personal.sethtipton.com

So far our trip has gone off without a hitch. We left our house at 9am yesterday morning (11/30/06). My brother’s fiancée drove us to the airport. Our flight left Cleveland at11:30am headed for new jersey. There we had a 4-hour layover where I slept and my parents watched a movie. The plane for Geneva Switzerland was rather empty so we got to stretch out and get some sleep. I had tons of homework to finish but I made time for an in-flight movie and some video games. They had these controllers in the arms that are were a Phone, a TV controller, a radio, a fax machine, and SNES style controller when you put them on their side, wrapped up into one. Cool idea if the games weren’t made in a guy’s basement that just can’t seem to let the 80’s go.

So we got up at 7am on Thursday and arrived in Switzerland at 9am Friday. Damn time zones make traveling a bitch. When we landed, Ryan was there to meet us. By the way, Switzerland has no customs what so ever, we got our bags and were on the street in just a few minutes. From there we got on a bus and went to the Knox Center where my brother Ryan has been staying this semester. The rooms are really small and really expensive. But I guess that’s typical for Switzerland. We had lunch in the lobby, which was day old sushi, some rice stuff, and a few glasses of wine. Not very impressed with the food so far. The sushi was gross and the wine was practically water.

My parents had a brilliant idea to try and hide the fact that my older brother was joining us as well. Although my little brother had to buy his Eurorail pass and I was involved in most of the travel plans. So it was a pathetic attempt but I acted stupid. Anyways, after lunch, my brother walked in the door fresh off a plane from Cambodia. This is the first time we have all been together since Christmas of 05’. We had to literally run to the bus stop to catch our bus because my older brother was running late and where we are staying is a 10-minute walk from the bust stop. A few busses later and running through the streets of Geneva, we got our tickets and loaded up the charter bus and where on our way to Annecy, France.

After about an hour and a half on the bus we arrived. The scenery was great. It was a little French mountain town that had the cleanest lake in Europe. And it really was.

You could see to the bottom everywhere you looked. Really amazing. There were a few Christmas festivals going on and just about everyone was out and about. We spent most of our time just walking around and dropping into small shops.

Things are just as, if not more, expensive around here, but France is known for that. Ryan bought a little mug for his girlfriend. After a few hours of that we found somewhere to eat and sat down, oh and if you guys didn’t know, your credit cards will not work in other countries unless you call your company and let them know you are going there, kind of a nice security feature but REALLY annoying if you are trying to pay for lunch and there is a language barrier. So after we got a card that worked and ran to an ATM we ordered lunch. My brothers got croissants and coffee and my parents got a slice of pie that was pistachio and orange. The coffee here comes in tiny little cups because it’s a cross between regular coffee and espresso. REALLY GOOD and I don’t even drink coffee. Anyways, I got a small pizza that I saw in the window, little did I know, that the pizza you see in the window, is the pizza that you get. A little put of by that I was still really hungry so I dug in. YUCK, it wasn’t the day old cheese or the weird crust, it was the hidden anchovy!!! But I ate it anyway. I swear this thing was a king salmon though, it was huge. After that it started to get dark and we just continued to talk around. The city lights up at night with Christmas decorations and streetlights. I actually liked the city better at night. We had to get on a train back to Geneva so we found the bus station and headed back. We were meeting some of Ryan’s friends in town for their last meal of the semester. We ate at an authentic Swiss restaurant and everyone got things from to escargot to chicken. I went with the chicken but my brothers shared an order of fondue. They say that you can drink nothing other than wine with your fondue or else you will get rather sick. Really weird, but no one had their arm twisted about ordering wine. After dinner we got back to our hotel and slept like for the first time in 48 hours.

So far I am really impressed with Europe. The people were nice but not as nice as in places like Asia. The food was what I expected and can’t wait to try more.

Stop back soon for my next (hopefully shorter) update!! (Venice, Italy)

If you have any questions or comments feel free to e-mail me at sethtipton@gmail.com or visit my forum so others can read your questions.

See all of the pictures from Annecy and Geneva in the gallery!