Geneve, Switzerland

We arrived in Geneve rather late, but found 2 hotels side by side to check out. One of the hotels was recommended by a World Hotels book found in our room at the Hotel Allegro in Bern. When I found out the hotel was booked full with only smoking rooms remaining, we headed next door. They had rooms available, and we had a nice room... spacious with a couch and coffee table a few small closets, and a simple bathroom.

Here is where things took a turn towards "interesting"...

Throughout Germany and Switzerland we were unable to really locate any laudromats... so besides hand washing items in the sink at the hotels, it was a good thing we both packed many shirts and pants and sweaters to choose from. However, we were at the end of the line for "clean clothes"...

SOOOOOOO

We asked the hotel for the closest laundromat and it was just up the street, turn left, and head down a few small streets, it will be on the right hand side. By this time it was something like 8:30 pm. We drove down the street and it was like turning down the street into a bad movie you'd watch on TNT at 3:30 in the morning. Not only did the steet seem sketchy, but every other store had XXX signs flashing... Then the women, or I think some of them were women, were wearing less and less clothing. We parked the car and headed into the laudromat. I had seen worse, but there were all sorts of people doing their clothes. Nothing scary, or should I say too scary. We loaded the clothes into the washers and headed to the change machine. Not working. I went to two or three little stores and nobody would change my bills for coins. (5 euros, and 1 euro coins only would be accepted.) After 15 minutes, only 1 american lady helped me, and she actually just gave me 2 euros. THANK YOU STRANGER AMERICAN LADY! So we only needed like 40 more euro coins! Claudia and I walked up and down the street hitting little stores up for change. Sometime after 9pm we finally had enough money to wash clothes.

By this time, there were twice as many "ladies of the night" walking the street and just as many men ummm... "window shopping." Not to worry though, we were safe inside the laundromat. Until an older "lady" walked in and spoke spanish. She was changing her wash to the dryer... while her "customer" waited outside the door. They walked away hand in hand. Very weird.

We opted out of having COMPLETELY dry clothes as we were tired and a little weirded out by the local "clientele"... Starving, and the room reminiscent of a christmas tree ornaments of wet socks, undies, shirts, and pants we ordered room service and passed out around midnight I think.

The next day we headed into the city for a bit. I really enjoyed the old town area. Starving we saw quite a few people standing around a lunch truck that served a vast selection of paninis. We each ordered one and WOW, they were great! We ate while we walked when we found a Globus shopping center which was FANTASTIC. The "food court" area was busy with men in business suits, women on the go with their shopping bags, and the occasional tourists. There were several food choices, but not what you would normally see in any shopping center. This was upscale, friendly, and clean. There was one area for just coffee and wine, one place just for breads and pastry items, another for chinese food. All the tables were bar height and glasses, napkins, straws, condiments etc were all available in the middle of the table. We had coffee at the coffee bar and watched the people come and go. Then it was time for some shopping! I finally purchased a swiss army knife, just a small one for my keychain. We also bought some candies/chocolates and some meringues to munch on while on the road to the South of France.

It was overcast when we finally headed out to the water for some pictures, but I did enjoy the old town and the shopping choices... Here are a few photos...

Next stop, the South of France!