Grand Pre Hotel Geneva

Afetr been working for a whole year, sacrificing family time and my own, the time has come to make a stop at my vacations. Every year, I look for something to make my family remember when we are on vacations.

This year, my mother-in-law wanted to ...

... politics and culture, so he doesn't push the French on me. I have really learned a lot from them, and am so thankful for all that they have given me. I made them Chicken Wild Rice soup last Friday (and I listened to a Prairie Home Companion while I was cooking... felt like home). The soup turned out alright, kind of salty... of course my mom can do it better...

My friends got a hold of an American football, so we played ...

... delicious! Accompany it will chilled white wine, dry but not too dry (in Switzerland the Fendant wine is most often served with fondue) and it’s very convivial. Conversation flows naturally.

Our conversation was fascinating and varied: the best fondue mixes, the history of Switzerland, and jokes about cantons. Appenzell in the north-east of Switzerland, for example, is home to a smaller people, so joke about them often center in their diminutive ...

At 10:00 the Air France flight took off for Geneva. By this time the sky was clear and we flew right over Paris. I would see the Arc de Triomphe, and the Dome of the Invalides very clearly. I could even pick out the street corner where one of my usual hotels is located. It was cloudy and clear in patches on the way to Switzerland. The Jura Mountains to the west of Geneva were clear, and lightly powdered with snow, as we descended. Lake Geneva (as we call it in English – the ...

... to try some regional cuisine whenever we travel, but we stumbled on a place called the Central Perk. Yes, that Central Perk…the restaurant that is always featured in Friends. It was just so weird that we had to go in. So we enjoyed some great pasta, paninis, and hamburgers in Switzerland.

We capped off the evening being productive again (yuck). The next morning, my friend Paul and I decided to get an early start and hit all of Old ...

... strange policy of dogs allowed anywhere and everywhere so that was
curious. All types acting like they owned the place – what do they do with
poops I wonder? Food was horrifically expensive as we expected so we tried to
lay low but ended up having some free vodka shots of a new Swiss brand and
bought a bottle….yes we are poor backpackers just take no notice of ...

... J'ai mangé du diner au <<Le Chatte Butte>>. J’ai angé de Bifteck et des legumes. C’était la meilleure nourriture que je jamais ai mange! Je pris alors le TGV de retour à mon Hôtel.

Aujord'hui je suis parti la ville. Je prendrai le train à mon prochain deux arrêts. Je suis triste partir cette belle ville, mais je très suis aussi excité à voir la prochaine ville dans mon voyage

... So the first day we walk along Lake Geneva (only a little bit as it is massive!) saw the giant bidet (water fountain) walked up and saw St. Pierre Cathedral and then went to our unit. Phil wasn't feeling the best so the 4 of us went on with out him (we suspect he had food poisoning). So we decided to go for a drive and we ended up down the other end of the Lake at the foothills of the alps looking at Chillion Castle after tripping around the castle we headed back towards Geneva and ...

22nd - Walked along banks of the lake & the Rhone Old Town - St Peters Cathedral Shopping Jet d'Eau 23rd - UN building - Palais des Nations tour then stayed for Conference of Human Rights - very interesting particularly the way different languages are handled