This morning I took the train from Nice to Geneva, which took a disproportionate amount of time. I got on at 10:20 and arrived in Geneva at 4:00. I had until 7:45 to look around Geneva, and there were two landmarks I wanted to see.
The first was the famous fountain, or maybe geyser is the correct word (it shoots 150m into the air). It's close to the end of Lake Geneva, between the two banks where the lake empties into the Rhone river. I walked to the lake to see it, but couldn't find it. I thought I'd read my map wrong and checked another place, but still to no avail. Finally, I actually sat down and studied my map. It turns out that, for whatever reason, the fountain was shut down.
So, I walked along the bank of Lake Geneva, past countless watch shops, towards my second objective, the European headquarters of the UN, Palais des Nations. It was quite a walk given my short time frame, but I did get to walk through a beautiful park looking across at some beautiful homes on the opposite bank and a bunch of sailboats clipping along in the very strong wind. Oh, and I stumbled on a Ferrari dealership and got some pictures for Jonathan. The cars on the road are ALL very expensive cars.
I finally arrived there to find that I'd missed visiting hours by a bit, and so I was able to do no more than stand outside the gates and snap a picture. So, really, the stop in Geneva might've been entirely pointless except that I got to walk in that park. It's funny how the best things tend to never be what you're actually after. I took a tram back to the train station and, quite starving as I'd not eaten anything aside from cookies and nutri-grain equivalents, I wanted to stop and grab a snack. I grabbed my stuff from the train station locker and went looking around. Sandwiches were 6 Franks (1SFr = 1CDN)! Everywhere I looked in the station was that much. So, with 15 mins to my train, remembering passing a McDonalds, I thought that I'd make it there and since it wasn't in the station, maybe pay a little less. Nope. A Big Mac Meal costs 12 bucks!
Less than 10 minutes left till my train leaves and I get to the front of the line (sort of). I had to eat somewhere and I was all the way here, so whatever. I grabbed my meal and ran back to the station, making it on my train just in time. The ride from Geneva to Bern was actually the highlight of my day. Again, the things you never expect. The scenery was just gorgeous, this really is a beautiful country. I churned towards Bern in the highlands, looking over Lake Geneva and mountains and streams and little chalets in the green fields as the sun set, eating my McBacon Meal on the second storey of the train. The height of elegance! I spent a good amount of time on the train today, so I figure I'll make that Eurail pass worth it yet.
On the train, I finished my latest and last book, Time's Eye, by Arthur C Clarke, which was not quite as good as I was hoping from so renowned an author. I much preferred Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov, which I'd finished prior. So I'll need to find some more English books. In any case, without books, I went to my Lonely Planet and decided that given I was using a day on my Eurail pass, I should go as far as possible with it. So I missed my stop in Bern and stayed on the train to the end of the line - Zürich. Which is where I am now. I got the last room in the hostel, which is also quite expensive (38Fr). I know this because someone showed up right behind me and would've had to pay 100 Fr for a single room. The place is decent anyway, and a good deal in Switzerland. Free internet (it's 10Fr/hr down the street), a gym, and semi-private dorm beds (aka a curtain).
Anyway, today I'm going to hang around Zürich, I might go check out the zoo, definitely do some watch and knife shopping (which will come in handy for various fruit-related peelings and sandwich making) on the famous street that supposedly sits atop tonnes of gold and silver in Swiss Bank vaults. I may go to the zoo, and otherwise just stroll the streets. Tomorrow, I'm off to Bern for a few hours and then to Interlaken for 3 or 4 days. I heard about the place from the Red Deerians I hung out with in Montpellier, it's a haven of mountain activities. Canyoning (look it up, it looks like a chance to be on Fear Factor sans the insect eating), White Water Rafting, Hang Gliding, Skydiving (apparently they take you so high you can see Germany, Austria, and Italy), Hiking, Biking, etcc. Also, they apparently have the world's highest bungee jump, which is done from a gondola. Someone else told me it was South Africa, so I don't know whether that's true, but I was shown a video that one of the guys took of his jump and it looks bloody high and scary. I wish I could show it to you so you could see his face as he just keeps falling. Sheer terror.
So, that's the plan, give or take. Who knows when I'll be able to update again, probably not till I visit Yann in France (or if I win the Swiss lottery). See you in a week or so.
I heard several people today comment that Nice is Nice without realizing the pun debacle they had just partaken in. Because it's true. Nice IS Nice.
