We have just arrived in Geneva.
Already, there has been an incident. At the train station there was this guy who was caught red handed pickpocketing someone. Not clear exactly what happened; but there were policemen running towards him. Though I think he wasn't putting up much of a struggle.
Geneva is a small city. Ok. Really tiny compared to Paris. We walk about 10 mins and we find our youth hostel. Its not really easy to find, but once we find it, we discover that it is actually much better than the Paris hostel. Gobi and Eugene start to realise that Paris was in fact pretty much a "sh*thole" compared to Geneva.
Strangely we meet a couple of guys in our hostel who think that Geneva is a "sh*thole". Oh. They've just come from Zurich and Berne. What else would they think of Geneva with its Parisian influence.
We walk down to the Jet D'Eau (Jet of Water) at the Jardin Anglais (English Gardens). Gobi is enthralled, captivated by the place. We spend the whole of sundown there; eating our dinner from a shop near the Jardin Anglais as well as watching the Spain Portugal match.
A noteworthy incident does happen on the way back to the hostel. Some random strangers came up to us and talked to us about the match - apparently they were supporting Spain too and were happy. I only hate Portugal because of one player. Think only one player in that squad can possibly attract that much animosity. Too bad he's the captain. Just makes things worse.
Anyway, these guys eventually try to pickpocket Eugene; but he's wise to it. Which makes them the SECOND pickpocket in a day in Geneva that epically screwed up. Perhaps thats why crime is so low in Geneva compared to say Dublin or London or Rome. Geneva's criminals are noobs.
Anyway we all wash our hands thoroughly to cleanse ourselves from the filth that had just shook our hands; before we go back to the hostel to sleep it off.
Scene 11 - 30th June
Breakfast at the Geneva Hostel is decent - I've just discovered my new favourite breakfast dish - Yoghurt. Or as Lase says, Joghurt. Well, spells rather. But then, its only fantastic if you mix in strawberry jam. I think when I get home that will be a staple diet for breakfast. Assuming that I wake up for breakfast.
Our main agenda for today is actually to visit the CERN. Or Center for European Nuclear Research. As usual, the acronym is jumbled up because it happens to be a French acronym. And once more, I shall re-iterate my disdain for the predominance of French in Geneva. Mainly because I do not speak it. Perhaps if I do speak French, like Gobi, I would perhaps appreciate it for its renowned smooth-ness and romance.
I would not have expected myself to enjoy nor be educated by the visit to the CERN - but I am surprised by the amount that I do, in fact, enjoy and am educated by the visit.
Sadly, we are not allowed to go down to the actual LHC. Apparently they closed the LHC to public viewing some time ago.
At least they allow us to pretend. Still, no entry to LHC.
Perhaps it has something to do with Angels and Demons where someone actually stole a jar of antimatter from the CERN laboratory.
I have no intention to steal antimatter; honestly speaking its just anti-matter. I'd pay more for matter.
The exhibition, on the other hand, is very educational. While, obviously some parts are just plain dull, the rest is fascinating - telling us about the theoretical origin of the universe and how the CERN is attempting to prove it. Or something like that.
Anyway, after learning about the possible end of the universe that Doomsayers predict will be brought about by man's attempt at creating a black hole just for the sole purpose to study it, we go to the gift shop for some shopping. There are some decent souvenirs there; plus the cashier girl has a nice girl-next-door look which is pleasant. Gobi's been going around Paris, London, Oxford so far giving paper butterflies to pretty girls. But he forgets to give one to this girl.
I do remind him later on; but I remind him of the urgency of getting back. The sun, after all, was shining mercilessly down on us.
Unfortunately, we get lost anyway.
We trudge through a village that looked like it had been destroyed by an experiment gone wrong at CERN. It looked like the stereotypical Eastern European country portrayed in Eurotrip by Bratislava. There is no human soul in sight.
But just as I begin to wonder if Cern really could have gone wrong, we see a human soul; and then another; and then a whole street.
We think of eating here, since it is out of the city. But prices are still city prices, if not higher. And when we eat, we don't specify that we want tap water, so are given bottled water. That cost 5 Euros. or S$7.50.
Daylight robbery probably sums it up best.
But a lesson learnt in all.
Geneva has a handful of attractions. Jet D'Eau, CERN, and the United Nations. Seeing as we had covered the first two, naturally the choice is the UN. Personally I don't see the big fascination with visiting what probably could be classified as one of the biggest failures in recent history.
We have a free pass on travel in Geneva. This free pass allows us transport on any public transport as long as we don't go too far out of Geneva. Which means that we would have to pay for travel to places further away such as Lausanne or Montreux.
