Grand Saconnex part Cinq

Thursday afternoon, upon our arrival back at Lucette’s house, we changed quickly before heading to the mall with Lucette. We ran her errands and perused a few other stores before heading home. After relaxing for a bit and doing laundry, we were joined by Camille’s great aunt, Therese, for dinner. We ate a Swiss version of Shepard’s Pie with chocolate soufflé cake for dessert. We conversed about our travels and plans along with general conversation about life. With it growing late, Camille’s uncle came to take Therese home and we prepared for bed as we had an early morning planned the next day.

Friday morning at 9am we departed with Camille’s aunt, Christine, for Zermatt. We stopped along the way to take photos of the lake before parking in Tasch and taking the train up to Zermatt as cars are not allowed there. We strolled through the village before stopping for lunch. Corinne ate a pasta dish with chicken and mushrooms while Camille had raviolis. After finishing our refueling, we headed to the train station in order to continue our journey to our destination: the Matterhorn.

After the 20 minute train ride of gorgeous views through the mountains, we arrived at the summit. We posed for photos and took in the sights before beginning our decent. We hiked from the summit to the lower lake, all in the presence of one of Switzerland’s most famous land marks. The weather was gorgeous and all around it was a great day.

After reboarding the descending train, we returned to the village of Zermatt for hot cocoa and coffee. We perused a few stores before taking the train back down to Tasch, where the car was waiting. Finally, at around 6pm, we began our 3 hour drive home to Grand Saconnex. Along the way, we ran into the migration path of some sort of insect. With the windshield covered in bug parts, and after attempts with the wiper fluid proved futile, we were forced to stop at the next gas station for a quick clean up and bathroom break.

Finally, after a long day, we made it back to Lucette’s apartment and were greeted with a dinner of spaghetti waiting on the table. After eating, we discussed our plans for the weekend before retiring to a much needed slumber.

On Saturday morning, Christine again arrived bright and early to take us to the village of St. Cergue to experience the “Desalps,” the yearly bringing down of the cows from the mountains all around Switzerland for the winter. After a difficult journey of winding roads, we arrived just in time to catch the last herd making its way through the town streets, adorned with flowers and the large bells Swiss cows are known for having. We walked with the cows for a bit before returning to the village center to take in the festival under way.

After walking back to the car, we began our descent back to Geneva. We came across a still descending herd and as Christine followed in the car, we walked along the streets with the cows for over a mile, taking photos along the way and trying our best to avoid the fecal matter. After reaching their farm, we loaded back into the car and returned again to Lucette’s house for lunch of sausage and potato puffs.

After quick showers, Camille’s cousin, Fabien, came to visit and we exchanged stories of European travel plans and experiences. Shortly thereafter, Camille’s second Cousin, Nicole, came to pick us up for the evening. We stopped at her house and had drinks with her, her boyfriend, her mom (Odette, Lucette’s sister), and her son before heading to out dinner. Unfortunately Odette was feeling under the weather so only the three of us (us and Lucette) went into town to eat.

We dined in a nice restaurant, eating steak frites, to the unwelcome tunes of America’s latest dance music hits. Lucette informed us that this soundtrack has become quite popular even in the nicer restaurants in town. We finished our meal with crème brulee before taking Lucette to the bus so she could head home. After her departure, we spent a few minutes at a local internet café, solidifying our travel plans for the upcoming days, before heading home.

Along the way, we stopped at the United Nations building to take photos of the impressive fountain that adorn its entrance. After a good half hour of photos, we finally took the bus home and packed our things as this was our last night in Switzerland.