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Posts from the road

Arrival in Europe: Don’t overplan your initial destination!

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(Geneva, Switzerland, and Annecy, France)

Many months ago, I had it all planned out. I would arrive in Lyon, and then take a train directly from the Lyon airport to Annecy, my first destination on this (purportedly) France-only trip.

I knew that there was “dynamic pricing” for the train, meaning that a ticket bought far in advance is generally cheaper than one bought on the day of travel. But I didn’t quite trust the exact arrival time of my flight, especially as it had already been rescheduled (to 24 hours earlier!) a few months ago. So, I decided not to buy the Lyon-Annecy train ticket in advance.

A typical Swiss train station scene – at the Genève-Aéroport station

Sure enough, less than 10 hours before my flight left Montreal, I received what looked like another “we’re sorry…” e-mail from the airline. But this one was different. My flight will still leaving on time. Alas, the class of service I bought (usually, the three kinds are economy, premium economy, and business) had totally disappeared from the flight! So I had to travel in a lower class, but at the higher class price.

Migros supermarkets are commonly found near the train station in the big Swiss airports – this one is at Genève-Aéroport, and I bought a Ragusa Noir chocolate bar for old time’s sake

This certainly falls into the category of “first world problems.” But, nonetheless, I was unhappy that my careful planning and price-shopping was stymied mere hours before departure. And, for physical reasons, I cannot endure smaller seats for an overnight flight. It was going to be an extremely uncomfortable trip, right before an important sports competition. Not a good way to start!

The departure/destination board at Genève-Aéroport train station

I then called the airline to express my concern. I told them that, for physical reasons, I had to fly the same class that I had paid for. But I also gave them a way out: if they could get me to Geneva (Switzerland) instead of Lyon, on the same day, and non-stop, we could make a deal. Lo and behold: there was a non-stop flight to Geneva, that evening (one hour earlier), and it still had seats in my chosen class.

Typical interior of a Swiss train, 2nd class car.

They were happy to comply, and at no increased cost. The ironic thing is that I had wanted to travel to Geneva all along, but it was far more expensive than flying to nearby Lyon. In fact, Annecy is a little bit closer to Geneva than it is to Lyon. So it all worked out for the best, and I even got to spend a couple of hours in Switzerland (which I commemorated with the workaday train station photos you see here).

I wanted this “chèvre chaud” galette to be better than it was. The chèvre is hiding under the salad.

But I would have been less pleased if I had bought that (expensive and ultimately useless) Lyon Airport-Annecy train ticket in advance. My only travel error of the day was a relatively small one: I spontaneously went to a different Annecy crêperie than the one I had carefully researched. And the replacement crêperie did not live up to my expectations. I was deceived by an appealing sign and entrance.

There is more to come from Annecy. The photo at the very top of the post is an amuse-bouche!

Posts from the road

Geneva, Switzerland

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(Geneva, Switzerland)

I had less than 24 hours in Geneva before returning to Canada: just enough to re-familiarize myself with this famous but not-actually-very-big city at the southwestern tip of Switzerland.

Rue de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, in Geneva

Geneva is primarily a “government” town, as the European base of the United Nations and many other international agencies. Just like Ottawa and other capitals, it can be prohibitively expensive…but also relatively uncrowded on weekends. I was able to take advantage of a half-price offer and stay in a very nice hotel that would otherwise be way out of my price range. It overlooked the Rhone River – the photo at the very top of this post was taken from my window! And they even threw in a free transit pass!

Fruit vendor in Geneva’s old town

As other aspects of downtown Geneva remained quite expensive, I headed to Carouge, a “village” southwest of downtown that allegedly had an Italian feel. It did indeed feel like a small but prosperous Italian town, so I treated myself to a delicious gelato outdoors on the Place du Marché…even though it was still early March.

Place du Temple, in the village of Carouge (now part of Geneva, Switzerland)

Nearby, I spotted Geneva’s largest hockey arena, which is home to the strong Geneva Servette hockey club. They would have been in the Swiss National League playoffs that evening, so I checked if there might be any tickets available. Alas, as a precautionary measure, the playoffs had been postponed due to the COVID-19 situation that was beginning to take a serious foothold in Italy (but had not yet had any real impact on Switzerland).

Place de Longemalle, Geneva, Switzerland

This was the second cancellation I encountered. I had hoped to take a guided tour of the United Nations complex, but it too had just been closed as a precautionary measure. These were the only indications that very difficult times might lie ahead.

Rue de la Fontaine, Geneva

I spent much of my time exploring the city on foot. It is clearly a very prosperous place, and it sometimes felt like a French-speaking Zurich…just a bit smaller and scaled-down. If I found myself too far from my hotel, I would just hop on a tram.

Place du Bourg-de-Four, Geneva, Switzerland

Having just spent two weeks in the mountains, I decided that I didn’t want to eat “local” for my last meal in Europe. Noticing a significant number of Ethiopian restaurants, and not having this kind of cuisine back home in Kingston, I decided to visit the Nyala Barka restaurant. It took me a while to get there, as my “tourist map” unfortunately took quite a few liberties with things like distance and direction (which are somewhat important for a map).

Reformation Wall in Bastions Park, Geneva, Switzerland

Anyway, I eventually arrived and enjoyed a very tasty “vegetarian platter” at Nyala Barka. As always, I enjoyed eating with my hands and using the underlying injera bread to scoop up the food. I was the first customer of the evening, as locals seem to follow the France model and have their dinners considerably later than in German-speaking Switzerland. I didn’t mind: I needed to properly pack and get a good night’s sleep before my long journey back to Canada.

My dinner at the Restaurant Nyala Barka (Geneva, Switzerland)

[Shortly after I returned home, the COVID-19 pandemic exploded globally and the world became a much different place. I ultimately decided to post this entry more or less “as written” two weeks ago.]