First Pit Stop

A women on the shore.
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I flew out of Geneva airport the next morning, so headed down early in order to check it out. Living in Bern, you get used to a "slow" pace of life...the Bernese are made fun of in Switzerland as they are slow. Geneva, was very different! Being the international city that it is, there were many more languages heard in passing as well as more driving technics...including the lack of brae use method of driving and the excess use of a car horn.

The train ride from Bern to Geneva was roughly 2.5 hours; regular price 2nd class ticket is roughly 80 CHF. When I arrived I wandered from the Bahnhof (train station) down towards the Lake trying to find a Migros grocery store along the way for some lunch. It took a bit to find, there was some street festival or market happening that day too. The store was much bigger than any I'd been in in Bern as well.

First view of Lake Geneva when rounding a bend on the train.
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From there I headed to the lake and along the boardwalk I decided to take a boat ride around the lake for 12 CHF. The trp went about halfway down the lake and pointed out all the important buildings along the way including the house Napoleon gave his wife, and the make of Colgate toothpastes house (Along with the UN and WTO, et cetera.)

After the boat I checked out the Isle du Rousseu which is an island in the river just off the lake. It was FILLED with all kinds of birds. Ate lunch there and then wandered further up the lake towards the Jet d'Eau, the giant geyser in the lake. Walked out the jetty to that then sat on the beach and fed the swans some of my pretzels.

Jet d'Eau.
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I met a really awesome guy from Florence named David, who was working in Geneva for a few years and had travelled to the US before. He walked me to the bus stop and got me on a bus to the airport where I arrived around 8 pm.

NEVER SPEND THE NIGHT IN GENEVA AIRPORT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!

It is the worst airport I have been in, not that I've been in many, but its a marble box. No seats without armrests and no carpet! Plus, they LOCK the doors at midnight meaning you are locked into the building until 5 am.

My flight left at 6:30 for Amsterdam after a night of no sleep.