I must admit, I have naively believed Razor Scooters are a kids play toy. Geneva has proved me quite wrong. The Razor has suddenly morphed beyond the backpack and playground crowd to legitimize its place as an urban transportation device. While men, secure in their masculinity, can occasionally be seen on Razors, really, this is the realm of middle aged women. The first few times I noticed this, i thought she must have just been 'borrowing' the scooter from her child...but no child was near by. I ran it by Ashleigh, "You HAVE to document this!!!" How can i argue with that? The only problem was being fast enough on the draw to catch it in action. So Ashleigh offered to help out. The Razor to the right was piloted downtown to watch "Sex and the City 2". Photo credits to Ashleigh and no, she did not make me watch the movie.
Razor's are good on the bus too. The top photo is one heading to the bus stop and to the left, one on the bus. It all makes perfect sense: you don't have to lock it up outside, you can take it inside with you, it will deftly maneuver in and around densely populated streets and it's good on gently sloping hills. No wonder it's so popular. I had to look into it for myself so i went to the Razor Scooter department at the local store. And you thought Geneva only had good selections of chocolate, watches, cheese and retired Americas Cup boats! Yes, there were kids version of Razor's, but many more urban adventure type.
I haven't picked up my Razor yet...I'm still hoping one will show on up Craigslist.
Weekend Adventures: Brienz and Grindelwald, Switzerland
(June 25-27, 2010)
Preston and I met at the train station in Geneva for our 4:45pm train to Brienz (the trip was only about three and a half hours but we took four trains to get there via Spiez, Bern and Interlocken). Our official 1/2 price Swiss cards (with mug-shot like photos -- no smiling on Swiss official documents!) were ready as well which was exciting as we are that much more "real" Swiss residents. Of course the only train that was problematic/delayed of the four we took was the Italian!
Juan Jose and Stefan met us at the train station in Brienz and we walked back to Stefan and Renee's new vacation chalet, an amazingly beautiful home overlooking Brienzersee, a glacial lake just north of the Alps, part of the Berne Canton.
Stefan grilled us a delicious vegetable, fish and meat skewer dinner and we enjoyed a few bottles of Swiss wine. We had the most restful sleep, as we're sure you can imagine given the photo below was taken from our room at the chalet!
Saturday morning we took the train to Interlocken and made our connection to Grindelwald for an afternoon of fun. The four of us had lunch with amazing views (we enjoyed watching the paragliders, helicopters flying above the valley and the locals working their hay fields) while waiting for Renee and Finney, our host puppy, to meet us.
For our first adventure we took a gondola to Jungfraubahnen and took the "First Flieger" zip line down the mountain to Schreckfeld. This is a photo of Stefan, Preston, Juan Jose and I "pre-flight;" we had some jitters but we were able to take deep breaths of clean Swiss air to calm down a bit!
Preston and I rode "the flier" down together and Renee, Finney, Stefan and Juan were there to meet us. Here's the video of the experience:
We were so excited after the rush of the zip line (the line is visible if you look really hard in the photo above) that we signed up to "Trotti" down the remainder of the mountain.
Stefan had taken Juan to experience Trotti at a different spot Friday and after hearing about how much fun it was, how could we pass up the opportunity?! Trotti is essentially a razor scooter equipped for downhill mountain terrain - a lot of fun. Renee, Juan, Preston and I had a great time and we didn't even take out any mountain goats!
We all took the train back to Brienz and had an Italian dinner while we watched the U.S. Worldcup match against Ghana. It was an overtime heartbreak of a loss (and a bit painful to listen to the American students studying in Geneva bickering at the table next to us!) but we wish Ghana well.
Sunday we took a 1:38pm train from Brienz to Geneva (Juan joined us for some of the trip as he was taking the train to Brussels for his Microsoft conference) and arrived at about 5pm. We decided to embrace our new city and explore swimming in the Lake. We found "Geneve Plage," a beautiful swim center with a pool, slide and entrance to swim in the Lake; all with views of the Jet D'eau. For only CHF 7 you can spend the day -- perhaps some Expedia meetings should take place there?
En route to dinner we ran into a few Expedia colleagues, Ming, Brian, Andy and Andy's wife, Cindy and enjoyed a nice Sunday evening meal together. Another adventure-filled and memorable Swiss weekend ... the only thing missing was Krystal Perez.
