Common Sights

I just wanted to share some pictures of common sights  around  Geneva and CERN. Not beautiful by any means but a glimpse into the everyday. 

Yum!

 

These are in every chocolate shop and I have seen them in supermarkets as well. Anybody know if there is any significance? All of them have the Geneva Canton symbol on the front and are filled with smaller pieces of chocolate and marzipan. 

 

CERN Bustop Parking Lot - The flags were up this day.

 

CERN Bustop at Gate 2. 

 

Restaurant 1 - Looking Toward The Hostel Hotel We Stayed In. Notice the santa's climbing the columns.

 

Restaurant 1 Again - Looking back toward the kitchen of the left. At lunchtime, the place is completely packed and almost every chair is filled. It a world of knowledge in this room and supposedly - decisions get made over coffee and espresso here. 

 

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Strasbourg - Christmas Capital

This past weekend we visited Strasbourg, France - the self proclaimed Capital of Christmas. December is the tourist season for the relatively small city and it is obvious why. The streets are lined with lights and decorations. The lighted streets are bustling with christmas shoppers and smiling faces. If you follow the crowds around from one lighted street to the next, you will eventually hit all of the different Christmas markets around town. Many people are drinking big glasses of GluWein (spiced wine) and wandering about. 

We arrived at our hotel on Friday night and stayed in a small place by the train station. We parked easily at the train station garage and walked to our hotel. Our hotel was named Hotel Victoria and thankfully was a non-smoking establishment. Our room still smelled like someone had smoked in it despite the rules. It was a cute pedestrian street lit up with christmas lights that connected the train station to the center of town. 

We woke up Saturday morning and headed out in the light rain in search of breakfast. I had a sugared pretzel and Rob had a chocolate donut. Since it was lightly raining most people headed to the cathedral to take in some warmth and see the inside. An orchestra practice was going on onstage and Rob and I walked as close at we could to listen for awhile. There were lots of tour groups and the church was very crowded. 

We left after seeing all that we could see and headed to do some Christmas shopping. I finally found a pair of boots I liked and fit around my calf! I have been searching for several months now with no luck. Rob said they looked really "Euro". 

We hit every Christmas Market we could find (there was about 8 or so ranging in different sizes and specialties). The crowds got a little crazy and since we were in France - there were annoying rude people as usual. Why do people think it is okay to smoke in the middle of a crowd where nobody has an opportunity to escape the smell? 

We headed to a place called "Au Brasseur" for dinner. It was recommended as a budget place in WikiTravel and it described it as a brewery as well. We had the local cuisine  - "Alsation Tarte Flambes" which is basically just super thin pizza. We both a a goat cheese, onion, tomato, and garlic tarte and a couple of the beers brewed locally. The place was extremely crowded but we were patient and got a table within half an hour or so.  The region is also known for its "choucroute" (sauerkraut) which we didn't sample. It is normally served heaping on a plate with a variety of meats piled on top. 

On our way out of town on Sunday we stopped in Fribourg, Germany. (About a 30 minute drive from Strasbourg) We didn't stay long but we looked at the Freiburger Muenster Cathedral and walked around yet again another christmas market. At one of the stands there were some german sausages on rolls that looked really tasty. I didn't partake because we had a large breakfast but they sure looked tasty! We did some quick grocery shopping at the train station and headed back to Geneva. 

We checked in to our new place for the next three weeks. The Citea Hotel Residence in Prevassin, France. It is a 2 bedroom (even though we only paid for a one bedroom) apartment with a kitchen! No more cafeteria food! We finally get to cook at home. It is a quick drive to CERN from here and it is in the French Countryside. It is right on the border (within 1 km) and will be a nice change of pace from the CERN hotel. I was tired of all the physicists using up all the hot water anyways! 

Cathédrale Notre Dame. Built between 1176 and 1439

 

Orchestra Inside Practicing

 

Cathédrale Notre Dame

 

Stained Glass From Inside 

 

Large Tapestries Lined The Center Walkway

 

It cost 20 cents to turn on the lights for this! Of course - we didn't pay for it. We let some other faithful tourist do that. (Jesus on Mt of Olives?)

