Geneva

Marseille with Rebecca & Family

Michelle LeeLeave a comment

Later this week, Tuesday June 6, 2023, I took a train to Marseille to meet up with dear friends for a few hours. I have never explored this city and its ports.

Our first adventure was meeting up with each other. After the train I took the metro (in the wrong direction) while Rebecca and her family were holding on for dear life in a fast moving taxi on narrow streets.

The second adventure was using a public FREE porta-a-potty. Wish I had thought to take a picture! It was very spacious, contained a sink, locking door, and self cleaned after each use. Well Well Well…We individually were stuck locked inside at some point. Unfortunately when Rebecca was locked inside the self cleaning mode decided to start. She described the scene inside as water gushing out of a nozzle all over the floor and toilet. She leaped back to the wall standing on tiptoes to avoid getting her shoes soaked. The bathroom was speaking clearly in French about the process, which neither of us understood. She was yelling from inside. I was yelling from outside counting down the rinse cycle I found on the panel of the port-a-potty. Zero came, the door opened and Rebecca and I had the biggest laugh together.

Our third adventure was visiting La Major Cathedral. The temperature was cool on the inside. Mosaic floors with wooden benches beckoned us down the center aisle. 

Our fourth adventure came about as we saw a strike parade near the Old Port area. Sure enough it was Tuesday, which in France is the most common strike day. A highlight was us actually “breaking the picket line” to cross the street to get to ice cream. 

We sat and talked for a long time in the ice cream store, just like old times.

Finally our last adventure together in Marseille was walking through the city market a couple of blocks away from Old Port. We experienced bright colors of fruits and vegetables, huge amounts of fish and eel.

We said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our next destination. I had to catch a train to Geneva for dinner. With an hour plus before the next train I walked down to the water, found cars worthy of quick photographs and a burger from Five Guys. It has been so long since I have had Five Guys that I ordered a cheeseburger for 17 Francs. It came as a double burger not a single. Hmm, at least 17 Francs made a tad more sense now.

After dinner I took several more trains passing through the village of St. Niklaus. I eventually met up with Randy and the kids in Zermatt around midnight. They had stopped along the way, played disc golf, and enjoyed yummy food on their adventure to Zermatt.

Just me

Switz 1: Montpellier-Geneva 10 Sept.

Michelle Lee2 Comments

(1 mini van, 2 trains, 1 Uber, 1 bus, a ton of walking) (12:30pm-5pm)

Our train took us from Montpellier to Valence to Geneva. Traveling in France we had assigned seats, in Switzerland it was first come first serve. Sometimes we sat in quad seating all together with Cody on the floor. Other times we divided and conquered, sometimes 3-1, sometimes 1-2-1, and sometimes 2-2, Cody always with me.

The countryside was beautiful, zooming north through the Rhone River Valley with the Massif Central mountains on the west, the French Alps on the east, and the Jura mountains to the north. Our friend here in France, Lez, coordinates the transportation of wind turbines. In America I have seen wind turbines in KS, OK, and PA. Here in France the roads are narrow and curvy, so transporting routes must be studied well in advance. The middle photo is Aix-les Bains. The town of Annecy seemed beautiful from the windows. The final picture is entering Geneva.

We rolled through Swiss customs. In Geneva we stayed on the top floor in the Meininger Hotel Geneve Centre Charmilles, with bunk beds for the kids. The staff was super helpful and kind. The lounge area was equipped with unique reading spaces. The elevator sign is shown below as well. We ventured into the city via bus, leaving Cody free in the hotel room.

We explored the grounds of The University of Geneva and the Promenade de la Treille, and outside of St. Pierre’s Cathedral.

We also saw Jet d’Eau and visited the Reformation Wall, with a little teaching by Randy.

We walked the night on the cobblestone streets of Old Town.

We managed to acquire 9:30pm dinner reservations at Randy’s parents favorite fondue location in all of Switzerland, Restaurants Les Armures, in Old Town.

At this point in the night we were all exhausted.

Thankfully the restaurant lived up to its reputation and perked us up with good food and our moods too!

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, through town instead of waiting for the bus. It was a long SAFE walk, good for us weary travelers, even though I WAS NOT in the best of spirits at 11:30pm on the streets of Geneva.