Hotel Arc En Ciel Annemasse

... out volunteer opportunities.
Last weekend I spent Saturday in bed watching movies and relaxing after a week of intense homesickness and stress. It was exactly what I needed. On Sunday I did work and went for a long walk, picnic, and did some reading in the park. It was a lovely afternoon. During my week of homesickness, I also developed a lot of independence and confidence. I spent much of my free time seeking out interviews alone, and thus ...

... it appears that the back-up battery that we fully charged in Paris is dead. So, both batteries are dead.

At 11:30 or so, we hit traffic that was at a complete stand still. Traffic was backed up for 30 minutes just because of a stalled semi in the middle lane of a 3 lane highway. By this time there was a light rain to go along with the 7 C temperature. I was sleepy, so I went to sleep.

We stopped at 2 ...

... enough of it to go around. You would think one of the chocolatiers would use that opportunity to market their brand. Oh well.

Another way in which Switzerland varies from the US is that they let their dogs go virtually EVERYWHERE. I've seen them in hotels, restaurants, bars, buses and trains. I haven't seen any hotdogs however, but they are fond of sausages like their German neighbors.

... in the egg cup, big end down. Then you take the elf-spoon and gently tap on the top of the egg, just barely breaking the shell. Then, ever-so-gently, you peel off the top 1/3 of the shell. Once the top part of the shell is removed, you can take the spoon and begin to eat the egg, by continuing to dig it out of the shell.

It's not a process to be rushed, particularly by those in the early a.m. who are barely conscious to begin with ...

When we had first organised our trip, we had looked at getting a Swiss Pass along with our Eurail Pass but had been told it wasn't worth us getting. After working out what we wanted to do and talking to the information people at the train station, we decided to get a 4 day Swiss Pass- with this, we got a free family card which allowed the kids to basically travel free. This made it totally worthwhile for us.

We decided to travel to Montreux by train which was a ...

We were leaving for Lausanne Switzerland, so I did a quick walk down to the foodie street to take some photos and then we left on the Metro for the train station. We caught a fast train and had an uneventful trip to Lausanne. It was late afternoon when we walked to our hostel- yes, the first backpackers that we were staying at and it was very close to ...

... les elections federales.. la suisse a tellement de problemes insurmontable a resoudre.. je vous permettrais d emettre la moindre plainte a moins d etre tres malade, d avoir de vrais problemes, handicape et-ou sans abris... pas comme j entend dans le bus ou dans la rue.. un exemple.. aeroport de londres.. l avion a 15 minutes de retard.. les gens gueulent.. se plaignent.. vont embeter l hotesse qui n y peut rien.. 15 minutes... a la fin on a rattrappe presque ...

... quote of the night (besides the one I forgot), which needs to be said in the most french-accent you can imagine is, - When you meet french people and zey do not complain about anything, zey are not really french. Truly :) Soisant quatorze. Anyone... is that how you'd spell it (in french french? as opposed to swiss french, which might be septant quatre. but might not be... spelling french sucks.)?

Geneva is a beautiful city with cobble stone streets and old homes, really old churches and statues. I loved it here even though i was here only for a short time. i will go back one day.
oh yeh and I was so nicely surprised that there are so many classy looking chicks in France and Switzerland!!! get there.

... sure how much internet access we will have over the next few weeks, but please, please keep writing me. I know that I will be home so soon now, but I still need the contact, and I would be so grateful and happy if you would just keep including me in your lives for a few more weeks, updating me and letting me know how you are all doing. I will update you all again the next time I have a chance. Once again, thank you for listening!