A Long Weekend in Switzerland with a Day Trip to France:)

I got back last night from a long weekend in Switzerland. I was visiting a woman named Wim and a good friend from high school, Katelyn Fariss. My roommate from Tech, Katie Bisazza, her mama works for the same company as Wim. While on my road trip in January I met Wim because she was in the states (NJ) while I was visiting Katie in NJ. We all went out to dinner (girls night out!) and Wim found out I would be in Europe this summer. She got my contact info and was totally genuine when she said she wanted me to come visit her if I would like. I'm me, so I said I hope you're not joking cause I'm not joking when I say I will 100% come stay with you in Switzerland if the invitation is open. Thank goodness she wasn't because I made the trek! So I had four days and four nights. I spent two days with Katelyn, who is working at CERN for the summer (a European research institution that operates the world's largest particle physics laboratory), and the other time with Wim and her husband Rav and their son Gijs.

Wim picked me up from the Geneva airport Thursday night and we drove back to her house. Wim's family lives in an old farm house in Duillier (a small village in Switzerland). She is from Holland originally and her husband Rav is Indian, but was born in Kenya, lived there until he was 12, and then moved to London with his family. With their precious mixed son, Gijs (who is 7 and became my BFF), they are a beautiful and culturally rich family to say the least. We got in around 10:45 or so and I had not really had dinner and Wim had saved me a plate of left overs. We went for a night-time walk to look for fireflies (per Gijs' request) and then hit the hay. 

Friday morning, Wim had to work from home, but her cousin from Holland was also visiting and so Martine (Wim's cousin), Gijs, Daniel (Martine's son), and I took a nice walk in the morning after a big breakfast and coffee. These pics are from our morning walk.

Wim's "farmhouse"

Me, Gijs in the green, Daniel in the black, and Matsue the pup

Look what we found! A sunflower field

So many bees!

Friday afternoon I took the train to Geneva to meet Katelyn. Wim dropped me off at the Nyon station a bit late and I missed the train Katelyn and I had discussed me taking for our meet up plans. So I was late:/ She waited patiently though and we had an epic moment where I saw her looking for me so I yelled, "KATELYN!" And got to hurry over and give that sweet girl a huge hug. So great to be re-united. Friday afternoon, Katelyn showed me all around Geneva. We saw the lake, the fountain (which apparently Geneva is very proud of, so be impressed),  the Cathedral which we climbed to the top of and got to see a great view of the city, and we finished by walking to the Jonction where two rivers combine and the visual effect is amazing. After our touristy day around Geneva we took the tram back to CERN where Katelyn lives and fixed a yummy dinner of baguette, salmon, potatoes, broccoli, and white wine. We went to bed fairly early because we had a long day ahead of us.

The fountain of Geneva

We made it to the top of St. Peter's Cathedral

Check out that view. 

The Jonction

 Saturday was our day trip to Annecy, France. We did a ride-share type deal, which was great because it was easy pick up and drop off and cheap BUT it meant we had to wake up at 6am and did not get back to CERN until 11pm. Long day, but I was with my girl Kae so it was all good. We arrived in Annecy, before it even woke up haha (8:30am) so we got some morning pics of the lake, got a chocolate croissant, coffee, and split a nutella waffle. Moderation?? NAHHHHH. We then walked around this antique market which apparently only happens one Saturday every month so we picked a good weekend to visit Annecy. We went to the main Cathedral, walked to the castle (Chateau d'Annecy), came back down and visited the old prison (Palais de I'lsle), and then headed to the Lake to eat our picnic lunch. After we relaxed a bit and re-fueled we headed to the mall and walked around for a bit looking at all the sales. When we came out there was a demonstration about the Gaza Strip/ Israel conflict. Katelyn stood and watched from a far, but I of course got right up in there to take some pictures and witness the event which I found extremely fascinating. After that riveting Annecy drama we headed to view some more Cathedrals, then ended up back near the lake and just had some great girl talk. Once we got hungry we headed to dinner at this traditional restaurant that our carpool dude recommended we go to. I had quite the incident in the bathroom.. I slipped on the freshly mopped floor (there was no sign in my defense!), and then when standing up after using the potty I slammed my head into the concrete ceiling (because I'm a giant and of course it was the tiniest, most oddly shaped bathroom). Anyways, dinner was amazing. We split a cheese fondue and a fish and fries meal. Oh and got some nice white wine of course:)

Good Morning beautiful lake!