 

Buy a candle for 1 Euro!

 

Dome above stage

 

From East Side Outside

 

At Nightime From Side

 

Christmas Ornaments!!!

 

Christmas Market In Front of Cathedral

 

Rob buying some GluWein (Spiced Wine)

 

Confectionary Store (Christmas Cookies)

 

More Christmas Markets...

 

Christkindelsmärik, Place Broglie - The Mother Of All Christmas Markets!

 

It was insanely crowded

 

The Village of Sharing, Place Kléber - Christmas Tree

 

Petite France - Why is it named this? Click Here!

 

More Market Goodness

Small christmas trees being sold. 

 

I am not the biggest fan of plain old gluwein. There were plenty of other spiced drinks to try. Jus de Pomme (Spiced Apple Cider), Jus de Orange, and Vin Blanc (Spiced White Wine - Yum!)

 

Lots of fried bread goodness including - sugared pretzels, churros with nutella, and waffles. 

 

Freiburg Muenster Cathedral (Sorry about the quality - these next pictures were taken with the iphone) 

 

Tarte Flambes 

 

Beers at Au Brasseurs 

 

On the way up we stopped a diner called "Cindy's Diner". Rob ordered a fish sandwich - it came with egg, and cucumber? I finally got an "American" breakfast complete with hashbrowns, bacon, eggs, and toast! They even had Tabasco - I was in heaven! 

 

Learn more about the Alsace Region and Strasbourg. 

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Christmas Cartoons

I don't have much to blog about today. So instead, I wanted to share some of my favorite Christmas cartoons. Hope everyone is getting in the spirit! 

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Apartment Clarifications

I just wanted to clarify the apartment situation for the family back home. After only two weeks of searching we were offered a place on a Thursday on the spot. We were told never to turn anything down, so we accepted and were going to move in on Dec 1st. The morning we were going to sign the lease, we recieved a phone call saying we were accepted into another place. This second offer was a much better deal (almost 500CHF cheaper), larger, and in just as good of a location. Plus the second offer had an "open" kitchen instead of the kitchen closet. It really was a no brainer to take the second one. 

There were some consequences though. There is a 300CHF penalty for not signing the lease because they had already drawn up the papers. The second consequence is that we don't get to move in till Jan 3rd. That means we will be staying in the CERN Hotel till Dec 18. From Dec 18-26 we will be in a hotel. From Dec 26-Jan 3 we will be traveling anyway. (This actually helps us from having to pay an apartment rent and hotel costs for the same nights.)

Rob and I are still debating whether we should get a Swiss Bank Account. People here pay their bills thru the post office with these pink slips. I find it very odd. Below is a snippet from phdcomics.com on the swiss banking/housing circle. I really enjoy reading those comics. Jane is my favorite charactor (for obvious reasons). 

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Free Car Phone

So after purchasing the car and driving it around for the weekend, Tina and I decided that we better go vacuum the car out. For some reason the dealer had not cleaned the car at all. When we purchased the car there was a place to mount a cell phone. We thought that it was just an annoying thing that we would have to remove, but while cleaning the car Tina found the matching cell phone in the seat. Totally 90s!


Anyway, I put a sim card in it and it works great! So now we have a super-cool 90s car phone!

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An Update On The Car

Sorry to keep everyone waiting - but finally here are some pictures of the car!!!

Rob & The Car

The Little Green Machine

Rob at the Swiss DMV picking up the license plates.

(The DMV is just as slow and not any better then the US)

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Zurich

Zurich Panorama From Cathedral Tower

 

Rob and I took a small trip after picking up our car on Friday to Zurich. Rob had been there before with his family but it was my first trip. We got a little lost when driving in from the A1 freeway but got back on our way following signs to the center. We stayed in a "gay" friendly hotel on the east side of the river on the main "strasse" that runs thru the old town. We actually had booked a place that was lower budget guesthouse on another street in old town but we had to check in at the main hotel. (One of the only hotel rooms we could find) The reception guy informed us that he had an extra room in the main hotel (which had internet) if we wanted it. It was a free upgrade so we took it.