*******
Weekend Trip to Brienz
Dates:
Friday – Sunday, June 25-27, 2010
Excursions:
Saturday zip line: took the Jungfrau Railway to the top of Schrekfeld for our "First Flieger" experience
Saturday trotti: rented trotti bikes to "scoot" down Schrekfeld to the Grindelwald valley
Sunday visit to "Geneva plage"
Where we stayed:
Stefan and Renee's Swiss chalet in Brienz (chalet name TBD!)
The Walls' Review:
Hotel/accomodations review: Amazing views, incredible hosts ... we highly recommend friending Stefan and Renee (and their havanese puppy, Finney, too!)!
Other comments: The Canton of Berne is German-speaking. It's amazing such a small country has so many different "primary" languages. The beauty of the lakes and the mountains continue to amaze us. We look forward to visiting Interlacken again and scheduling some more fun activities.
We left Friday afternoon and took a direct train to Milan. Aside from the girl that Preston sat next to that must've been deaf considering how loud she was listening to bad techno on her iPod, it was a lovely trip.
When we found our hotel, we were pleasantly surprised with its location and set out to S H O P ! It was a beautiful summer night and we decided to walk past the Duomo di Milano and see if we could find a cafe for dinner. Along the way Preston found a great pair of jeans to contribute to his ever-expanding "euro" wardrobe.
After exiting the Diesel store, we saw a police escort pass by and when we took a closer look we realized all of Milan was screaming for a VERY heavily hair-gelled Matthew McConaughey launching his new fragrance at one of the Dolce & Gabbana stores. The funny thing about Dolce & Gabbana in Milan ... it's like the Gap ... there's literally one on every corner. It's truly unbelievable.
We parked ourselves at a prime table at Cafe Madonna where the people watching was awesome. We lingered there for a few hours and decided to take a little detour home and window shop. We stumbled upon Via della Spiga, on the northeast part of the Quadrilatero della Moda, and we were not disappointed. Tiffany was actually one of the less notable shops. We got a little lost :) but made it back to the hotel without copping out for a taxi cab (although it might have been suggested!).
We started early Saturday morning knowing there was a lot we wanted to do. After eating at the hotel (Preston had what he called his dream breakfast, a nutella croissant) we vendured to the Duomo. We opted to take the stairs to the top for 5 euros (8 euros for the crowded elevator). I had been there in 1995 and I had completely forgotten how incredible this church, the fourth largest in the world, really is. It took five centuries to complete and the baroque-gilded bronze Madonna on top was once the highest point in Milan (the Pirrelli Tower's now the highest but that was hit by a small plane in 2002 so you have to think it's not the luckiest of buildings!).
We toured the inside of the church for a bit and hit the same spot, Cafe Madonna, for lunch (not too original but the people watching was really that great).
We left plenty of time to get back to the hotel and get to the train station but that didn't stop us from having an incredibly frustrating experience at the Milan train station. None of the ticket machines were working (to give context to how upset I was, Preston offered an Italian gentleman behind us in line 20 euros to buy our 10 euro tickets to Lake Como, keep the change -- no luck for him either). We boarded the train without tickets and felt somewhat vindicated that they never checked tickets so it was a free ride. When we arrived at the Lake the rain was pouring down but it was still a beautiful scene. We had taken a train to Varenna, on the east side of the lake, and needed to go to Griante, on the west, where our hotel was. In the middle of the Lake, between these villages (I'm learning that's what everyone here calls "towns") is Bellagio. Bellagio is the intersection of the "Y" that everyone describes as the shape of Lake Como. Is a pretty resort town with overpriced (in my opinion!) silk shops and some small jewelers.
Despite not loving our hotel on Lake Como, we were impressed by our room's view. It was beautiful even on a rainy day.
We walked all along the waterfront and Preston enjoyed seeing the enormous lake fish swimming below. We took the ferry back to Bellagio (in the 24 hours we were in the area, we rode the ferry five times!) to walk some more and enjoy the evening. We stopped at Hotel Splendid for happy hour outside on their patio (I had a delicious passionfruit martini). We were also pleasantly surprised that it's relatively common to have free h'ors d'oeuves with happy hour.
We walked around some more and stopped for dinner at the Hotel Bellagio. The food was incredible (Preston had gnocchi with sausage and I had pasta basilico) and we shared a bottle of red wine from the region.
