Frozen Fun

As some of you may know, we have had ridiculously cold weather recently. We had begun to think that we were catching a break with the winter weather here in Geneva, but just as we were getting used to the 30-40°F temperatures, we were hit with temps in the teens. My last post was about a wonderful day of snow. Unfortunately, Travers' dad, Richard, was flying in the next day and that is exactly when the temperatures dropped.  We had thankfully warned him to bring warm clothes, a hat, gloves etc...but even with as many layers as we could get on our bodies, we were still freezing every time we walked out the door.  Richard made the best of it though and we ended up having a great visit with him.

Yummm!

After his flight arrived in Geneva an hour early (unbelievable!) Wednesday morning, we brought Richard back home to get settled in and rest a bit after the long flight. Travers went on to work, and a few hours later, I took him on a walk through Old Town and around the neighborhood, and out towards the lake.  The temperature was in the low-20's at this point but the wind was blowing and our faces and fingers were quickly freezing.  Since we had walked around for a couple hours, we decided to head back to the apartment to warm up and rest. Once Travers got home, we made homemade spaghetti and meatballs

Richard in Parc Des Bastions

The next day was just as cold as the last, but we were determined to get outside and see Geneva.  After a leisurely morning, we put on all our layers of clothes again, and headed away from the lake towards Carouge.  We walked through the Parc des Bastions, saw the Reformation Wall, and then down Rue de Carouge, through the Plainpalais area, and finally getting to the quaint little town. After walking around a bit and checking out the area, we stopped for lunch at one of my favorite little cafes on the corner of Place de Marché. We then decided we were feeling energetic, so started our walk back along the Arve River. We finally hit a wall and decided to head back towards home, barely having enough energy to go to the grocery store and climb the small hill back to the apartment. 

Conference Room in the UN

Richard's third day was the coldest we had had yet. Winds were really bad, and the temperature had dropped into the teens. We decided it was a good day for museums. So we could still get out of the house, but weren't going to freeze too much.  We hopped on the bus and headed to the UN for a tour.  After a jumbled conversation with one of the guards, we were finally pointed in the right direction to the visitor entrance. We made it in just as an English speaking tour was beginning, and got to spend the next hour learning all about the UN and seeing some of the large meeting rooms that you often see on television.  It was pretty informative, but I wish there had been time for more. 

Outside the UN

The one negative part of this visit was this english woman with her two small children who were really cute, but would not be quiet. I had a hard time paying attention to the tour guide as the two girls were running around, squealing, and distracting me most of the time. I occassionally glared at the mother, and another woman shushed them once, but she refused to discipline her children, or respect the fact that we had all paid to get in there and they were clearly distracting everyone.  Richard and I dealt with it though and really enjoyed the tour. I might go back some day to listen again to the tour guide and hopefully avoid any noisy children.


After the UN, we had lunch back at home, then headed to the Patek Philippe Museum in Plainpalais.  We looked at all the beautiful antique watches that were on display as well as a floor full of watches made by Patek Philippe.  There are tons and tons of watches in this museum, most of antique ones look like pieces of jewelry more than watches. And we could clearly see when watch designs changed from more jewelry-like pieces to the standard shapes they have now. 

Love my fur!

Once Travers returned from work, we decided to go out to dinner at one of our favorite steak restaurants, Relais de l'Entrecote. The weather had gotten worse but, thankfully, I had my fur jacket, given to me by Rosemary, Travers' mother.  We braved the wind and cold for the few blocks and luckily got there just before a rush of people arrived and were able to sit right away. This restaurant is fun because it only serves one thing, steak and fries. When the waitress arrives at the table, she doesn't ask what we want, just asks how we like our meat cooked. They bring lots of fries, and lots of steak, and a salad to start. We tried asking the waitress for the recipe for the sauce they put on the steak, but she just smiled and said its a secret.

On the funicular in Fribourg

The next day, Saturday, we had a road trip planned to the Fribourg and Neuchatel regions.  We had an easy drive up north to Fribourg, and after parking the car, took a short funicular up the hill to the main part of town. We walked in the Old Town area, and immediately popped into a tea room to get some coffee to warm us up. I checked the weather on my phone and it said it was 7°F!! We checked out the main cathedral and strolled (quickly) through more of the town, then decided to call it, and headed back to the car so we could drive to our next destination. 

Freezing in Fribourg

Looking down at Fribourg

Freezing in Murten

After a half an hour, we arrived in Murten. We had gotten far enough north by now that the German influence in Switzerland was prominent in Murten. It was a nice lakeside town up on a hill. We parked and walked the main drag, looking at shops and debating on buying more clothes to wear to keep us warm. We finally found a restaurant for lunch. Apparently a lot of the restaurants in Murten are underground in caves. We descended a flight of stairs, and entered a room, lined in stone and big wooden beams. The food was delicious and it warmed us up. 

