Tuesday, Sep 15: Geneva

First some catch up food photos from dinner last evening in Vevey.  Bev's fois gras
and my fried cod and pomme frites.
Since we're not getting breakfast with our hotel room in Vevey and everything is formal and expensive at the hotel, we decided to find a bakari in Old Town for pastry, quiche and kaffe.  It is a pleasant change from hotel scrambled eggs and bacon.
When we left you yesterday, we were deciding how to spend today.  Geneva won.  After starting out leisurely, we checked out of the hotel receiving a wonderful chocolate parting gift
and took a late morning train directly (meaning no change of trains) to the Geneva Aeroporto, found the hotel courtesy shuttle and checked into our last trip hotel, the Holiday Inn Express Geneva Airport.  It is small, utilitarian and exactly what we need just to put our heads in the beds and get up early tomorrow for our flights home.  It does make us appreciate the wonderful rooms that we have had throughout our trip.

After storing our bags in our room, we take the tram into downtown Geneva for the afternoon.  As a first stop we find what is probably the worst restaurant in Switzerland in Geneva's Old Town, the Jardine de Eden.  It was the "penne gorgonzola" on the sandwich board outside on the cobblestone street that lured us in.  The proprietor spoke no English.  I ordered the penne gorgonzola
and Bev ordered the plat de jour which turned out to be beef steak with pesto and pomme frites.
The penne gorgonzola was missing one ingredient: gorgonzola!  Disappointing.  Then we discovered the proprietor didn't take credit cards.  We had been spending down our Swiss Francs quite well and couldn't cover the bill in cash.  After a discussion in which neither one of us knew what the other was saying, I trekked a half a dozen blocks away to find a UBS bank and an ATM.  The proprietor wasn't happy and neither was I.

Nevertheless, we had a great afternoon by abandoning Old Town and hitting the shopping district near the lake catching shots of Bev and I with the famous fountain in the lake in the background.

After shopping (wine and chocolate), we stop for kaffe and apricot tartin with ice cream at sidewalk cafe.
While there we were "entertained" by a very old woman (or transvestite) wearing a tutu and pretending to be in a ballet for money that passersby might toss her.  I have no picture.  I couldn't even look although I did think that a movie might have been a good blog addition.

We successfully took the tram during rush hour back to the Holiday Inn and now await tomorrow's long flights back to the US of A.

A great trip is coming to an end.  Probably no blog entry tomorrow.

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