I hung around with a couple from New York all day today since we were pretty much planning on doing the same things. They (Brendan and Meghan) were a lot of fun and we had a good time. We strolled down to the beach, stopping occasionally on the way to look at old Nice or pick up a Strawberry tart or other French dessert. The beach, as I'd warned them in attempting to convince them to come to Cannes, was all rocks, but it really isn't that bad and you only end up with salt all over you, not sand. :)
We sat on the beach from around 11 until 3 which was more than enough. In fact, judging by the red-factor, is was even too much. But the water was warm and swimming was nice, and, well, the weather was perfect. We grabbed a bit at an out of the way cafe, and sat in a plaza for over an hour, believe it or not, watching some kids play soccer, do bike tricks, and, mostly, skateboarding. There were 20-somethings down to 14 year olds doing it, but there was this one kid we just kept watching. He consistently landed EVERYthing and was better than all the rest of them put together. I don't follow skateboarding, but I can tell you this kid was GOOD. Good enough to hold our collective interest for an hour and a half, but still very modest. I had to get a picture of him. Maybe he'll be the next Tony Hawk or something, who knows. In any case, it was nice to sit and relax in the shade and watch the locals passing the afternoon.
There wasn't much left to the day. We went to the grocery store and pickde up some snacks for our prospective train trips, and also spent an hour or so in a Virgin store where I did my best to preach the indie word and chatted with some guy from Virginia who was starting to get into indie music about what he HAD to listen to. Then they left on their train and I booked my ticket for tomorrow morning, went to the hostel and chatted with Jack, who informed me the steak was a really great deal, and ate, well, steak. For 8 Euros I got a really nice steak in a peppercorn sauce, a couple glasses of some regional red wine, and fries. Yum!
I visited with two sisters and one of their boyfriends (incidentally, I learned from a really friendly french girl on the train to Nice that the French word for boy or girl friend is petite ami or little friend, which I found quite funny) from Mexico for awhile that I had met in the morning and called it a night. I didn't want to sleep in for two trains in a row!
I woke up in the morning to someone else in the hostel who had a flight to catch yelling, "It's 8:30!!". My train left at 8:45 and my alarm hadn't gone off. And I hadn't gotten in until about 3 AM. I tried to wake up instantly, throwing myself off my bunk in a poor attempt to jump down. My feet weren't quite awake yet and didn't manage to get under me, so I basically plummeted to my backpack on the grounud below, waking up the girl sleeping below me rather abruptly as well as spilling the contents of my day bag all over. I tried hurriedly to get everything packed in, but I couldn't close my suitcase and the clock kept ticking. Eventually, 8 minutes had passed and I was still not able to close my bag (though everything else was done) and I realized I was beaten. I jumped back up to bed and slept.
I was going to just stay another night in Barcelona, but the hostel was full, so rather than hunting a new one out, I went and caught a later train. Thankfully, I was only out the 6 Euro to reserve the train. I arrived in Montpellier around 8 PM and discovered quickly that my French is nowhere near as good as I thought it was. But I found my way via tram to the hostel and checked in for a night.
The next day was a whirlwind. I woke up, checked out, and met a couple guys from Red Deer with whom I explored the city. They were staying another night, but not me, so I had my massive backpack in tow. There were no lockers at the train station. We walked around and saw what appeared to be an aqueduct and some other neat sights. It's actually a cool town and again I wished I'd stayed a little longer, I would've liked to see the beach here too, since it's very Cancun-like in structure (a lagoon and a strip of beach on the ocean). We walked around from about 10 until 3 and I caught a 3:15 train to Avignon. I got there at 4:30 and booked a connection for two hours later to Nice. I'd been talked out on Marseille by too many people who'd travelled and not liked.
Anyway, with only two hours I cruised up the street from the station towards the Papal Residence, where the Pope had fled (and taken the Vatican with him) some 7 or 8 centuries ago. Hungry, I grabbed a Chicken and Cheese crepe, which, if I may say so, was exquisite. I wanted to eat on the run, but it was too messy, so I stopped at the foot of Palais de Pape and ate. A tour guide of older people came by looking at the place, but I swear that out of thirty of them, only five were listening to their guide. The rest were looking squarely at me and my meal. I gather it had been a long day for them too, and I heard people saying je faime and so on. About 15 separate people came up as I sat there eating to say Bon Apetite and make various small talk. It was quite interesting.
