Bonjour!

Well I had an opportunity to brush up on my french. And I learned something. I retained very little from my sad 4 years of high school french. But met some new friends and visited with an old one. Well she's not old...we've just been friends for awhile. I'll start at the beginning.

Last weekend we had a holiday here in Europe so I had a 5 day weekend. I had arranged months ago to meet up with Elise, who would be travelling Europe for a few weeks before working in England for the Summer. We settled on meeting in Geneva to experience a little of what Switzerland has to offer. I had time before we could meet up so I flew into Geneva and then took a short bus ride to Annecy, France. It was on recommendation of a friend, thanks Michelle, and was such a beautiful city to visit. I arrived around dinner time on Friday. I hit up the grocery store for some supplies and checked intot he Annecy Hostel which was great. This was my first hostel experience so I was a little unsure. I have heard good and bad stories. But this place was a great and I quickly met people that evening. Turns out there was an annimation film festival in town. The biggest in the world aparently. A lot of people in the hostel were there for the festival, and a couple of girls and I checked out the late show of animated shorts. They were all good, some distubing, but good.

The next day we went to check out the market in town but it was no where to be found. So we split up and I did some shooping and exploring the city. Such a beautiful place. The city has a bid in for the 2018 winter olympics and I felt right at home when I saw the protestors amoungst all of the great buildings of the old city.

 The picture above is the old prison right in the centre of town. The most beautiful prison I've ever seen. Surrounded by water, resturaunts, even swans. And at night it's all lit up. So nice. 

The day was great, I met up with my new travel buddies by the lake, Renee and Kate from New Zealand. At one spot by the lake there is a little birdge with a great view. Notice the swan with his butt up in the air.

I split up with Renee and Kate again so I could go up the hill to the monestary. I went up a very steep hill to get there but ended up checking out an old castle that is being used as a museum now. Some pretty amazing stuff.



That evening I met up with Renee, Kate and Arthur from Norway. We went for crepes, so French. Then we checked out a viewing of an annimated movie in the park for the festival. But alas, I had to cut out early. I had an early bus to catch back to Geneva in the morning. I could go on and on about Annecy, I loved it there. But Instead I will leave you with a couple more pictures taken from the castle and monestary. Such great spots to overlook the city.

I got on the bus at 6:45am and made it to the hotel in Geneva before 9:00. It was a long morning but I was eager to meet up with Elise and her friend Lisa. We were going to travel Geneva for a couple of days before they headed out. We spent some quality time with the concierge of the hotel to make a good plan for the day. Unfortunatly our options were limited with the holiday closures, but we ended up taking a boat ride to Yvoire. It was a beautiful midieval town (since 1305) that to our surprise was actually in France. We didn't really think about the fact that crossing Lake Geneva to Yvoire brought us right into France. It was how we imagined our trip to Switzerland but it was beautiful just the same.

I got a little burned that day but we had a good time and Elise almost had a coke explode on her, so that was funny.

We enjoyed a great dinner that night and headed back to the hotel. The next day we conferred with the concierge again, but this guy wasn't near as helpful, or as funny as the first guy. We decded to go to a museum and then if we had time, check out a park area complete with a mini zoo and lots to see. On route to the museum the plan was to get food. This may seem like a simple task, but I can assure you that when you are relying on public transportation, your own two feet and roads filled with closed resturaunts and shops, it is more challenging than it may appear. We eventually refueled at a little resturaunt with many little birds that had gone rogue inside the resturaunt. Aparantly this is common and excepted, but I'm not a fan of birds flying around my food, indoors.

After a long morning we found the museum...closed. Stupid Francoise the concierge. The frustration started to set in about this point.

So we went to plan B and took the little yellow boat accross the lake, still in Switzerland this time, to the park and zoo area. There were a lot of statues in the park, which made for some fun photo ops. We even took it upon ourselves to become one with the art and be statues ourselves.

 There was a huge statue that was just asking to be climbed on. There was a romatic picture of me staring into his eyes, but I thought the ass-smacking captured the essence of the moment much better.

There was one spot with a great two level old carosel. It was so pretty and creeked like it could give out at any moment.

 The moment Elise was waiting for finally happened when we found the animals. But unfortuatly we couldn't stay long to enjoy them. Elise and Lisa had to catch a flight that evening to their next destination.

 We headed back into downtown Geneva to grab a quick dinner then hopped back on the tram. They headed back to the hotel to back up and get to the airport. I wasn't leaving till the next morning so I had some time to check out more of the city. This church in the middle of the city was so beautiful, but the creepers in the park surrounding it were enough to get me back on the tram to head back to the hotel myself.

 The next morning I had time to check out the shops that were finally open. I only had a couple of hours before I had to head to the airport myself. All in all it was a good weekend and I saw a lot. Though, I think I will need to make another trip to Switzerland. It was great, but I felt like I was in France most of the time. Next time!

Other than the travels last week, things have been good. I finally was able to check out a group at the church I've been going to out here. I was always away or it would get cancelled so I made the last one of the season just in time. I met some good people and hope to connect with them more. Even a few Canadians :) The next night I went out with the girls from the international play group I take the kids too. The mom's (and me) try to do socail nights so we went for sushi and hit up a pub where we got our dance on. No joke, I was actually bustin' a move to a dance mix of Kris Kross's Jump and Cypress Hill's Jump Up. So good. I am starting to meet some great people here. Hopefully it will continue.
I don't have any more big trips planned yet, but I have a few things in the works. So until next time...let the adventures continue.