Currently on a bus with Cousin Katie on our way to Annecy, France! I am a little hungry, must admit. Could really go for a chocolate croissant right now.

Geneva has been lovely for the last 26 hours or so. When I first arrived yesterday, I met up with the cousins and their gang before we set out for the day around 1pm.

First stop was a street fair slash flea market type dealio a couple blocks away, where we listened to some (surprisingly entertaining) French rapping and got some street food. Was de-lish.

Then, we split up so that two of the group headed out to explore downtown while friend Scott, the twins and I hit up the beach.

It was a man-made peninsula beach, made mostly of concrete, but it was absolutely gorgeous to just sit out by the water of Lake Geneva where the wind took the edge off the blazing heat. There was also a baby and mama swan swimming around!

Katie tried (she was so close) to swim out to a floating rock wall structure, but I think she got nervous because of the crowd of fourteen year old boys. Tehehe. She swam out to a buoy near the rock, chilled a bit, and then swam back. Twice. Bahahaha.

After a while of resting and enjoying the breeze, we decided to check out the other side of the peninsula, where the wind wasn’t as strong and it seemed like more of an organized beach playground rather than a normal beach. There was a sectioned-off wading area, a little island for humans and birds alike (evidenced by the vast amount of bird poop), a diving platform, and a ZIPLINE.

I think it goes without saying that I did not partake in the diving, but I am a huge fan of ziplines! Especially when the supervising lifeguards are attractive French-speaking Swissman!

The zipline was a little strange in that each person had to carry their own zipline handle, which consisted of a heavy metal bar, a pulley wheel, and some buoys. We had to carry the handle up to the lifeguard, get all set up, then zip line down into the water. Even though I hit water much before the end of the swimming area, I was instructed not to let go and to ‘swim with my legs’ until I reached the wall so I could detach the handle and walk back with it. I really liked swimming with my legs while hanging there. Tehe.

It was pretty awkward trying to swim while holding the handle, so I took in some water. Really need more practice swimming!

I also got quite sunburned and pretty scraped up trying to get on and off the concrete beach from the water. What a mess.

On my second time around on the zipline, I decided I would try inverting so I could fly down upside down in a little ball. I had done it before on a zipline, and I had seen another boy do it before, so I didn’t really think much of it. I got to the lifeguard, set up my zipline, then asked, ‘Can I go upside down?’ To this, Mr. Hello Swiss Lifeguard said, ‘Yes of course. You can do whatever you want.’ Aye-aye, captain.

So off I go! One big kick… wait. That didn’t work. Gaining speed, so I tried swinging my legs backward first to gain some momentum and…. Failed again. Quite dramatically and embarrassingly. Oh, and all of this is on video.

I got a good laugh out of it, though. Tehehehehe. We ended up staying out on the beach for around five hours or something crazy. No wonder at the sunburn.

Cousins and I headed back early to shower up, and I promptly knocked out. It was a real struggle waking up to go to dinner with the gang. But I managed!

The only thing we weren’t planning for was that it seems Geneva closes down sometime before 8pm. On a Saturday.

We walked and wandered, and finally we settled on one of two restaurants still open. The rest of the city was a ghost town already.

Luckily, the food was good (I had pizza) and the wine was sweet. We had an adorable waitor who tried to photo-bomb some of my pictures. The bill was steep, but I guess it was actually pretty standard for Switzerland.

Lastly, we headed to a bar to get a ‘beer tower,’ from which I took a single sip from Katie’s mug. No shame. No shame.

It was a very interesting day all around. Geneva was nothing like I expected. I felt it had a very similar vibe to Milan, and it like I was in Italy more often than in France or Switzerland.

Just before bed, I video-called my sister and was able to watch Brady walk into his graduation from the other side of the ocean! Very proud of him and feel pretty stupid that I wasn’t there. I’m sure he still had a great day, despite being rained on during the ceremony tehe.

This morning, I woke up and half the group was gone on there way back to the States. It was just Scott, Katie, and me left over. First thing, we went in search of some crepes for breakfast. We ran into some trouble though, because it turns out Geneva does not really open up shop on Sundays… I guess it’s just one of those places that still values breaks and family time or something… psh.

We did manage to find a Starbucks that was open for coffee (ha!), and of course we finally found breakfast at the restaurant next to our dinner place from the night before. This little square must contain the only two tourist restaurants in the whole city. Croissants and fresh orange juice were delicious, though.

Then we decided to just go walking around the water, in search for some botanical gardens. Me oh my were we pleasantly surprised.

I am always surprised and satisfied by botanical gardens. They are so lovely and whimsical, and no two views are the same. We got some pretty shots of the lake, and the greenhouses were exotic and fascinating.

Ran back to the train station just in time to get our bags and split off from Scott (he was taking a day trip to another small Swiss town), and here we are! Geneva treated me well, all in all. Let’s see what Annecy has to offer…

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Also! Happy Father’s Day, Daddio!!!

 

Venlig hilsen/ au revoir,

Lizzy-wa