22 February 2008 – Glo and Mike visit Part 2
September 25, 2008
Friday
Having had a nice sleep in Mike and I were ready to explore the town. On the map, Geneva looked pretty small, so we decided to do this on foot. We had found a website with a list of things you have to do in Geneva, so we marked them out on the map and left John’s flat. First stop was Plainpalais flee market, which apparently runs everyday. After a few wrong turns we arrived to discover a huge empty square. We made a few enquiries and we were definitely in the right place. It turned out the market only runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. So much for trusting the internet….
We moved on to the reformation wall and then walked up the hill to the old town and our next stop: Saint Peter’s Cathedral. 157 steps to the top of the cathedral, but the view is worth it. You can see for miles around you, including the Jette d’eau/wee. We descended back into the centre of town and started the long walk up to the UN buildings. By this time it was getting quite late and by the time we got there the park and buildings were closing. However, it was well worth the walk and very impressive. We took a few token photos and Mike started to panic as we had about 20min to walk back to John’s flat which was quite a few km away. We arrived back late and were greeted by a horrified John who couldn’t believe we had walked everywhere. Apparently it’s really far…. It seems life in Geneva was starting to soften the “we only walk, cycle or take the free (bendy) bus” London student way in him.
Dinner was one of the hugest pizza’s I have ever seen (and I lived in Italy for a very brief four months). I don’t think anyone managed to finish theirs (to anyone else who goes to visit John, I certainly challenge you to try!). We all quickly regretted having ordered starters and when the desert came I am not sure how we managed to eat any of it! The waiters were strangely comical, when I present them with the piece of plastic I found in my salad, they quickly whisked it away without so much as an apology… and I’m not sure they coped with our mixture of English and French. However, the food was unquestionably good. We washed our meal down with Amaretto (this might not mean much to most of you, but it was one of our token drinks at Imperial video game/barbecue parties back in London) and then hit the town. It was supposed to have been an early night as we were due to be up around 6 the next morning for skiing, however, several shots later we were still in the bar, celebrating John’s boss’s birthday. We eventually made it back to the flat and bed, where Mike was banished to the living room as apparently he snores and had kept John up all the previous night. I have to say the pair of them sounded like a married couple fighting about it all day!
21 February 2008 – Glo and Mike visit Part 1
September 25, 2008
Having enjoyed half a week of peace after the visit from Satan, it was time for Mike and Glo to have their turn. They weren’t here to stay as long, but then again I think it will be a while before anyone manages to out stay James, who set up camp for two and a half weeks!
This visit left me wondering whether or not Mike is narcoleptic and kept me aware that Glo is as awake as ever. Getting Gloria to recount any event from the past is as good as watching it filmed from multiple perspectives and masterfully edited with interlaced streams from a vast databank of other related, personal incidents and useless facts. Given that this is the case, and that I would struggle to get anything like as good a representation of their time here, I asked Glo if she wouldn’t mind writing a piece for this blog. What follows in this post (and the next three!) is our communication over facebook and the final result from Glo.
Facebook: HELLO
How’s it going? Can you remember exactly the dates that you and Mike came over… Need to know for a blog I’m writing.
Cheers,
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f course I can remember! we arrived on Thursday the 21st and we left on Tuesday the 26th all in February. I can even tell you exactly what we did every day (in case you’ve forgotten!). let me know if you want more details.
looking forward to reading your blog!
glo.x
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Oh please do – that would be awesome. If you can summarise each with a few funny specific details (e.g. mike sleeping pretty much all the way to the slopes and all the way back …) then I’ll just present you in the blog and stick in exactly what you write. I’m trying to get it out tonight.
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ol i’m off to my gran’s house but when I get back (in a couple of hours) I’ll do it all for you! including mike sleeping and xboxing the whole last day and fondue night being served by iain-like waiter and constructing plans to make him come back into the country! x
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And here is “Glo and Mike visit” by the one and only Gloria Jaconelli…
[With a few choice comments from me]
Glo and Mike’s Trip to Geneva
Thursday morning started bright and early. Our plane left Brussels International at 8.25am. Since Mike had over a week’s holiday time to use up which was about to expire, we had decided to hitch a free ride with my parents and spend a few days in Brussels first. However, at the last minute Mike decided to head up to Hamish’s house in the Lake District with a bunch of the guys from physics and join me in Brussels later. This resulted in Mike spending most of his time at my house (and quite a bit of the time in Geneva) asleep recovering from what I can only assume was a heavy weekend’s drinking. Between Mike’s naps we did manage to find time to head to a brewery and a Star Wars exhibition, but that’s another story.
We managed to make it to the airport on time where Mike headed straight to look at comics while I decided to grab some breakfast. Eventually it was time for our flight and fighting over who got the window seat. Thankfully I won, seeing as Mike slept the whole way. We touched down safe and sound and armed with John’s very detailed map headed to the train station. The first challenge was trying to work out what train ticket we needed only to realise we had both forgotten to bring any Swiss money. We eventually managed to get cash, tickets and jump on a train hoping that it was the right one (john’s amazing directions had failed to mention how to get from the airport into town, just grab a train it’s easy he said…).
We arrived in the centre of Geneva and were immediately greeted with the strong smell of Swiss cheese oozing from fast food kiosks. We headed across town to the meeting point, past Rolex and designer clothes shops. True to form, the night before, John had sent us an email with details and maps of where he lives, works, where to meet and a plan for the week. So we found a local café of sorts and settled in to wait for John.
John arrived looking every bit the city boy he has become. Dressed in a suit and overcoat he was almost unrecognisable from the “if you can’t get in wearing jeans and trainers I’m not going there” John I remembered from university. We said our greetings and grabbed a bus to John’s flat. I’d been informed that this is apparently the ghetto part of Geneva. However, there were no dodgy shops or rundown buildings. Instead, John’s flat overlooks a river with snow peaked mountains in the background. Inside was as nice as the outside, the proper bachelor pad with a huge TV and Xbox 360. John made the mistake of introducing Mike to Overlord and for the rest of the weekend it was incredibly hard to drag Mike away from the game.
We were given detailed maps with lists of cool things to see (according to Satan as it seems John hadn’t had time to do any of the touristy stuff yet). So we freshened up and headed out to explore. After a quick walk around town we headed back to John’s flat to relax as it had been a long day. However, not before a quick trip to the Jette d’Eau or ‘Jette de wee’ as Mike had decided to name it… I’m still not sure why…? But for all those of you who know Mike, this will probably make some kind of sense to you. Back at John’s flat Mike grabbed some beers and again settled down in front of the Xbox.
For dinner we travelled across town to this gorgeous little Fondue restaurant. This first surprise was that our waiter looked rather a lot like Iain; same hair, similar beard, generally relaxed and friendly though he was taller and Italian… Within minutes the conversation had switched to Mike and John plotting devious ways to entice Iain back to the UK. Unfortunately I can’t remember any of them, but I do remember them being quite comical at the time! The poor waiter didn’t know what hit him!
Dinner was really nice as it gave us all a chance to catch up properly, while John and Mike learnt some French expressions. However, we ordered too much food and drank too much wine and left feeling rather full. As we waited at the bus stop this soon became obvious. Thankfully buses in Geneva are never late, however, when we arrived back in the centre of town, John had to make a desperate run into a local bar to use the facilities, while Mike and I waited in fits of hysterics.
After this little event we joined some of John’s friends from work in a hotel bar by the Lake. As gorgeous as it was, the drinks prices were as bad as London if not worse! [Note this was in Hotel Kempinski, but yes drinks prices are generally excessive].
