01 December 2008

Geneva is Beautiful!

Of the changes that I have undergone while being abroad, one of them is my ability to appreciate nature more. Thank God this happened before I got to Switzerland - because words cannot even describe the utter beauty of this country's landscape. Before the plane even hit the ground, my eyes were glued to looking out the window. We were flying over the ice-capped Swiss Alps, and it was absolutely gorgeous! We landed, and still the mountain range was still in sight... And then, we got to Geneva's city center - and anyone who didn't appreciate nature before would have changed that in an instant. Geneva is cradled between two mountain ranges, the Jura and the Alps. In this cradle lies the absolutely clear waters of Lake Geneva, of which a bit of the Rhone River feeds into. I was stunned when I saw the water. I could not get over the pristine, almost crystal like quality to it. It reminded me of Greece- tempting to just want to jump into... But only then I'd freeze. The weather wasn't to bad either. Our first day was cloudy, but at least in wasn't raining, as what Accuweather had forcasted. There were bits of sun throughout the day, so that was nice. The next day was so much better. It reminded me of Monterey in the Winter. It was cold, but bearable, and the sun was still out enough to where you could feel its heat radiating against the cold.

While in Geneva, of course we had chocolate! I'll admit, the chocolate was one of the driving reasons of going. I felt so much more like a fatty as I walked into a local store to buy about 10 bars of chocolate to bring home as souvenirs... Yeah, at least its worth it! Other sites were Old Town, which had St. Pierre's Cathedral. Beautiful architecture in this part of the city- very Venetian looking, with cobblestone paths, cute little alleys. Down by the harbor we saw the Flower Clock, and of course the Jet. We made a stop by the United Nations European headquarters, which was really exciting actually! People spoke French there, so it was good that I had someone with who could remotely get us by with me. Aside from that, everything is SO EXPENSIVE! And sadly, I gave into Starbucks... It was by the far the MOST expensive Caramel Macchiato I have ever had in my life! Overall, Geneva was a great destination to end my traveling journeys while abroad. HOME IN 2 WEEKS!






With love from London,
Carla

2 comments:

p said...

dude. geneva switzerland was where i originally wanted to study abroad. i didnt apply bc its freakishly expensive. but yay for chocolate :). my friend brought me back some chocolate from switzerland and it totally liquified while i was eating it. LOL. but it was good and i ate the whole bar by myself. mkay bye!

Anonymous said...

omgosh
did you get...
WHITE CHOCOLATE??!!! :D