Delicious Lunch in Murten

Cool restaurant in Murten

Lakeside at Neuchatel

We then drove to the town of Neuchatel which is right on Lake Neuchatel. This was a bigger town, with lots of people walking around. We walked down to the lake, which is almost half the size of Lake Geneva, but just as beautiful. Then we headed up the hill to the Old Town area and we got to see views of the entire city below.  We headed back down the hill, and got a coffee at a local cafe, then headed back towards the car. Our energy levels were dwindling, but we still had two more towns to see. 

At the top of Neuchatel

Looking down at Neuchatel

We then drove to a small town called Grandson where a big castle sits on the side of the lake.  It was getting late by this time, so we just drove through the town, and passed by the castle.  I got a great shot of it while the sun was setting in the background. 

Our last stop was to Yverdon. Another small town on the southern tip of Lake Neuchatel.  We were all exhausted by now, so we took a few quick photos of the main plaza, empty because of the cold weather, and made our way back to Geneva.


It was a wonderful daytrip, and we got to see places that Travers and I had never seen before as well. But we were happy to be home that night, warm in our apartment, with our feet up.


We spent Sunday lazy around the apartment, leaving for a few hours in the afternoon to see the Art & History Museum and planning the last two days of Richard's visit.

Chateau Chillon

Monday, Richard and I hopped on the train headed to Montreux and the Chateau Chillon.  It was about 10°F outside and the castle wasn't any warmer.  But we braved it, and saw the entire castle, maybe walking through it a bit quicker than we would have normally, but it was fun to show Richard one of the most famous castles in Switzerland.  For lunch, we headed to Vevey and found a cute cafe with delicious Chocolat Chaud.  Then hopped on the train again to Lausanne.  I figured we hadn't walked enough in the past few days, that I made Richard climb the hill from the train station in Lausanne all the way up to the Cathedral on the top of the hill. About half way, I regretted the decision as I was huffing and puffing and freezing my buns off!  But we made it eventually, and he got to see some of the great views of the town below and the lake beyond.

Can you find Richard?

Top of the hill in Lausanne

His final day in Geneva, Richard spent the morning walking and shopping around town before we headed out to have lunch with Travers near his office.  The weather had warmed up a few degrees so we headed out to the lake to give him a final look at the water and the snowy mountains beyond.  He left early Wednesday morning and the temperature rose back to the mid-20's.

Day Trip & Day of Snow!

Since we have been so busy the past month, we decided to keep last weekend relaxing and mellow. After staying in Friday night and catching up on some much needed sleep, Shelley, Mike, Travers and I took the noon train on Saturday up to Lausanne for the day.  The main point was to go to the Olympic Museum, that closed just a few days later for a year and a half of renovations. So this was our last chance to see it. I actually had been with my friend Katy over the summer, but enjoyed it and figured it would be fun to go back. And to our luck, the museum was free (a favor they were doing for visitors the last 8 weeks before the renovations begin).

Travers at museum entrance

Top floor of the museum overlooking the lake

We made it to Lausanne, took the metro down the hill to the museum and walked around for an hour or two, learning about the history of the Olympics, seeing some of the torches and medals that have been used over the years. I also saw a water polo cap that was signed by the US Women's Water Polo Team from the 2000 Summer Olympics when they lost to Australia for the Gold. I tried to see if I recognized any of the names, but the signatures were too difficult to read. It was still fun to see though.

We then headed back up the hill to the Old Town and walked up to the Cathedral at the top of the hill. From there, we were able to see the entire town below us and the lake beyond. We then strolled through the town, stopping at a cute bohemian cafe for some coffee, taking in the people walking by. We learned that Lausanne, in contrast to Geneva, is very hippie-ish, whereas Geneva is more conservative. According to our friend, Nathalie, there is a rival between Geneva and Lausanne, where neither city likes the other and thinks they are better than the other.

Cathedral Doors

Small Street in Old Town

On top of the city

After getting our fill of the town, we decided to head back to Geneva and grab an early dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants, Little India. We got back into town a bit early (the restaurant wasn't even open yet), so we grabbed a drink at Les Brasseurs, right across from the train station, then finally had dinner, and met up with some friends at our favorite lounge, Le Brasserie des Halles de L'Ile.

The next few days were quiet, as we prepped for Travers' dad to visit. Thankfully he arrived today and not yesterday as we woke up Tuesday morning to the biggest snowfall we've had here yet.  It snowed, and snowed, and snowed. All day long. And didn't stop until that afternoon. Here are a few photos I took while walking with Travers to work that morning.

The Jardin Anglais covered in snow!

Doesn't stop the birds from sitting on their favorite railing

Another shot of the Jardin Anglais

Our favorite tree outside our apartment

I love watching the snow fall down, but thankfully it has stopped today so that Travers' dad won't have to deal with it being too snowy and cold for his visit.  We plan to take a drive this weekend and check out some neighboring cities so hopefully we'll get to see some more snow from the comfort of a heated car.