Hoofin' It

I actually got more than 4 hours of sleep last night! That, plus a yummy and relaxed breakfast at the hotel had me refreshed and ready to hit the bricks of Geneva this morning. But where to start? Having never been here before, knowing zero about the city and only having one full day, I decided the best way to take in as much of it as possible was, as always, to spend the day walking. I did approximately 5 minutes of research, found the 3 things I formed a vague plan in my head to see, then headed out with the whole day ahead of me to meander as slowly as I liked to each.

My hotel is very ideally located just about 4 blocks from Lake Geneva so I headed there first to get my bearings and to see the iconic Jet d'Eau, one of the world’s tallest fountains. It was a good place to start as you can see it from most any spot in the city so it gave me a “base” to always orient myself in case I got lost. Which, let’s be honest, was a very real possibility.


Oh yes, the dorky self pics are back

I walked around the lake area for a while then headed across the bridge towards the old city on the other side. No plan, no street maps, just me meandering through the alleyways and small streets. As long as there was cobblestone, I knew I was still in the old part of town. From back at the lake I had caught sight of the looming steeple of the ancient St Pierre’s Cathedral and once in old town kept my eye on it whenever possible so I could eventually find my way to it (kind of like following the Bat signal). Although the cathedrals in Europe are of course stunning and so unlike what we have in the US, I don’t usually make it a point to go check them out. This one, however, allows you to climb its tight spiral staircase up the tower to the top, which offers magnificent views of the city. By the time I got up there, it was midafternoon and clear and sunny and I got great views of both the city and the Swiss Alps in the distance. It was the best 4 Swiss Francs I’ve ever spent (as well as the only bargain in the city)!

After that, I enjoyed the most expensive lunch I’ve ever had, but enjoyed it at an outdoor Italian restaurant where I could, conveniently, speak Spanish. More meandering, a brief pitstop back at the hotel to get some warmer clothes, lay down for about 30 minutes and then head back out to take the long route via the lake up to see the United Nations complex. One last long, winding walk back a different route through the city and that was that.

 

As a sidenote, Geneva is the most expensive city I’ve ever been in. Upon landing, I withdrew just 50 Swiss francs (around $54USD) as I was essentially only going to be here for one day. I figured that should more than enough as I would only need to buy two meals since breakfast was included at the hotel. The first night I stopped at a convenience store to buy a bottle of water, a muffin and a coffee and my total was a shocking 9 francs ($9.65). For a muffin and some coffee I’d already blown nearly 1/5 of my money! While there I also saw a pack of Mentos for, I kid you not, 5.8 francs ($6.20). For Mentos. A takeaway sandwich from a street vendor was 17 francs ($18.25)… for the equivalent of a buying a hot dog from a street cart in NYC! I stopped into a Starbucks in search of a mug and was shocked to see that a caramel macchiato, which usually runs me around $4.50 at home, here costs 7.9 ($8.50). All told over the course of my 36-hours in Geneva, the 50 francs I withdrew upon arrival bought me exactly two muffins, one large bottle of water, one to-go coffee, a tower ticket at the cathedral, lunch and two more muffins. Yowza. Good thing I only had one day here!