Not the greatest start to the day; we went to leave our hotel in Auxerre and realised that breakfast had not been included in the room price.  Paying 9 euros 50 each for croissants worse than you get in most UK supermarkets was a bit galling!  However, after a trip to a Carrefour to buy lunch for later, we were soon on the road south-east!

The journey today was lovely again.  Brilliant clear motorways (apart from a brief jam just before Switzerland for some road works), beautiful and varied scenery and perfect weather!  We stopped at a great service station for lunch – the French do these so much better than us! – with a big, green open space for picnics.  Sitting in the dappled shade, we munched another fresh baguette, along with some butter and “Vache Qui Rit” that we’d, erm, rescued from the breakfast buffet before we left (I felt considerably less guilty about this after discovering how much we had to pay for it!!).

After another 100 miles over the Jura mountains, through some lengthy tunnels, crossing amazing viaducts and with some of the most stunning views we’ve seen, we arrived at the Swiss border and bought our “vignette” (a sticker you attach to your windscreen instead of paying tolls on the roads, and quite frankly a snip at around £30, considering we spent over that in tolls on French motorways just today).  Then we descended into Geneva, where we quite quickly found our hotel.  It’s just a Budget Ibis here, as hotels in Geneva were rather expensive, but it’s perfectly comfortable and has a tram stop right outside.  We also get a travel card thrown in for free and it’s only a 10 minute or so ride to the centre of town.

We decided to explore, as we won’t have much time tomorrow (we’re going to CERN!).  Having taken the tram to the train station, we pottered down towards the lake.  The water there is unbelievably clear and offers beautiful views of the mountains, which rise around it.  Unfortunately, the whole of the water front was taken up by a huge fair, with flashing lights and loud music.  However, we did manage to find a table by the lake where we had the most expensive beer (and shared pizza) we’ve ever had.  It was worth it for the view though!

Wandering back to the tram by the river, we watched fish swimming in the pure water and ducks diving for food, as the sun set over the city.  We also had a sneaky peak in the window of an estate agent and couldn’t quite believe the prices (see photos – bare in mind that CHF are 1.32 to the pound!).

All in all, we’ve taken rather a liking to Geneva and wish we had more time (and money!) to spend here.  It’s much more eclectic and multi-cultural than either of us expected and seems to have had influences from many different places.  There also seems an awful lot of fascinating things to do!  Oh well, we’ll just have to come back!

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