Right, so I had every intention of blogging whilst abroad (I did, I swear!), but that obviously didn’t happen. There wasn’t a heck of a lot of down time on the trip and when there was, it was usually filled with sleeping, watching the World Cup, Wimbledon, or enjoying cheap (but so delicious) wine. My camera was also giving me issues and not letting me transfer my photos to my computer, and what would posting about Europe be like without pictures? I know – excuses, excuses. Anyway, I got back to the States in the late afternoon on July 1st after leaving Geneva around noon. I think that my heart broke a little bit when I caught my last look at the Alps as the plane took off, but I think I’m on the mend. Give me one shot at going back, though, and I’d be ready in 2 seconds flat. The trip really was fantastic – “the trip of a lifetime” as so many people told me it would be. You all were right. :)
I stayed with my friend Jaime (who I graduated high school with) in his apartment at Sylvie Lodge in Segny, France, a smallish town about 20-30 minutes’ driving distance from Geneva, Switzerland. There were horses across the street and mountains on all sides (read: I could probably have stayed forever). For almost the first week I was there, it was rainy and cold, but we made the most of it – sucking it up and hiking the Jura mountains anyway. It was gorgeous…see?
One of my favorite little stories from hiking the Jura actually happened when we were making our way through the town of Gex on our way to the trails. I had just bought a France World Cup jersey and was wearing it. Now, France had lost the night before so I wasn’t too worried about getting it sweaty – in fact, that’s really why I was wearing it in the first place. So we’re walking past a school and this kid starts making fun of me (in French) for wearing a France jersey, chanting the losing score. Wait…I was in France, wasn’t I? One of the first things that Jaime told me about France was that “no one hates the French more than the French” – some merit to that, maybe? Anyway, here’s the offending jersey (I’m posing with a wooden statue of one of the first settlers of the Jura mountain range – these guys were everywhere!):
We fell into a bit of an evening routine in Segny: after exhausting ourselves doing awesome things during the day, it was time to head back for a baguette and a bottle of wine. While in the grocery store, we also discovered that France sells “Pringoooals” (not to be confused with normal Pringles – these were FAR more extreme) and we just couldn’t resist. On the way home one evening, we discovered that the little Toyota Yaris had a cup holder that seemed just all too perfect… :)
Next big stop on the trip was Paris, and I can’t even begin to upload the hundreds of photos from that part of the adventure. On day one, we wandered the entire city (on foot, mind you) in the general direction of Hard Rock Paris. We passed most of the big sights: the Eiffel Tower (only a few blocks from our hotel), the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame (okay, we only saw the spires on day one), the river Seine, where Napoleon’s buried, aaand so much more. Needless to say, our feet were quite sore but that didn’t stop us from going back out that night to explore the city even more. We were determined to find the Louvre, and eventually got there. What a magnificent sight at night – unfortunately we found no Rose Line and weren’t able to go kneel by the tomb of Mary Magdalene like Tom Hanks (sigh).
I’m really shortening the Paris trip here (more to come later). Another highlight of the trip was when we discovered a cafe called Iolanda Paris which will actually serve you an entire liter of Warsteiner (a German beer) all at once in one HUGE glass. The French staff was convinced that we wouldn’t be able to walk out of the restaurant under our own power, but we certainly showed them. :) We ended up going back for dinner and then again for a quick breakfast on our way out of Paris. The staff was so friendly and hilarious – definitely the most fun people we met in Paris! Thanks for the good times, guys!
After a bit of downtime back in Segny, we were off to the town of Les Diablerets in the Swiss Alps. Words just cannot describe how breathtaking those mountains really are. I would have been completely okay with missing our train home and just hanging out, you know, in the Alps. We scrambled up rock faces, stood in a (freezing, freezing cold) glacier waterfall, listened to awesome cowbells, and threw snowballs in June. The Alps are going to get a post all to themselves later, but in the meantime, here are a couple of photos to hold over in the meantime:
After a tired (and kinda sad) train ride back to France from the Alps, we crashed for quite some time to recover. Not long after, one of Jaime’s colleagues (a professor from Kansas University, I believe) took me on a fantastic tour down into the depths of CMS, one of the experiments at CERN located in Cessy, France. More on this later, too – but this is the location where they filmed part of Angels and Demons. I didn’t actually get to see the magnet since it was on, but the rest of it was really, really cool (kinda made me question my choice to be an English major..at least a little bit!).
Here I am using an oscilloscope (like a “real” physicist!).
This is what one of the particle collisions looks like — pretty. :)
Okay – at this point, I was sadly nearing my last day in France and Switzerland. Jaime took me into Geneva to spend my last full day there and it was awesome. We visited the St. Pierre Cathedral, hung out by Lake Geneva, saw the fountain, ran into a parade, I finally found a Swiss soccer jersey, and we just enjoyed the city (this is another full post…later). We ended with dinner at a yummy restaurant close to the lake. I had some kind of ostrich steak (really delicious, by the way).
Last day in Geneva, hanging out by the lake.
(deep breath) This really was a trip of a lifetime. I’m so glad that Jaime convinced me to come visit – it was completely worth every penny. The people I met were wonderful, the scenery was absolutely amazing, and I really can’t wait until I can go back. It was a fantastic experience and I definitely found a place where life just feels good. :)
More details and photos to come! Hang in there, everyone.
