Switzerland is not a country that was particularly on my short list, but it was an option to visit after our trip to Paris and Burgundy. I was not feeling very excited about it until I read this article in the New York Times. I thought, fondue, chocolate, and watches—what's not to love? So after our weekend of debauchery in Beaune, we hopped into our friends' rental car and drove a quick two and a half hours to Geneva. Here's what we did in our 48 hours there.
Day 1, afternoon
We arrived just in time to check into our hotel (more on that later), and promptly set out for an exploratory walk, as the weather was fantastic and it's a great way to explore the city regardless. We walked along Lake Geneva, through the Jardin Anglais (Geneva has a lot of parks), and through the Old Town in search of the very long bench where my boyfriend took an apparently memorable nap in 1998. We found it in the Promenade de la Treille, and the bench was indeed long. (He generously re-created the nap for me in the photo below.) It also had a fantastic view.
We got lost a bunch of times en route to the St. Pierre Cathedral, but finally found it (although it was closed), and a gentleman who was really into my boyfriend's camera offered to take a picture of us on the steps. He took three! Getting lost was hard work, so we decided to toast our efforts with an Aperol spritz at Café la Clémence.
After getting lost again in the Old Town, we finally made it back to our hotel, then met up with some friends for dinner at Le Café du Soleil, which was recommended by our friend's brother (who lives in Geneva). It's a little off the beaten path, but it's the oldest restaurant in Geneva, and more importantly, it's known for its fondue. I'm not going to lie, I ate like a glutton, and it was totally worth it. If you go, make sure you ask for the "religieuse," which is the browned bits of cheese scraped from the bottom. Heavenly!
Day 2, morning
This was the last day of our vacation, so I was on a mission to buy some chocolate, and the aforementioned Times article said Sweetzerland was the best, so that's where we went. My only regret was having not bought more. Spending money got me on a roll, so as I mentioned in this post, I went shopping—the Rue du Rhône on the left bank has all the ritzy stuff, and the parallel Rue de la Croix d'Or had more chain stores. More of the boutique stores are in the Old Town, particularly the Zadig & Voltaire surplus store.
Day 2, afternoon
After a not-cheap lunch at Café du Centre, where we were amusingly seated next to a group we called The Real Housewives of Geneva, we were going to hit the Patek Philippe museum, but since the weather was so nice, we took the tram to Carouge, an Italian neighborhood. There are a bunch of cute, independent boutiques here, as well as the famous Le Chat Noir nightclub—apparently the entire neighborhood is quite the hotspot at night, but we were a little early for clubbing, so we settled for yet another Aperol spritz, sorry not sorry.
We did a pre-dinner photo shoot in Promenade des Bastions, which is a cool park with life-sized chess pieces, then we headed to La Bottega for a tasting menu that we hoped would eclipse the one we had in Paris. Spoiler alert: it did.
Where we stayed
As I mentioned in my Paris post, I used points to book hotels for this trip, so we stayed at the only Starwood property in the city, the Hotel President Wilson. It had a beautiful lobby, and our room had a view of Lake Geneva, which was great. The rooms could use a bit of an upgrade (although I loved the in-room Nespresso machine) and the location was a bit far from most of the sights we wanted to see. They did, however, give us free bus passes, which we used (and I suspect we were one of the few guests who did!). My favorite part was the Hermès toiletries in the bathroom.
Did I have a lovely time in Geneva? Yes, actually! Would I go back? Perhaps. Would I like to see more of Switzerland? Definitely—especially if cheese and fondue are involved!
6 comments
It looks like you guys are having so much fun!
http://www.mylittlenest.org
The cheese fondue looks so delicious! Great look too! Thanks for joining the Top of the World Style linkup party.
Chocolate, shopping, and good food - what could be better?!
Amy Ann
Straight A Style
I enjoyed reading this post as we are talking about going to Switzerland next year!
Lovely photos Cheryl. Looks like you had a great time. You too look so happy together :)
Thanks for sharing last week with us at The Weekend Blog Hop #Weekendbloghop
Geneva looks lovely! I've only been to Zurich but would love to explore Switzerland more, although it is expensive! Thanks for linking up!
Emma xxx
www.style-splash.com
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