I Feel Ya Rolls!

Today is a sad day. It is Katy's last day here in Geneva. We have had an amazing 2 weeks, travelling, eating, drinking, enjoying life.  Its been great having her here and we're sad to see her go, but we will have such great memories.

As I've mentioned before, beating the jetlag when you come to Geneva is one of the tougher things to do, but Katy faced it head on and refused to take a nap when she arrived. I took her around Geneva, and down the promenade of the Rive Gauche to show her the beautiful views of Lac Leman.  We walked for a good couple of hours and enjoyed a glass of rosé at a somewhat touristy cafe along the water. But it was amazingly affordable and delicious. And around 5pm, Katy crashed. 

She took an hour nap and forced herself to get up and get moving.  We put on our best going out clothes and hit the town. We walked to Paquis and had dinner at Les Cinq Portes.  Travers and I had gone to this restaurant during our home-finding visit and have always wanted to go back.  It didn't fail us. The food was great and the atmosphere was fun.  After dinner, we walked to The Clubhouse for a drink and to check out the local ex-pat scene. It was pretty dead. But Travers picked up some valuable information that it was empty at The Clubhouse because everyone was at a bar right by the lake. So that's where we headed next.

We walked down the promenade and found the party. There is an open-air bar right on the lake that was serving 6CHF beers and people were spilling into the promenade and onto the grass having a great time.  We luckily got some seats right by the dock and were able to take in the scene and the views.  Unfortunately, at midnight, they kicked us out and we had to find somewhere new to go.  We walked down the promenade back towards home, and came across the Hotel Kimpinkski's Floor Two Bar. We could hear music from the street and could see people on the terrace. We knew we had to go up there and check it out.  We walked in and there was great music playing and people everywhere. It was one of the most lively bars we've seen here in Geneva.  We stood at the bar and waited to be served...And we waited...And waited...And waited.

About 20 mintues had passed, and not a single bartender came over to ask us what we wanted to drink.  I thought I had made eye contact with one of them, but he then proceeded to leave the bar (maybe it was his break time) and never returned.  So we decided we had had enough of this scene and probably didn't need to pay for what was surely going to be an over-priced drink. So we left. And went to the hotel's cellar to a club called Java Club. We could hear the house music from outside, and saw about 4-5 bouncers guarding the entryway. There was no cover charge (this should have been our first clue), and there was no line (this should have been our 2nd clue), so we figured we would go in and check it out!  At this point, it was about 1am and you would think at 1am people would be out having a great time, dancing etc...Well, they must have been doing it at some other club because this place was empty!!  There were maybe a handful of people hanging out and way too many bartenders standing around doing nothing.  This was not what we were looking for. We took one lap around the place and left.

On the streets again, we were really wanting to find somewhere fun to go. We headed back towards our home, and saw another club called Shakers that Travers has been wanting to check out for awhile. He had read about it before and heard that it was a great club to go to, so we figured it was about time we see for ourselves.  We walk up to the door, where a couple bouncers are standing, and ask to be let in. They say we have pay a 20 CHF cover charge per person.  We are tempted because it includes a drink and we wanted to find somewhere fun to hang out the rest of the night.  When we walked into the room to pay our cover fees, Travers peaked through the curtain to see into the club and immediately turned around and walked out. This was worse than the Java Club!  There was not a soul in the place, minus the bartender who looked practically asleep.  What was becoming of our night!  Luckily though, we knew of a place that would not fail us. Riverside.

Riverside has been our go-to place. It is just down the street from our house, and its right on the Rhone River (hence the name riverside).  We have been here more times than anywhere else, and it is always a fun place to go for a good glass of wine and a beer. There are comfy couches to sit on or water-side tables.  The service is always friendly and the prices are right on.  We knew this was the place to go and end our night and we were not let down.  We luckily got a spot on the couches and ordered our drinks And finished our night off with some good conversation and people watching.

After raiding our kitchen for a late night snack and water, we poured ourselves into bed around 2:30am.  I was extremely proud of Katy for lasting so long on her first day.  I feel ya rolls!

To be continued....