We were warned there was on the 2nd and 3rd floor gay disco's and that they would be very loud. We can confirm that they were very loud and we heard music both nights till 6 in the morning. Needless to say, our rest this trip was limited. On the second night, Rob figured out how to get his laptop to play "rainforest" music to help drown out the base from downstairs. Overall, it was a great location, lively, very clean and modern, and ummm friendly. :)

We headed out on Saturday morning to the Christmas Market in the main train station. We had some "breakfast" crepes. I had a lemon sugar and Rob had gruyere and mushrooms. Both were very tasty and hit the spot. We browsed the market for awhile and then headed down Bahnhofstrasse which is the main shopping street in the center of town. The street is loaded with brand name stores and reminds me a lot of Rue De Confederaration in Geneva. We browsed a few chocolate shops and sampled some hot chocolate from the famous Sprungli Confectionary store. The map that was given to us in our "friendly" hotel lobby showed a suggested walking path for tourist to see all the sights. We followed the path on the east side of the river and then decided to go sit on the benches overlooking the lake. 

We walked thru old town and stopped at the distillery Rob had been to on his previous trip. This was actually the place that Rob had gotten my liquour christmas gift 3 years ago. The last time he was there he was able to taste before he bought. This time we were informed that you could only taste the balsamic and the olive oil. We asked about an sweet apple flavor and she recommended one. She actually had some sitting there heating up ready to be drunk so she offered some to us. She poured the glass and added some whip cream. She said to drink fast since she didn't want to get in trouble. We happily obliged. 

For lunch, we headed to the Globus in town and Rob had a veggie sandwich while I tried the local fare outside. There was this stand that was very busy and was selling bratwurst, mustard, and a roll for 5.50CHF. It was SO good. The mustard was spicy and the roll was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Yum! I love Swiss-German food. After lunch, we headed back to our hotel and took a quick nap.

Around 8 PM or so we headed back out onto town. We had decide earlier that morning to stop at the train station to have some hot mulled spiced wine at the christmas market before heading to dinner. We payed our 10 CHF and had a try. I really didn't like it. It burned my tounge and didn't have enough spice. Bleh. I threw at least half of it away. Oh well, I can't like everything. 

For dinner, we found an amazing place! Hiltl is the oldest vegetarian restuarant in all of Europe dating back to 1898. Just because it is old doesn't mean it was rustic. They renovated the place in March 2007 and it is very modern and comforting. Without reservations we walked in and got a great place on the 2nd floor by the window. We love coming to vegetarian restaurants because it gives Rob a chance to experience the amount of choices everyone else is used to. Normally, he has to eliminate everything off the menu except for maybe 2-3 things. At Hiltl he could order anything he wanted. I had the vegetable paella with artichokes, onion rings, eggplant, cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, blackened chili's, sweet peas, and carrots. It was delicious. Rob order Mushroom Strogonaff with a potato rosti. It had a dollop of sour cream on top and admittedly was the better of the two dishes. For dessert I had a trio of little sorbets. (See Picture Below) They were very unique flavors including, tropical (guava/pineapple/etc.), carrot-coconut (surprisingly yummy), and chocolate mint. It has some starfruit, apples, and blueberries on top. Rob has a traditional chocolate cake. This round I had the better dish. A unique thing about the restaurant was the tap water. There was a station that you served yourself. You had to serve the tap water to yourself or else they would charge you for it. It was refreshing but was a long walk back to our table. 

After dinner we walked back to our hotel and fell asleep almost immediately. We opted not to take any public transport and walk all day long. Plus, I wanted to get to sleep before the disco started going strong. 

The Distillery Shop

Old Town Cobblestone Streets Lit Up For Christmas

East Side Of Lake Old Town

Sorbet Dessert At Hiltl

Flying Rats Need Water Too

Christmas Market At Train Station

Blooming Flower Teas (This is my kind of cup of tea)

Blooming Flower Teas

Swarovski Crystal Decorated Christmas Tree (Not My Cup of Tea) 

Chocolate

More Chocolate

By The River

Lindenplatz

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