its castle, and promenaded around the small weaving streets and coastline. We visited:

Pringins

Rolle

St. Prex

Morges

After rushing back to Coppet at the end of our tour, Bernadette had to join Jean-Daniel at his butcher shop and alas, we had the afternoon to ourselves. After stopping at the shop, we made the walk home after only slight confusion on directions. We succeeded and rewarded ourselves with a nap. Later in the evening, we were joined by one of Bernadette’s daughters and her boyfriend for crepes. Eventually we retired our room for another good night’s rest.

Wednesday morning, we woke up early as we were off to spend the day on the lake. Bernadette dropped us off at the Nyon dock and provided us with day passes. We boarded the first boat to Ivoire, a small coastal town on the other side of the lake, in France. Once there, we enjoyed ourselves by touring the small village, taking plenty of photos and finishing with a small gift to ourselves.

We boarded the next boat to Thonon, another coastal town also in France. In Thonon, we sat for lunch at “La Cammanderie: Yachting Bar Restaurant.” There we had our first run in with the French. We ordered hamburgers, receiving a slight scoff from the waitress. Paying no mind, we looked forward to their arrival. However, upon inspection, Corinne’s burger was slightly closer to steak tartar than the well-done burgers we are used to. Not wanting to cause a problem, she persevered and we finished our meals. Afterwards, Corinne asked for the check to which the waitress responded by bringing us dessert menus. Again, not wanting to cause a problem, we ordered ice-cream to share. And yet again, we were disappointed: the French ice-cream lacks in comparison to the Suisse glace we had grown accustomed to. Finally, after yet another blunder in our attempt to pay, we left the restaurant and headed back for the dock. Once there, we passed the time taking photos of the Fisherman’s Village. Upon the arrival of the boat, we boarded for our final 2 hour leg of the journey, back to Coppet.

Once back in Coppet, we walked home and again took a nap before preparing for dinner out with Bernadette, Jean-Daniel and friends. We ate Malakoff, a traditional Swiss meal of fried blocks of gruyere. Afterwards, we shared a flan before returning home for our last night in Coppet. Thursday morning, we slept in before heading back to Grand Saconnex.