Borderless Europe

It really is very exhilarating to cross country borders in the EU, without any stopping or check point or whatever. Even though Switzerland is not part of the EU, their borders with France were wide open like this... Old check points standing as ghostly reminders only, of an era bygone, of a time when people were not as smart as they are today...

My Money and Theirs

My Swiss Francs and Euros... The first time I exchanged money, it was in Milan - so I gave them 100 of my Canadian dollars and they gave me like 50 of their Euros... Agggg... I gave 100 of mine, and I want 100 of yours!!!!!

Home Sick!!!

this is My Home, people of Geneva!

Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva, I was really surprised at how big this city is; ok, not nearly as big as Montreal, but I somehow thought it was smaller than it actually was. With all its watchmakers and bankers Geneva is really a pretentious town, but if you take the time to find your way through, you can find nice little nooks and corners...
Jet d eau, in Lake Geneva, situated where Lake Geneva empties in to the Rhone river.





The United Nations office in Europe.




























My lonely planet guide book mentioned Switzerland railways are famous for their graffiti stations. I am not entirely sure why this sets apart Switzerland from any other station anywhere in the world, which in general is also graffiti-fied.

Beautiful Alps

The Alps were amazing... I got a ride from Como to Geneva from this professor; the trip that was to take 4-5 hours took like 8-9 hours. The Scottish professor got lost in the Alps - all to my amusement. I was already enjoying the magnificent views as he was trying to figure out the way and fight his embarrassment - he need not have been embarrassed, I really was happy that we got lost. During the journey, we traversed an altitude of 2100m - probably the highest I have ever been to!!

I crossed the Swiss-Italian border with this professor - we were stopped at the border like everyone else was they asked him if he was French (he was driving a French car) he said no, he was Canadian (he holds dual citizenship), and they just sent us away - I was pretty sure they were gonna check my documents, but they just took one look at me and let me go... I love this lax attitude...

The professor by himself was a wonder - other than being a great physicist, he was also very fluent in Japanese I am being told. And everywhere we stopped he switched with ease between French, Italian and German all the while talking to me in English. He claims his French, Italian and German are not the best - he just knows enough to get by... but that's still very cool... And then he was telling me stories of his younger days as a postdoc at Fermilab, sabbatical in Germany, etc etc... sort of reminded me of Keith, ok not as cool as Keith... But when the border patrol asked him and he replied Je suis Canadien, he "put the icing on the cake"... I asked him "what made you say Canadian and not British - we are after all closer to Britain", he said "oh well, it's because my Canadian passport is in my pocket and my British one is in the bag"... Talk about a cosmopolitan person... Cool cool cool...

Paying Toilets

These paying toilets from none other than the Geneva airport... I'd think with the price of the airline they could easily allow their customers to go for free...!!! And am I not told over and over again how rich the Swiss are!!?

But people won't allow this scam... People coming out of the toilet will hold the door open for the next one so they don't have to pay to go... I don't know how long this had been going on, by the time I walked in... but I am guessing the Geneva airport lost a million amazing Swiss Frank because of the kind tourists!!! heh heh... take that Geneva!