Geneva part II

We have wasted no time in exploring our environs. Sure, we have 4 years, but they will go by very quickly no doubt, so we hopped in our rental car and took a few day/half day trips.

The first was to Genthod, a little village about 10 mins drive from Collex. Cute little place right on the lake, called Lac Leman by the locals and Lake Geneva by everyone else. It is one of the biggest lakes in Europe, 75 KM long. Genthod has a fantastic park, nicknamed the pirate park thanks to a big boat-shaped climber. It also has a wood house to explore, swings, and a co

ol zip-line that the older kids (and mom and da

d) enjoy. Best of all (for Sam, as he flew 'up to the sky' on the swing) is that the landing airplanes approach the Geneva airport

directly overhead. E

very 6 minutes. Probably not so great for residents. We then headed down to the lake where there was a cute restaurant, a random swing, a marina and lots of ducks to chase. Very pretty. Across the lake you can see 'Geneva's mountain', La Saleve. More of a big hill, really, and it is actually in France but we hope to head there sometime soon to take in the views. There is a cable car up to the top or you can drive and there is supposed to be a cute cafe on top where you can pay an arm and a leg for a coffee and croissant.

Speaking of expensive coffees and croissants, our next little outing was to old town Geneva. We parked the car an wandered about. First, we were lured onto the tourist train. Sam

loves trains, it was cheap, and why not? Took us along

Lac Lem

an and through the English gardens with the famous (???) flower clock. cool, but famous? anyway. We then headed to old town itself, with the 7Euro raspberries and 10 Euro coffees. We bought the coffee, not the berries, as I was really keen to sit in a cafe and watch people go by as we do on typical European vacations. Old town has some great shopping, if you like to spend a lot of money. lucky for me my shopping mojo is wearing off to to expanding waistlines, but I AM in the market for new boots. No luck, but I did get sam a cool toy swiss army knife - only in Switzerland of course. He managed to lose the changeable screwdriver heads in the first 15 minutes. oh well, the fake scissors are pretty cool too. I can't forget to mention the carousel / merry-go round. There one was, right in the middle old town! For the fairly reasonable

price of 1 Euro, Sam got to ride, and of course it had to be in the airplane. Little did we know this great find is really quite a standard feature in European towns. You will no doubt notice a carousel reference in every post from now on. One really cool one in particular - more on that later.

On Saturday of the first week we decided on take-out pizza. Our predecessors had left us a menu for take-out pizza so we thought we'd give it a try. After learning that the 20 Euro pizza was indeed personal size, we ordered and then headed out in the car to find the place, which was in a small town north of Collex and just off the Geneva map, as it is i

n Vaud canton

. We found it no problem, passing very cute towns on the way, and had some time to burn so explored a vineyard right across the street. That is one of the great things living where we do, the sides of the road are littered with apple orchards, vineyards, horses and cows. We really are in the country but with the city so close by. Best of both worlds. Anyway, we picked up the pizza, paid our 60 Euros (we also got a salad), headed home and ate what was...mediocre pizza at best. Oh well, lesson learned!

The next weekend we headed with our neighbours and colleague, Darren and his kids Nadia and Cedric, to an outdoor market in a small town in France called Divonne-les-Bains. I had been eager to get here (for some reason) as I had heard about these great pies. We never found the pies, but we did find another carousel (with another airplane - this one went up and down). It was also flea market day in Divonne and the place was packed. I picked up some great used little girl clothes for 1 Euro - expensive new in stores - which guarantees we'll have another boy. We then headed to the food part of the market. Lots of local vendors - got delicious olives, fresh organic bread (stale in a day as many bakeries here don't use preservatives), a roasted chicken for dinner, some great fruits and veggies and of course cheese, cheese and more cheese (and affordable, too, compared with Canada). The kids started melting down. so we headed to the Divonne park. This place is worth coming to for the park itself. it is HUGE...many play structures for kids of all ages, a climbing wall, swings, slides etc. etc. kids playing soccer, kids on bikes. Although the same food vendors are in a town right next to us on Saturdays, it is worth the 20 min drive to Divonne for the park alone. one can shop and the other can play with Sam in the park.

All in all it was a great first week getting settled. We opened Swiss bank accounts (unfortunately, without the balance that usually implies), got paperwork in for our resident cards (which we need to get our car registered and insured), took turns settling into the office (closed door, big windows), requested phone, tv and internet, and toured around a bit. Unfortunately Monday was the end of the break, as Sam was to start pre-school/with the nanny and we were to start work. But even that would be an adventure. So far so good!

Sarah, Aaron, Sam and WFII

xoxoxo