I finished my crepe and headed inside. For 9 Euros, you get inside and get one of those phone guides that talks about whereever you are. Mine crapped out quickly, but while interesting, it was just as well. The clock was ticking. I saw the place and was impressed, and made my way to the bridge, Pont Avignon, as heard in some song. Then, realizing I was 2 km away with only 30 mins to my train, I jogged a good portion of the way back, sweating like, well, someone that sweats a lot. I got there with five minutes to spare, and discovered, dripping sweat, that due to the strikes, my train had been cancelled. I did get upgraded to the ultra-high speed TGV which left in 30 mins, but I had to take a bus to get there and quickly. So I made it to that train stepping on just as it started to move. Whew. On to Nice.
Since yesterday, I'd wandered around Barcelona, Montepellier, Avignon, and now arrived in Nice. Talk about whirlwinds. The hostel in my guide to Nice was closed for the night, but by chance, The Pink Lady (named after the proprietor, who does, indeed, always wear pink) next door had an opening and was actually a decent place to stay. Jack, who really runs the place since he's actually multilingual, was super nice and I'm glad I got to stay there.
My last day in Ibiza was pretty uneventful. I woke up just early to get my free breakfast and slowly got ready to go to the beach (with lots of sunblock) and return my moped. I stopped by the beach downtown for maybe an hour but it wasn't very nice so I made my way back to the hostel and ran into Hayat (the girl from Morrocco) at the internet cafe en route. We were going to meet up again after work so I took off for the small beach near my hotel and chilled in the room for awhile after that. We did meet up and walked around the town a bit eating ice cream and drinking champagne coolies. OK, so no coolies. I had to get up quite early for the ferry in the morning so I didn't go out but I thought I'd had my share of that in Ibiza anyway.
I managed to make it to the bus and ferry with no problems, and spent the day lumbering across the Meditteranean. I got into Barcelona around dinner time and walked to my hostel the long way. Which is to say, taking a left instead of a right and not realizing for about a kilometre. Then, the hostel was NOT on the main street of Las Ramblas, but was actually accessible through a wrought iron gate labelled, thankfully, 42. The hostel does look out over Las Ramblas and is a pretty sweet location if I may say so. Also, the people were super friendly and lots of fun, and while I wasn't up for going out, I did get treated to some Sangrilla and cheap beer, and proceeded to have a really close game of chess with a state champion; As in we each had three pieces left, though he ultimately won by an idiotic mistake.
The next day, I subbed to Park Güell, a park I missed the first time around, designed by Gaudi. It was worth the steep hike to see it, although there were a few working escalators in the middle of the street that helped immensely. As did the water and nectarine that served as my breakfast.
From there, I hiked down to Sagrada Familla, also designed by Gaudi, which, though I'd seen before, was worth a second look. Such inspired lunacy. On the way I'd gotten hungry again, but since it's not a walk done by tourists, supermarkets were scarce to say the least. The one I found was another fruit stand, but as I was leaving the guy stopped me and I told him I was too hungry for just fruit. We talked for a little while and all of a sudden he walked to the fridge, pulled out a Fanta, grabbed some cherries, and gave them to me as I left, as a gift because I was a visitor. Very nice.
Anyway, I walked down past a bull fighting stadium, the Arc of Triumph in Barcelona, and to the old town near the beach. Then I walked along the beach back towards the hostel and to the hostel for a little rest. It was a long walk and nobody could believe it for some reason, I didn't think it was THAT long. Anyway, I went to the train station and reserved a spot on the 8:45 to Montpellier and came back to the hostel and showered.
I went out with some Australians and Americans and a girl from Canada, and we went to a couple bars but they were too full. We ran into some 18 year old girls on the street that kept the younger (but not that young) Aussies entertained and seemed to know a cool club, so we followed them until it became clear we weren't going to be finding anything. Me and three others had finally had enough and split off from the group (they were invited to follow and wanted to but were much too drunk). In the end, we sat in Plaza Real drinking our six pack and sitting in a circle on the ground. Good night!
Just a quick note to say the last week or so has been nuts and no time or ability to get to the net for protracted times. Yesterday I left Barcelona for Montpellier (with some regrets since I had so much fun there but that's a long story for another time) mid afternoon. Arrived at 9:00. Spent the next morning exploring the city, took the 3:14 to Avignon and, due to some train strikes in France, spent an extra hour there before coming to Nice where I am tonight. Tomorrow to Cannes, maybe with a couple from NYC and then who knows. Would type more but this keyboard is impossible. Layout is
AZERTYUIOP QSDFGHJKLM WXCVBN
and then theer's the weird symbols and sticky space bar and hoz you have to use SHIFT to make nu,bers or a period.
