Geneva Times Three

I return to Geneva to catch my flight which is at 6am. Saideh, a fellow East High Blue Ace, has agreed to host me. She has been working Geneva for a while now. She gives me a tour of some of her favorite parts including a really nice roast chicken restaurant. It was pretty fun talking about highschool and Wichita subjects.



In the morning both of our alarms miss fire and I end up waking up naturally around 6:15. My flight leaves at 7:30 so we scramble to the tram station and take it to the train station. There we catch a cab to the airport. Somehow we managed to catch my flight.

Laosanne & Lucern

The two L cities were all that I could squeeze into my Switzerland tour before my plane leaves for Morocco. My next stop is Lausanne. Our hostel is near the train station and a good half hour walk to the lake. The lake area is picturesque like many parts of Switzerland. The water blends into the distant mountain. The effect makes the mountains look like they’re actually floating in the air.







Lucern is famous for its wooden bridge. I stayed in Lucern a lot longer since the rain hindered most of my exploration the first two days. None the less I was able to check out the markets and around the water and marina area. The weather in Lucern is definitely cooler. When the sun is out a short sleeve tshirt is fine, but when it disappears behind the clouds a light jacket is necessary.

Geneva Times Two

I arrive back to Geneva after a great time in Interlaken and head towards one of the only hostels in town. As I walk along the sidewalk pass the Ferrari dealership it starts to rain. I continue my pace. I know exactly where I am going and that shelter is just around the corner.



The rain subsides and I find a fellow traveler to explore Geneva with. We end up walking around the train station area and grab some kebab, since that is the cheapest thing around. The following day I get up early in the morning to check out the UN headquarters and also the Red Cross Museum.



Visitors to Geneva and most other Swiss cities pay a tourist tax. With this tax I receive a free public transportation card to use on the trams and buses. A Canuck and I take the tram all the way to the end to where the UN headquarters are located. There in the square of fountains where a giant three legged wood chairs stand. Around the corner is the entrance to the public tours.



The Red Cross museum is our first stop. The entire tour was quite short and one time through is probably enough for a lifetime. There were many interesting stories about acts of kindness and it was quite inspiring. I find that the entire city of Geneva has a mother like caring tendencies toward the world.



To enter the UN headquarters I had to have your passport. In addition I needed to get another mug shot and have a temporary id card made. Once I go through all the paperwork and metal detectors you are allowed on the campus, where I was instructed to go directly to the tour building. Once there, we are herded throughout the meeting rooms and discuss all the roles that the UN plays. The halls of all the buildings are lined with artworks and antiques from all the members.



It is Anh’s goodbye party since she will be moving back to Montreal for grad school. We all meet at the train station. This is typical of Geneva. The train station is usually the rendezvous point for many outings. Huynh and I met Anh and her family there. And we saw plenty of groups waiting around for people. After all of Anh’s friends show up, we head back towards the direction of my hostel and eat a Chinese restaurant. After eating one of the most expensive plates of duck, we all go out drinking at a local pub. The night ends pretty early since it is a weekday.

Extreme Glacial Water Canyoning: Interlaken, Part III

It is our last day in Interlocken and I awake early yet again and scramble to find an empty spot on the 7hour canyoning trip. Luckily the company that I had booked the rafting trip had spots available and I even got 10% off since I this was my second outing with them. We are dressed in pretty much the same gear as rafting but with extra helmet and waist strap diaper looking contraption. Our helmets each have a call sign on them. My helmet was Rocky.



The bus took us to grab some energy food for breakfast and then to the top of the canyon. We walk through the forest for a quite a long trek before coming up to the entrance of the canyon. The first jump is the tallest at roughly 20meters. At this point the guide informs us that if there is anyone that doesn’t feel comfortable doing this that this is point of no return because once you’ve jumped down this waterfall there is no exit except for down. There are numerous jumps and slides ranging in sizes. My favorite one was where you have to run out and jump out past a gap to where your back hits the side of a slide. Then you slide down to a drop. At another point we do flips off a 8meter cliff and then climb up to a 16 meter cliff to do jumps.





At the end of the day we are tired and get some snacks before heading back. On the way down to the bus we are attacked by swarms of horse flies. We take turns quickly removing our wetsuits and defending ourselves from the flies. For some reason they are attracted to the wet suites. The day was probably one of the most extreme experiences I’ve had at Interlocken. The photographer wanted to sell us pictures for 48 Swiss Francs, but we cannot see the pictures before we buy them, we only get pictures of ourselves and group shots and finally the pictures are shot on medium jpeg on a Nikon D50 with kit lens. Hardly worth it if you asked me.






