Days 15 and 16: Geneva and Zermatt

I spent the weekend in Geneva and Zermatt by myself.

Sat 6/25 - Got up at 5:25 AM to catch an early train out of Zurich to Geneva. However, I missed the smaller train from my town Adiswil to the main Zurich train station by seconds (think of that cliché movie scene of a guy running fruitlessly after a train just pulling out - that was me). Not off to a good start. But soon enough I settled down and got the next train to Geneva. At first I went aboard the only smoking car in the train without realizing it but soon enough I figured out that the horrible smell was cigarette smoke. So I walked to the non-smoking car and sat down. And then I heard the proverbial crying baby. Smoking car or crying baby? Tough call.

I arrived in Geneva by mid-morning. I had to go the bathroom so followed the signs in the station for WC only to learn that you had to pay 1 frank to get into the johnson (this is very usual for Switzerland) but I wasn't going to have it. I resolved I would find a public bathroom somewhere else. So I stepped out of the station and took a big breath, soaking up the fact that I was in a big, foreign city by myself with no natives and little knowledge of the layout of the land. This positive high soon deteriorated as my body kept telling me I needed to pee and without finding a bathroom within a couple blocks I walked back into the station, paid my fucking frank, and used the urinal.

The Youth Hostel I had a reservation at was supposed to be 10 minutes walking distance from train station. My duffle bag was very heavy and it hurt walking around with it (no wheels). At first I tried to follow the broken English directions I had gotten over the phone but soon enough stopped at a BP station for directional help. A guy pointed me in a way that had me bump into the tourist office. What luck. I got a map and a woman showed me how to get to the Youth Hostel. Only one small problem - he pointed in the completely wrong direction. Literally. She pointed in the completely wrong direction. So I walked for an hour and a half in the wrong part of Geneva with a heavy, heavy, bag. I couldn't concentrate on enjoying the city - I just wanted to put my bag down somewhere safe!

By 11:30 I had found the Youth Hostel, could put my bag down, and learned that the Hostel was doing the "cheapest walking tour in town" at 5:15 PM. So I walked along the Geneva waterfront a bit and then grabbed the 8 bus to go the UN area. I checked out the Red Cross museum (which was pretty chilling b/c of all their artifacts and facts on war), wandered around another park, and finally went into the UN building. Heavily armed and a hassle to get into, I nonetheless got there in perfect timing for a 2:30 PM tour (only 5 franks). The tour was an hour and a half and very informative and interesting. I learned a lot about the UN. The tourguide could speak English, Spanish, French, German, and some Italian.

Back at the Hostel for the walking tour, I was joined by two students from Arizona State University and two students from the University of Central Florida who were doing research off of a Nat'l Science Foundation grant in Paris (in Geneva for wkend). The tour was great. It was becoming clear that there's not much Swiss about Geneva - very few Swiss restaurants or even native Swiss living there. Instead, it's the most international city I've ever been in with more racial and linguistic diversity than anywhere. The tour ended and I got lost but eventually found my way back to hostel for dinner.

But they weren't serving dinner (and apologized for the inconvenience). My feet hurt and I was very tired. So I wandered a bit outside trying to find a cheap restaurant or café. Thing is, Geneva is the second most expensive city in the world (and Zurich is third) so there's no such thing as cheap. So, I had to find at ATM to get more Franks. This was a problem. I walked for an hour straight trying to find an ATM, when I finally did it wouldn't accept my Wells card (only Credit Suisse and UBS does). Now I was really screwed. I used my last Franks on a hot dog and some other really bad meat thing. Oh, my feet hurt.

Back at the hostel for the evening. See this post for more on my hostel experience.

Woke up the next morning (6/26) just wanting to get out of the hostel, ate the shitty breakfast they served for free, and got to the train station en route to Zermatt. Arrived in Zermatt w/ no problems. Very touristic town, very pretty too. Matterhorn is awe inspiring. Again, a 10 minute walk to hostel took me an hour. And the bag was so heavy on my feet. Finally found hostel, put on my khaki's and collared shirt in some room in the hostel (not mine, b/c couldn't check in that early) and headed down to the hotel that was hosting the WEF event. See this post for my experience trying to get into the WEF. I would have tried to hike around if I weren't so tired. 5 hours after arriving in Zermatt, I boarded a train back to Zurich. More important - back to Jon Krakauer's excellent new book.

Comments

[Alex]

Believe it or not Tokyo is actually the most expensive city in the world, followed by the great city of London and then Moscow. Geneva ranks 5th and Zurich 9th. Still, two cities in the top 10 ain't that bad.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/06/11/pf/costofliving/

[babenakedo]

auto net http://www.vzajemniskladi.info>primorski skladi

[Gloria]

Wow the 1897 officer's knife looks nrlttaisgly familiar so little has changed in over a century. Love my Swiss Army knife I keep trying to find a lighter version but, in the end, the 30-40g I would save (normally a no-brainer for me, gram counting freak that I am) does not match the functionality I gain from the knife. I got quite a bit of grief for taking it on the TMB but we used it every day. I felt vindicated