Track-Tripping en Suisse

Mary and I were too busy having fun for me to stop and blog about it, so it’s taken me a bit to chronicle all of our adventures :)  Once this post’s up about Switzerland, more European adventure stories will be soon to come! 

Joelle captured Mary and me having a little picture fun!

Unfortunately, I still had to work a little bit when Mary was here- Tuesday when I was in class all day, she headed to Avignon and toured with Hannah.  On Wednesday, the Patris family took the two of us to Fountaines de Vaucluse, which is a nearby city with a famous spring.  Apparently, even though they’ve sent divers way way down, they haven’t been able to locate the source of the water yet… *cue the creepy music* but in all seriousness, it was a really neat place!  They also had a paper-making factory, and there were several water wheels which helped to power the factory.  So cool!  

Breaking out my inner child

After I finished work on Thursday, the two of us took off and caught the train to Grenoble.  We couldn’t see much because we arrived late at night, but in the morning, we realized just what a spectacular place we were visiting!!  One of the best things in Grenoble is la Bastille, a fortress finished in 1592 up at the top of a mountain that overlooks the city.  It bears the same name at the famous prison that was overtaken in Paris during the French Revolution (and the French national holiday, Bastille Day, on July 14) but that’s just because the word bastille means fortress in French.  There are cable cars that go up to the top, but we decided that the hike was probably prettier and man, was it ever gorgeous!  We started things off playing in an adorable playground and the two of us climbed on one of those pyramid structures that Hannah and I saw in Nice (the one you don’t let your kids on if you value their lives!)  All along the way we had awesome views of the surrounding city and it was an absolutely beautiful day… zero regrets.  When we arrived at the top, we were rewarded with five things:

Obviously had to have a lil' fun

     1.   Paintings of men in strange, somewhat provocative poses on random walls/surfaces

     2.   Plaques explaining the history of the fortress and also pointing out different places in the city, including sites that were used when Grenoble hosted the Olympics in 1968

      3.  A giant replica of Schuss, the first Olympic mascot, and hence Mukmuk’s ancestor (If you don’t know who Mukmuk is… shame.  He was very important in the Vancouver Olympic Games this past winter and my roommate Kara and her man, David, are both obsessed!)

4.  An Alpine Soldiers museum.  It was 100% free and one of the coolest museums that I have ever visited.  We didn’t take pictures, but if you ever end up in Grenoble, I highly encourage you to check it out! 

5.  Last but absolutely not even close to least… Breathtaking views of mountains all around us.

Not bad, eh?

We had to head out to Geneva, Switzerland later in the day (rough life, I know) so the Bastille was our main attraction for the day.  We breezed through customs (literally… they didn’t even bat an eye as we walked by, let alone check/stamp passports or make us declare goods) and set off to explore the city by night.  The Christmas lights were sweet!  Rather than normal lights along the streets, they had Pac-Man images set up all over… so the lights were the “dots” that Pac-Man has to eat and there were ghosts interspersed trying to catch him.  Love it.  We hit up a French Chinese restaurant for dinner- so good! 

We joined in on the celebration, of course!

When we first arrived, we saw a couple of random children wearing costumes, but didn’t think much of it… but then the following morning, the whole city was dressed up!  And there were sections that seemed almost like a Renaissance festival- grownups and children alike in costume, roasting animals on spits and firing off cannons.  Apparently we lucked out and had stumbled upon L’Escalade, which is a festival that celebrates Geneva’s defeat of a surprise attack in 1602.  Traditions include the making of giant chocolate cauldrons (which cost an arm and a leg, so I’m not sure how they taste), the drinking of hot wine, and general ridiculousness.  We also heard that children go around trick-or-treating and that instead of being given candy, they get money.  Not sure if it’s true or not, but it sounds like a good tradition to me!

Mary and I also took advantage of a super-size chess set to play a game.  I was about to make a move that probably would have lost me the game when two old Swiss men sprang to my rescue and insisted vehemently that I should not move my king there!  Haha :)  Several other things we visited in the city were the United Nations Grounds (although we couldn’t visit, since we were there on a weekend), the Broken Chair exhibit which represents opposition to land mines and cluster bombs, and the Jet d’Eau aka Water Jet, which shoots water 140 meters into the air!!  We also went to the Red Cross International Museum, which had awesome potential, but was a total bust.  Especially after visiting such a cool museum the day before, we were thoroughly unimpressed by the exhibit.  It’s a bit sad, because there are so many cool things the Red Cross does and it had so much potential! 

One thing I haven’t mentioned in all of this is the absurd amount of Swiss chocolate we consumed.  In case you’re wondering, yes, it absolutely is that good.  I may have gained a good 10 pounds just due to chocolate, but it was totally worth it!  We figured, when in Switzerland… :)  All in all, one of the best weekend trips I've ever taken, in no small part due to such fabulous company!