With Hyunh gone I head back to Geneva to figure out what I am going to do. I cannot go back to any Schengen countries and I cannot stay much long in Switzerland since it is so expensive. So I found a flight to Morocco for 120 Swiss Francs via easy jet. However my flight wasn’t until the 19th thus giving me plenty of time to explore more of Switzerland.

Extreme Downhill Mountainbiking: Interlaken, Part II

Anh and Klash left after the rafting the day before and Hyunh and I are left to try out some of the more extreme sports. We came to the conclusion that the rest of our stay Interlocken would be the epitome of extreme and thus I will try to work that word into my recollections of Interlocken was much as possible.. Ultimately we wanted to go canyoning on the 7hrs route which is supposed to be the most extreme route. We decided to save the best for last and thus the next full day we rented mountain bikes to do some exploring around the mountains.



Hyunh’s friend Lewis that he had previously met in Barcelona was randomly at our hostel. So together, the three of us found a bike rental place for 23 Swiss Francs for the entire day. We biked about 45minutes through road, gravel and then dirt trail to the midway point between Interlocken and Murren. A kayak competition was taking place. We had missed it the day before when there was a trick competition. Today is the semi-finalists races. The kayakers race in heats of 6 or say about 200meters above where we are sitting. The first 200meters is a straight away and then a 5meter waterfall followed by numerous rapids. From our viewpoint we can clearly see the peddle race to the waterfall and entries into the first series of rapids.



The extreme races ended and we continued by bike up to Murren. At the city we find an extreme gondola to take us up the town. The gondola goes up to a point where we call get off then board an extreme train that takes us the rest of the way. We queued in line and buy our tickets and then walk our bikes over to the bottom of the gondola where luggage items are stored. When get ready to board the extreme asshole that had originally told us to buy 15 Swiss Franc tickets orders us to come back and buy luggage tickets for our bikes. While queuing in line again, our original gondola takes off with our bikes on the bottom and we are left waiting again for the next gondola.



The views from the gondola are extremely breathtaking. What once was a small peak viewable from the bottom of the town has grown into a massive mountain that continues to grow as we ascend. At the midway point we get off the gondola to board the train and are unable to find our bikes. There is an automatic machine that takes the luggage compartment and moves the entire platform to another platform on the train. So we board the train hoping that our bikes have already been moved. At the very top we see three bikes stacked against the side of the train station and luckily they were ours.



One of the things you notice in Switzerland is the abundance of fresh drinkable water fountains. At Bulmer’s hostel where we are staying there is a sign at the fountain that says “the best drinking water in the world”. I assume that it gets better the farther we go up. At Murren we refill our free Balmer water bottles and explore the town. We can to the base of an extremely steep hill that is so steep that we are unable to climb it via peddling even at the lowest gear. At that area we break for lunch.



Switzerland is extremely expensive. The Swiss Franc is roughly on a one to one conversion as the US dollar however everything costs three to four times more. For example a BigMac value meal costs 14 Swiss Francs. It is because of that and the fact the Swiss aren’t really world renowned for their cuisine that we just buy lunch meat and bread for most of our meals. At our picnics area we keep seeing people walk up with massive bulky backpacks. It soon becomes apparent that they are paragliders carrying up their chute. They launch from the hill next to us taking from a clearing.



The downhill ride is probably the best part of mountain biking and makes the uphill journey well worth it. The trails going down consist of dirt and rocks that form switchbacks all the way down. We pick up extreme speed from the straight-aways and brake hard to negotiate the 180 degree turns. About half way down my hands start to get numb from the vibrations the front suspension takes from the rocks and my legs are getting sore from absorbing the bumps coming from the rear wheel. At that point another 180 degree emerges and I brake hard letting the rear kick out a little bit before releasing the rear brakes. It is then that I hear a bunch of branches snap behind me. I immediately stop completely and see Hyunh’s bike turned over on the side of the trail and Hyunh nowhere to be found.



I throw my bike against a tree and run back up the incline to where the bike is laying sideways with the rear wheel still spinning and I see a Hyunh climbing out from the trees below. We lost traction in the front wheel while trying to move to the outside of the turn and superman-ed off his handle bars. He scraped his palms pretty good and slowly blood was covering the scraped area. At that point Lewis finally catches up. We tear up one of Hyunh’s shirts and to clean the wound and I get to use my newly acquired Swiss Army knife to cut up some bandages.

Extreme Whitewater Rafting: Interlacken, Part I

We all decide that having sampled most of what Geneva has to offer, we should probably get going and see more of Switzerland. Our next destination is Interlocken. Interlocken is well known in the backpacker’s community and has always been a definite destination for me. It is known as the outdoor/extreme sport capital of Europe. From Geneva we train to Bern and then to Interlocken. The entire journey takes roughly 4 hours. The last 45minutes of the train ride is full of picturesque green scenery.