I remember a couple of years back when I did go to Lausanne and Montreux and the Chateau de Chillon; so I do push for taking a ferry from Geneva to Chillon. It sounds like a wonderful idea, because we get to take a ferry along the picturesque Lake Geneva and after that end up at the Chateau where I'm relatively certain I had fun as a child. Dodging in and out of secret passageways and such.
I doubt I have grown up that much because I still am quite excited about the prospect of dodging in and out of secret passageways in the castle.
Considering that we just came from CERN where they are researching stuff like Wormholes, which are kind of secret passageways through the galaxy, I do wonder if we as humans will ever outgrow the novelty of going into a secret passageway. And coming out of a place that you'd never have expected yourself to come out from.
Anyway, I digress.
The real issue was that when we DID go to enquire about the ferry to Montreaux, it turns out that it doesn't exist.
I do pause to think for awhile, before I realise that perhaps last time out, we took a ferry from Lausanne, not Geneva.
So it seems that Chillon is out of the question. Too impractical. And not worth it.
So its just left to us to exploit the Free Pass and take as much public transport as humanly possible.
I get my wish to take a ferry across Lake Geneva. However, while my initial wish was perhaps to cross it lengthwise, I have to settle for crossing it breadthwise.
Anyone who's ever seen Lake Geneva would know that there is a HUGE difference; because it probably can be likened to a really really fat river.
Which it ACTUALLY might be.
In any case, the "ferry" that we took turned out to be more of a bumboat. IF we recall in an earlier story, there was a discussion on the definition of "ferry" vs "ship". This discussion could perhaps be revisited - on the classification of "ferry" vs "bumboat".
This time, however, I'm very certain that "bumboat" would be the hands down victor to define the vessel we took.
The Ferry cum Bumboat brings us up North - Closer to where the UN Buildings are. The God of the Bumboats has thus decreed that we visit UN.
Gobi is interested in all these major buildings, so he's very excited about seeing them all. The rest of us are Suffering in the Sunshine of a Surprisingly Sadistic Swiss Summer.
Ahh even if the UN didn't manage to stop the war in Iraq or the Terrorist attacks plaguing our planet, at least they have provided some relief for my burning skin.
Ah sweet water fountains; how amazing thou art; to cool me on this fiery hot day. I don't care how drenched I get; sweet refreshing water fountains, drench me!
After getting slightly wet because I was actually holding hydrophobic equipment, I come back for second helpings. I know that the sun will relatively quickly cure me of the wetness.
And it doesn't let me down.
The trip to the UN took quite a long time. The trip home, on the other hand, is very very fast. It's probably because this time, we took the straight line route, rather than going back and forth across the lake, through the parks and down the wrong road.
It just proves the mathematical theory that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. In this case, a tram line.
On a very hot day, perhaps its best to stone in your hostel; granted that your hostel gives you that priveledge. Thankfully, the youth hostel at Geneva was one such hostel. Plus, considering that we have practically seen all of Geneva, this is a good time to stone and recover some energy for Rome. I warn them all; Rome was not seen in a day. And even if you attempt to see it in 3 days, you're going to probably need to be Superman.
Especially for some of our older and whiter travel companions. Lase stays in while the rest of us get dinner. Eugene comes back relatively quickly to do the laundry.
I finally get to eat my kebabs which I've been, for so long, been waiting to have. I mean, I know that perhaps they're not going to be as good as the Kebabs of the Middle East, but hey, I haven't been to the Middle East, so I'm pretty happy with what I got.
Gobi and I go down to the lakeside to chill while I eat my delicious kebab and he, his chicken burger. He's got an unnatural aversion towards kebabs, probably stemming from one bad experience some time ago.I, thankfully, do not have such an aversion, and hence am not deprived of this cheap-food-option.
At the Jardin Anglais we meet one of the guys who was staying at our hostel; so we say hi and chat for abit. Sarvan tells us an interesting fact about the Jet D'Eau - that it is more than 100m tall. I find that hard to believe, even though, as I think back, I remember that I'd heard that figure before. But still its hard to believe. So Sarvan offers to take us up close and personal to the Jet D'Eau to see its awesomeness first hand. Gobi declines, but I'm curious.
As we get closer, the might of the mighty Jet D'Eau starts to become evident. I cannot proceed any closer because it is night and, while I don't mind getting drenched by the fountains of the UN complex, I do mind getting drenched by the waters of the Jet D'Eau at night. The sun, after all, is not present to dry my clothes off.
Notice that the lens of the camera did get droplets of water as souvenirs from Jet D'Eau. It should also be noted that the cameraman did share this priveledge. So much for not getting wet.
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