Noms on noms on noms

The view from the bridge right where we ate breakfast

View from the Castle

Democracy, eh

Look what God painted in the sky for us:)

Good night Annecy:)

So Saturday we were on our feet from 6am till 11pm, so clearly we weren't active enough... so we decided that Sunday should be a hiking day. Seems only logical. Mt. Saleve is a huge mountain as well as crazy steep. With our two previous days of walking in mind and with Katelyn's knee (she is still recovering from a torn ACL injury), we decided that a cable care was the way to go. This seemed to be the popular thing to do anyways. So we took a tram, a bus, and a cable car and finally made it to the top. Once at the top, there is still a bunch of hiking to do. So we hiked all around it, through forest, meadows, and more. The views were amazing: on one side the Swiss Alps and other other side the Jura. 

View from the Cable Car

Love da cows

 Sunday evening I headed back to Wim's house and had dinner there. After dinner Rav and I had an epic religious discussion. His family is Indian and practices Sikhism. Last semester I took a class called Asian religions and so I had a very small base knowledge of the religion. He was super open and explained the religion to me, his scale of practice, his families background with the religion, etc. He was super patient as I asked him various questions and explained my religious background. It was one of those conversations that stems from another one (I had asked him to tell me Wim and his dating/marriage story), and then before you know it a few hours has gone by. Anyways, that was one of my highlights of the weekend for sure. After that we all drove to the train station to pick up some Aussie boys backpacking around Europe that Rav knew and had offered to let stay at their house. The boys loved my accent which was hilarious to me. It was fun to hear their stories as well, they are quite the adventurers. Later that night we all went outside to the street to watch a local fireworks show.

Monday Wim had to do some work from home again so I did my own thing. I took a long run, she gave me a route. It was hard to explain and I didn't write it down or anything... so the moral of that story is that I was doing soooo well.. I went straight through the round about, I kept going straight, I took a right at the farm house with the private airport on my left, I kept running, took a right on the next main street, did the left loop she spoke of.. then ended up in a field. Hmmm, I mean like a gravel road... but sunflowers on my right and corn or wheat or something on my left. I found out later that I was right in doing that!! BUT I started freaking out, thinking I had made a wrong turn so I turned around. Then I had a really hard time figuring out the best option for getting back since well I don't know the area at all. OHHHH and there was big storm rolling over the mountains, approaching me fast. Awesome. I tried to stay calm and just started running back to the train track because I knew I could retrace my steps from there. BUT then I saw this lady on a farm hopping in her van... so I ran over to her and asked if she spoke English... she said not really. I tried anyways. I tried to explain that this is the address I am trying to get to and I pointed to where I thought it was. She said she thought I was right... then she said she was short on time but would give me a ride. I'm all about vibes, as many of you know and I am a skeptic of things/people in general BUT I was getting good vibes and figured I could roll out of van if worst case scenario and she tried to kidnap me. Plus it was ride with her or stay lost and get caught in a valley thunderstorm. Anyways, I jumped in her hippie van with her two big dogs and we headed out. I started to recognize where we were, so I directed her to Wim's house and she dropped me off. She spoke more English than she lead on, which was good haha. She was super nice and told me to enjoy the rest of my time in Europe. It all worked out in the end, but man o man could that have ended a lot worse hehe. By the end of that little adventure and my shower and packing it was almost time to head to the airport. Wim took Gijs and I to see the lake one more time, and then to the UN building to see the memorial and such. Had to get my tourist on for a little bit longer before heading back!

Photo-journey of my run.. before I got "lost" hehe

3-legged chair represents the wounded soldiers

Me and Gijs outside the UN building where Rav works