The air is crisp and fresh as we all exit the train. The walk to the hostel is full of sights of both the mountains surrounding the Interlocken. After dropping our packs off at Funny Farm hostel, Anh Hyunh and I sign up for some extreme sports. There was much debate about what we could actually do as a group. I suggest canyoning, however a certain person whose name starts with an A and ends with nh was too scared of the idea of jumping off 20m waterfalls. Thus we all signed up for white water rafting. Later that day Anh’s friend Klash joins us in exploring Interlocken.



Interlocken really is a busy place. Anytime you look towards the mountains you can see numerous paragliders floating from the tops of the mountains. Their multi-colored parachutes almost permanently decorate the skies above. The traffic through town is not heavy and exploring the city on foot is quite feasible. The sun is shining, the skies are blue, there is no traffic noise, the skies are blue, and water is crystal clear, drinkable and world renowned.



Early in the morning we wake up at 8am to go rafting. Its feels a bit cool in the morning and the rapids are glacial. After forcing our wet suits on we pile into a van. There is no one else that has signed up four our trip so it just me, Anh, Hyunh and Klash along with our two guides. After reaching our departure point our guide goes over the hazards and safety procedures. The first bit he talks about the various ways you can get hurt and describes the type of injures in this sport. He ends the lecture with “and if you fall in before to lean back and float feet first down the rapid and always point your toes up. If you don’t you can catch your foot on a raft which will pull you over and the force of the river will keep you under the water and we all know what happens when we’re underwater too long.” I look over at Anh and her face is pale and the look of utter fear is quite apparent.



Hyunh and I take positions in the front of the raft. One of our guides is on the rudder in the rear and the other guide is in a rescue/show-off kayak. We all splash ourselves with water to get a feel of the temperatures. It is quite cold. I use to think that night diving off California with a 7mil was cold, this shattered that feeling. I would describe the coldness as a bunch of little tiny needles poking you. However the numbness soon sets in and it’s not too bad after that. The constant rowing helps get the blood flowing and the only uncomfortable part are my hands.




Towards the end of the rafting trip the waters are much calmer and our guide lets us jump in and float alongside the raft. It was extremely cold, but I thought to myself, “When’s the next time I’ll have an opportunity like this”. I jump in and immediately assume of the floating position of feet first. The ice cold water knocks the wind out of me and just breathing alone feels exhausting. I try to keep my head above water because of how cold it is. Hyunh follows suite and we float down for what felt like 20minutes but was probably no more than 5minutes before we ask to be pulled back in. We paddle some more to get some blood flowing and heat back in our bodies.

Refuge in Geneva?

Switzerland is my escape from the Schengen Visa’s 90day limitation which I’ve probably already gone over. I use my last train pass on the last day of validity from Paris Gare de Nord to Geneva Switzerland. There at 11pm I am to meet my friend Anh and Hyunh who I met back in Granada. Anh and her family have just returned from a trip to the south of France and Morocco and have agreed to host Hyunh and me. As I walk past the custom agents, the double doors open and Anh and her family are already there waiting for me. We walk a little ways down and Hyunh has just arrived as well.



Anh actually lives on the France side of Geneva, which is pretty ironic since the main reason I came to Switzerland is to avoid overstaying in Schengen countries, including France. Luckily the border crossing is loosely regulated and that night there were no passport checks. We all managed to fit all my backpack, Hyunh’s backpack, and the luggage of Anh, her mom and her little sister. It was quit full and probably overloaded.




The next day we all go grocery shopping. Fruits vegetables and meat are cheaper on the France side, while everything else is cheaper on the Switzerland side. Anh cooks us a traditional Switzerland dish that consists of potatoes and cheese. The cheese is melted on the potato and is usually the typical meal while skiing or doing activities in the mountains. Thus Anh introduces Hyunh and me to traditional Swiss food while Hyunh and I introduce her to American sized appetite and portioning.
After brunch Anh takes Hyunh and me on a guided tour of Geneva. The most interesting part of the tour is that amount of fancy cars driving around. The river area is nice and open with a giant water feature that looks like a constant geyser. There really isn’t a whole lot to Geneva. We sampled the typical Swiss commodities such as chocolate. The interesting thing is that back home in the states there is usually a small section of an isle dedicated to sweets and chocolate. Here in Switzerland typical grocery stores have an entire isle or wall for chocolate bars. Hyunh and I also buy Swiss army knives.



We ended up going out and realized it was one of Anh's friend's birthdays. We all met at the train station and then headed out to the bars. The drinks in Switzerland are pretty expensive. The bar we went to was outside with a umbrellas which was perfect, because it started to rain. Regardless of the weather the pub was still full of people even outside in the patio area.