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The start of the road trip! Geneva!

Geneva Travel Blog › entry 1 of 27 › view all entries

Summer 2009 - and it's time for a 12 day road trip around the Alps, to Switzerland, Austria, Germany, France and Liechtenstein.

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The start of the road trip! Geneva!

August 5, 2009

Geneva, Switzerland

Day One ā€“ Wednesday 5^th August

Switzerland looks so beautiful on the photos and videos I have seen on the internet and in guide books, and this trip was to explore parts of Switzerland for the first time. I been to Switzerland before, right on the Austrian border, but never had the chance to go further inland. So to get a feel for the trip, I decided to hire a car and explore some of the sights, mountains, lakes and hope to spot a few outstanding things on the way. I know Switzerland is similar to Austria, and hiking is a big thing here, so I know I will come back to Switzerland one day to do some hiking.

By the impression I was given before I started, by other peopleā€™s views etc, Switzerland tries to be a perfect country.

Geneva, Switzerland

Clean, efficient, and have all the new technology when it comes to gadgets and even getting Wi-Fi internet so many meters high up in the mountains! The only disappointment I found was the people. Yes, a lot of people I came across were great and very helpful, and even if my French was rubbish, (or German), they would speak back in English straight away. Unfortunately not all Swiss people are like this (as in most countries), sometimes they are stuck up, rude and snobby! I found this especially in the French part of Switzerland (not all French people are like this mind you), where the service me and my partner Olga got was dumb struck and the best laugh was in Montreux, but I will tell more about that later.

Anyway, that was not going to stop us having a good time. After arriving in Geneva airport early from another EasyJet flight from Luton airport, we picked up the car which turned out to be rubbish Opel Corsa car! Doh! Not again, the car which has no puff to it when getting up hills.

Geneva, Switzerland

At least the engine was a 1.4 and not a 1.0! Well, no point arguing, so in the car and off we went.

Geneva

A short drive from the airport was the town of Geneva, on the western side of Lake Geneva (or Lac LĆ©man as the French locals call it). We found out very quickly how expensive Switzerland can be. I must have spent Ā£20 in the first forty minutes (after walking around for ages looking for a currency exchange, but in the end landed up in a Swiss bank changing the cash up!). Walking round the town I got shat on by a pigeon and it was the runny type, not the white type.

Geneva, Switzerland

Bad start to the alpine trip. The lake was seen, tourists are about queuing up to take a type on many boats on the lake, but what interested us was the Jet dā€™Eau, which is Europeā€™s tallest water fountain, shooting up water on the south bank of Geneva, and rises about 140m (460 ft) into the air.

We decided to leave Geneva at that and headed back to the car and drove the scenic route along the north side of Lake Geneva. Some of the views were fantastic and some villages with the chalets, churches and some castles were great. Swiss flags hang out of every window and every window sill has a box full of colourful flowers.