Save the nightmarish 3 hours it took to get home last night, we had a great weekend! Just like on our honeymoon, I’m going to pretend the UK border control wasn’t acting like you were trying to enter the pearly gates and remember only the wonderful parts of the weekend.*
So…
Friday night we arrived in Geneva. Aside from one very rude train worker guy who treated me like an idiot for not seeing the fine print on a sign, it was incredibly easy to get into the city. 6 minutes from the airport to the city center and our hotel was about a 2 minute walk from there. Oh, and the ticket was free! Actually, when you visit Geneva all your public transportation is free. Which is awesome in itself, but even more so in a city where everything is apparently made of gold, or at least you’d think so with the prices. Seriously, my jaw is sore from dropping at the prices of everything all weekend.
We hit the hay early that night because we had an early tour Saturday morning. After a quick breakfast and 5 minute walk to the bus station, we were off to the French Alps. We stopped in Chamonix, a ridiculously quaint little French ski village. Chamonix is famous for being the site of the very first winter Olympics and being at the base of Mont Blanc, the tallest peak in Europe.
As we were pulling into town I realized I had to start facing the fact that I had booked a tour which I knew included very high cable car rides. Very high, as in over 12,000 feet high.
I was pretty nervous when we got on…
It was actually two separate cable cars, but I ended up doing very well, thank you very much…
See, I totally did it without any tears or freaking out. Although if you look closely you can see my kung fu grip on the rail.
Once up top we were blown away by the scenery…
We felt like we were on top of the world, high above the clouds and amid the gorgeous Alps. It was just absolutely breathtaking and I took a million pictures so be sure to check out the album.
Afterwards we had a delicious lunch in Chamonix and then took a little mountain train to the Mer de Glace glacier. There we took yet another cable car and then descended 400 steps to the glacier. Each year they tunnel out an ice cave in the glacier where you can walk through and look at ice sculptures…
We walked inside a glacier! Unbelievably cool, both literally and figuratively.
It was actually very disheartening to see how the cable car used to take you to the glacier, but thanks to global warming they’ve had to add all the stairs to get you lower and lower.
400 steps is no joke on the way up, but the views were really beautiful and we thankfully got a seat on the little train on the way back to Chamonix.
We were totally wiped by the end of the day…
A couple hours later and we were back in Geneva where we both took a much needed nap before heading out in search of dinner.
Sunday was spent walking around Geneva…
The old town part of the city is really lovely, full of narrow winding streets and beautiful old buildings. And of course the jet d’eau was very impressive.
We strolled around, visited St. Peter’s Cathedral, found some lunch and eventually headed out to the airport.
Then we arrived in London and breezed through immigration. We didn’t have to walk the back 40 to get to the train station only to find out we had to wait 25 minutes for the right train. We didn’t choke down food at Victoria Station because it was already so late when we got into the city and we so didn’t want to cry when we finally collapsed onto the bed 3 hours after arriving.**
All the pics from the weekend…
*Although I would like to state for the record- UK, you are not heaven. Far from it, my friends. You have separate hot and cold faucets, a horrible health care system and an exorbitant amount of tax money goes to furnishing a lifestyle for a queen and her offspring. Helloooo, it is 2011. I assure you, I do not want to illegally (or legally for that matter) want to stay in your country indefinitely, so no need for the 3rd degree. Also, maybe you should have more than 3 people working at the border when 3 flights are arriving at Gatwick.
**Or that’s how I’m going to remember it.
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