I'm here!

Hey, guess what?  I'm here, in Geneva, Geneve, CH, within, I believe, a couple miles of the CERN ring.  Hold on a sec - yup, I could just feel a proton or two whizzing by at relativistic speeds.  It felt like it made it more than half the way around or so, but I'll find out more tomorrow.  Today is tourist day.

Did you notice I got here on Xmas day?!  How cool is that?  I suppose technically I arrived yesterday, but I was so beat I hardly remember it.  Let me give my impressions.


I stopped overnight in Toronto, which normally I love, but between 10 PM arrival and a next day afternoon departure there wasn't time to see much.  Nothing at all, really.  Oh, except the Hertz car had GPS for no extra cost!  Talk about a blessing.  Pretty much, although I heard "computing new route" so many times I was sick of it.  And if you ever get off the 12-lane highway in Toronto by accident it is a REAL pain to get nagged back onto it.  Oh, and after arriving and while trying to find the rental counter in the Toronto airport I met, I kid you not, three other groups of people (a couple, and two other guys) lost just like me, looking for the rental counters!  We grumbled briefly together, then set off in all directions.  I mean really, who in the world sticks the rental counters in the middle of the car park on the bottom floor??

Oh, and why oh why did I think splitting my load among two bags and a carry-on would somehow be easier?!  My carry on was the heaviest of all, because I had my laptop PLUS power supply PLUS Thoreau in it.  I tell you what, that Thoreau guy wrote sentences that are heavier than some essays from other guys.  And if my High School English teacher Mrs. Griese (no, not the football player.  Or his wife.) ever saw his run-on sentences she would red check his butt toot suite!  Hey, do you think Thoreau got his writing style from me?  Am I Thoreau, traveling back in time?  If so, I think I will take note that silver colored minnows do not actually get their pigment from silver.  Or wait, maybe I better check on that first to be sure.

I was so pumped to be traveling that I refused the porters and little trolly cars and hefted my own three bags, pretending it was nothing, a trifle, a mosquito for such a manly traveler as I (was), and strode with shoulders back and chest out.

Then I found out that the flight actually stopped in Montreal before going to Geneva, and we ALL had to get off, get our luggage, and get back on again,  and the cutie pattooty stewardess I had been chatting up in preparation for the long flight to Geneva got off in Montreal!!  So I walked, got my bags, then dragged them back through security, then slumped down by the gate.  It was maybe eight at night and the terminal was DEAD and we all looked very tired.  And then when I got into my seat on the plane it was an aisle seat (shoulders) near the bulkhead, which normally I like, but I forgot that families with small children sit near the bulkhead, so I was torn.  I was next to a single woman, and I like that, because it gives me shoulder room, but there were two fussy toddlers.  What to do, what to do?  There were plenty of open seats on the plane so I moved back to the middle, which was nice, because I could sort of lay out and sleep across the three seats, sort of.

Geneva airport was a BREEZE.  Customs and immigration nothing but a wave of the hand.  This was good because I had run out of steam, big time.  I got to the hotel at about 10:30 AM and thank God my room was ready.  I was feeling ill and run down.  The steak dinner I had on the plane (very nice actually) was still sitting in my stomach, so the calories refused to get into my system, and I was NOT hungry.  I was car sick a bit, and I think I lost five pounds of water weight.  I am pretty sure I did, because someday I will tell you how I lost ten pounds of water weight in one day, and got paid for it, too!!  Under a Dr's care, for a study.

Well I crashed from about noon until midnight, up a couple hours, crashed again, and this morning I am feeling almost 100%.  I drank a lot of water and I splurged on the minibar chocolate.  Lemme tell you, that chocolate was PERFECT!  You know what they say about Swiss chocolate don't you?  "Temp a woman with that and you are nearly half way there."  I know.  I KNOW!  It is good for recuperation, too.   I also had a nice breakfast this morning and the breakfast is sitting well, so I think my calorie burning machine is back up and running.

I have a ton more to say about just my hotel but it is now 10:17 on a Swiss morning and I need to get a mass transit pass, some supplies for the room, and then either go downtown to walk around, or maybe go to this museum I've read up on.

So aue reservoir, as the Swiss say.  Switzerland is Europe's water tower!