We called downstairs at 10:30 Sunday morning only to find out check-out was actually at 10. Oops. They kindly allowed us to stay until noon, which we did, and we took the ferry back across the lake to take the same route on which we came back to Geneva. We stopped in Bellagio for lunch (I had the world's best vegetable soup at Bar Oastuccerua Sabremo) and Milan for dinner.
By the time we arrived in Geneva it was nearly 10pm (on Father's Day -- happy day to our dads!) so it was a very long trip back. But worth it. See you soon, Italy!
Hotel review: We loved our hotel in Milan, the Hotel Cristofo Colombo, and were just "so so" about the property on Lake Como. The hotel in Milan was well situated between the train station and the main shopping center. They had a nice breakfast spread and a very cool design asthetic (half of the entrance way was covered, half not, behind the facade of the entrance of the building). The gentleman behind the desk was also extremely helpful in helping us find trains/times to Lake Como.
We upgraded to a lake view balcony room at the hotel on Lake Como, the Hotel Britannia Excelsior. The hotel was situated very close to the ferry stop which was a plus and the views were gorgeous from our room; but the room wasn't impressive, the shower was basically three plastic panels shabbily connected and the tv was fuzzy (annoying during World Cup time). The breakfast felt like a cruise ship meal gone array as it was meant to accomodate, without exaggeration, over 500 people. The majority of the clientele were elder Brits (in fairness, we knew this but the hotel pictures still convinced us to book), who were nice, but looked like they were all part of a tour group -- which I think they were!
Other comments: While the trip to Milan was direct and easy from Geneva, we tried to cram too much into one weekend and we spent nearly 10 hours travelling home Sunday from Lake Como -- do one or the other, Milan or the Lakes, for a short weekend stay.
Weekend Adventures: Zermatt and the Mattherhorn (June 11-13, 2010)
Friday began with yet another apartment search. Elisabeth, our character of a relocation specialist (she loves the word “merde,” drives like she’s on the autoban and has pointed out seemingly every cabaret in Geneva), took us to a lovely apartment with an incredible balcony, amazing wood floors, lots of space and light. We put in an application only to learn within five minutes that it was already accounted for – such is life with trying to find an apartment here.
We tried to not allow the apartment let-down ruin our day and headed to the Geneva train station to plan our weekend adventure to Zermatt and the Matterhorn. After three trains, we arrived and the long trip was well worth it. Our hotel made an amazing impression before we even checked in; we had to enter through steel gates (a la Wizard of Oz!) and walk through a cave cut out through the base of the hotel’s hill and take an elevator up to reception.
We checked into our room that overlooked the Matterhorn (the weather changed very quickly so one minute you could see the peak and the next it was fogged over) and ventured into the lovely town. The people are incredibly friendly (they speak impeccable English) and it reminded us of locals living in Whistler -- they are there for sport, fresh air and amazing views. We toured the climbers’ chapel, the little shops in Zermatt, loved the electric cars and stopped at La Dolce Vita for a great dinner.
Saturday morning we got up early and hiked all day. We took a gondola to Sunnegga paradise (2288 meters). We stopped for some photos and continued up to Blauherd (2571 meters). From there we hiked the rest of the afternoon to the Rothorn paradise (3103 meters). Aside from the mountain goats that looked like they'd never seem Americans before (Preston showed them some dance moves!) and a CRAZY guy riding a bicycle down the glacier, we felt like we had the entire alpine valley to ourselves.
By the time we stopped hiking, within 10 minutes, the snow rolled in. After some rotti and a much needed drink at the summit lodge, we descended the mountain via gondola. From there we hit the spa at the hotel. They had multiple steam rooms and a view of the Matterhorn from the hot tubs. That night we watched the U.S. vs England World Cup match at Grampi’s pub and people watched.
Sunday we had breakfast at the hotel and wandered around to the gondolas to take us to the Klein Matterhorn. We found this random trail that had the stations of the cross along it and Preston loved the architecture of homes build on stilts of stone and wood.
I was petrified of the heights the gondola scaled and when we got to the top there was about three feet visibility! We walked through ice caves, took some pictures and had hot chocolate at the top. As you can see in this photo, ice storms are not rare during June in Switzerland!
We boarded the 4:30pm train back to Geneva. Great weekend ... our half price Swiss rail passes will surely be coming in handy!
