On the road (1) – Six countries, nine days COMPLETED About This Page:

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Sunday 21 March – part five: no coins.... oh :

There’s a small stone pier that leads out there and, with the rain coming down, we headed out there, with the Jet d’Eau adding to the rain with every step we took. Mark got much further than I did, with the help of an umbrella to battle against the water coming down on him.



Typically, as we headed back along the stone pier, the rain stopped and the sky began to lighten. It’s amazing how quickly and drastically the weather can change here.

We got back in the car and headed for our next attraction, the Jardin Anglais and more specifically the famous floral clock at the entrance to it. Mark was able to pull over for a second and I was able to jump out and get some photos before we had to make a quick getaway.



Due to a wrong turn somewhere along the line, it took a long time for us to get back to the old town to see the city’s cathedral.



After a couple of wrong turns, we finally got there and found a parking spot. Great so far, except you had to pay for the parking and we had no coins whatsoever on us. We only had Swiss franc notes on us. Ok, no problem, we’ll just change it at a local shop or restaurant... except we wouldn’t, as everywhere appeared to be closed. It was so odd. Honestly, it was like city of the dead, yet there were cars everywhere. Mark speculated that they had to belong to residents, as they couldn’t belong to anyone using the shops or restaurants, as they were all closed.

Without any coins to pay for parking, we drove round for a while, then Mark kindly stopped for me and I nipped out to get some photos of it.



Then it was out of the city centre and off towards the United Nations area. To be honest, all of Geneva feels like the United Nations. It’s home to a huge range of international organisations and we spotted one or two along the way.



Nearby, we found the Palais des Nations, the home to the UN building in Geneva.



And it’s certainly got a nice selection of flags and a very odd chair – and yes, it is meant to just have the three legs, even though it looked like it had been the unfortunate victim of an arson attack. It’s actually called Broken Chair, fittingly enough, and is a protest against landmines.



With the rain once again threatening and indeed it started the second we got back in the car, we headed back to the hotel. We were both getting hungry and headed for the restaurants at the hotel, but neither were open. One appeared to only open for breakfast and lunch at the weekend, which was a bit odd, and the other one, L’Olivo, which served up Italian cuisine and specialised in pasta dishes, didn’t open until 7.00. We had another 45 minutes to wait. We walked down and took a look at the swimming pool and then headed back to the room to wait for the restaurant to open.

At dot on 7.00, we headed down there and were amongst the first to be seated. Our waiter tried very hard with us. He told us he only had “a bit of English”, but in all honesty, it was much better than my “bit of French”. Between us, we made it fine.


The tree we sat near to, complete with various quotes in French

The first surprise was the wine list, with a number of wines from Geneva and other parts of Switzerland. I never knew that Switzerland was noted for its wine, but I did dimly remember reading somewhere that Swiss wines generally weren’t exported outside the country. I opted for a rose wine from Geneva and Mark also followed suit and very nice it was too.

For appetiser, I went for the pumpkin and chestnut soup, as I was intrigued by the sound of it and I was even more intrigued by the appearance of it. I didn’t mix it up, as I enjoyed being able to sample bits from each side.



Mark’s was just as wonderfully presented. He went for the veal carpaccio and seemed to enjoy it, although he commented it was a little salty.



That was also my feeling about the bread that they served up for us and that probably explains how we got through two bottles of water for dinner. Mind you, it also probably had something to do with the fact that we hadn’t drunk very much all day as well...

For main course, I went for the degustation (or tasting) of their crab and king prawn pasta and I’m glad I did opt for the smaller portion, as there was no way I could eat anymore than this. It may not look like very much on the plate, but my goodness, it was rich and there’s no way I could’ve eaten a full portion. The flavours blended together beautifully.



Mark went for the meatballs and pasta and again found this dish to be a bit on the salty side.



The bill came to 146CHF (Swiss francs in case you’re wondering, yes the Swiss are very different and, like the UK, they don’t use the Euro either), which is about $140. Pricey I know, but it was very good.

L’Olivo:

Appetiser 8½ 8
Entree 9 8
Service 9 9½
Atmosphere 9 8½
Value for money 8 8

Average score: 8.55



With dinner done and our stomachs very much full, it was time to call an end to another day. We headed back to the room and settled down to watch a very good selection of BBC channels, including both BBC 1 and BBC 2, which we were very impressed to see on the channel line-up. A much better selection than the last couple of nights.

Today we drove 152 miles.
The weather today was mainly dry and cloud with temperatures in the high 50s, with just a bit of rain.
The best thing today was visiting Annecy.
The worst thing today was the panic I had that the gondola was closed.
The funniest thing today was “I don’t know any Swiss”.
Today we tried visiting Geneva
And the result was it’s a very cosmopolitan city, but was a bit dead when we saw it.
The most magical moment today was riding the cable car at Grenoble.

Next: now where did we park the car?