******* Weekend Trip to Zermatt Dates: Friday – Sunday, June 11-13, 2010
Excursions:
Saturday hike: Inner-mountain train and gondola to Sunnegga paradise, hike up to Rothorn paradis, visit to the Zermatt hikers chapel, shopping in Zermatt
Big U.S.A. versus England World Cup match (spectating only!) at Grampi's in Zermatt
Sunday gondola rides to the top of the Klein Matterhorn
Hotel review: An amazing hotel with a friendly staff and incredible views of the Matterhorn. Stay there just to go through the underground cave that leads to reception! The free wifi in the rooms is fabulous too.
Other comments: Visiting Zermatt this weekend was a first for both Preston and I. Zermatt is definitely a town you can see in a weekend but it's a place we'll surely visit again. Between the hiking, undoubtedly amazing skiing, the spas and the scenery, it's a place we'd visit during any season. We also saw people zipling as we approached town descending from the Klein Matterhorn.
Thanks to the local version of Facebook in Geneva, glocals.com, we found some fellow english-speakers to explore a new bar with. Some of our new friends, Minda, a Dane, and Johanna, from Brazil, were holding down a corner of the bar.
Settling in Geneva is somewhat like being at the crossroads of the first day of school, the first week of work and the first month of living in a new place—all wrapped into one. You don’t know much about the town, let alone your way around; you must adjust to new surrounds, expectations and customs...and curiously, you realize more people than you thought are in a similar situation.
Minda had organized the group and played hostess as more people arrived. Next in was Fahrrad, a likeable English guy. We talked soccer, most of the worlds icebreaker at the moment. As the table grew in its numbers so too did the characters surrounding it.
Gradually rising to a crushing crescendo, an oafish Egyptian and Johanna lept in Portuguese, maintaining an animated conversation diagonally across the table. “Ahh,” he broke out, quickly changing back to English, “I love to hear real Portuguese; the Europeans absolutely butcher the language. The rest of the table, all Europeans, turned to look at the source of the recklessly inflammatory remarker. Without missing a beat and as if not to leave us out of the mix, he started a side conversation with Ashleigh and I. “What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual. And what do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi…as in bi-lingual. What do you call someone who only speaks one language? American!”
Having done his damage at our end of the table, the foul-smelling, sweat-factory of a man plopped himself on the bench seat next to Minda, blocking her exit from behind the table. While I briefly felt bad for her, I knew she could hold her own…until I overheard part of their conversation. “100 swiss franks for half an hour! I mean what can she possibly do to me in half an hour that’s worth that much money?”
“yeah,” a shocked and mystified Minda started, “that’s not something that I have a lot of experience with.” She moved him aside so she could retreat to the relative safety of the adjacent table. Ashleigh and I did the same—on our walk back across town.
Sadly, the only picture we took from our going away party. A rolex/swiss watch themed "it's time to go" cake!
A huge thanks to all our friends who came out to wish us bon voyage at our Memorial Day/See You Soon Soiree.
We loved seeing so many friends (and their kids!) running around, enjoying the sun that broke through an otherwise rainy Seattle day and munching on the great food James prepared.
Happy Memorial Day, friends. And don't forget about us for two years!
I must admit, I have naively believed Razor Scooters are a kids play toy. Geneva has proved me quite wrong. The Razor has suddenly morphed beyond the backpack and playground crowd to legitimize its place as an urban transportation device. While men, secure in their 
masculinity, can occasionally be seen on Razors, really, this is the realm of middle aged women. The first few times I noticed this, i thought she must have just been 'borrowing' the scooter from her child...but no child was near by. I ran it by Ashleigh, "You HAVE to document this!!!" How can i argue with that? The only problem was being fast enough on the draw to catch it in action. So Ashleigh offered to help out. The Razor to the right was piloted downtown to watch "Sex and the City 2". Photo credits to Ashleigh and no, she did not make me watch the movie.
Razor's are good on the bus too. The top photo is one heading to the bus stop and to the left, one on the bus. I
t all makes perfect sense: you don't have to lock it up outside, you can take it inside with you, it will deftly maneuver in and around densely populated streets and it's good on gently sloping hills. No wonder it's so popular. I had to look into it for myself so i went to the Razor Scooter department at the local store. And you thought Geneva only had good selections of chocolate, watches, cheese and retired Americas Cup boats! Yes, there were kids version of Razor's, but many more urban adventure type.
