My stop in Switzerland was a layover, so I wasn’t staying there for a few days. Instead, I was going to have lunch there, look around, and go back to the airport.
I walked out of my terminal and put my luggage in the lockers. Lockers are in many airports and you can put your luggage into different sized ones so that you don’t have to pull around your heavy suitcases. After I put them in, I walked to the train station connected to the airport. It’s pretty smart that there is a train station connected so that you can get to the city, no problem. The train ride is about 6 minutes to the city center. The train station was dimly lit and gloomy. I guess it was partially because it was so bright outside that it seemed so dim.
I waited for the train to arrive and amused myself by looking at the map. The cool thing about Geneva is that it is very close to France; so, there are a lot of people who speak French. Actually, Switzerland is split into three sections and in each section, the people speak a different language. In the part that touches France, people speak French. In the part that touches Italy, people speak Italian. And in the part that touches Germany, people speak Swiss German. I think it is interesting that people in the area that I was in mostly speak French. I guess it is because I have a French name, so I felt at home.
Soon, the train arrived and I hopped on. I went to the second level of the train and got a good view of what was going on. When I got to the city center, I found a place that I should go to lunch and started walking there. It was nice weather that day, so I didn’t mind the walk.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I liked how it looked on the outside. The sign on the window was pretty. After I walked inside, I ordered my meal and waited for it to come. A bit later, I was eating my food. The fondue I had was very good. I couldn’t stop dunking my bread in the cheese, it was so good. Fondue melted cheese mixed with a few other things like cream for example. You dunk bread or meat into the cheese and eat it. It is really tasty and is the specialty of Switzerland. Lots of people eat it in the cold winters after skiing.
While I was peacefully eating my food, I heard a swoop. Being confused, I looked around to see what had made the noise and saw a very strange visitor. A few tables away from me, was a little song bird. It had hopped onto the table hoping to find some food. I sort of wanted to give it some of my fondue; but I didn’t know what kind of food that song bird normally eats and I didn’t want to make it sick. After my main course, I had a delicious miniature apple pie.
The staff at the restaurant were very nice. The décor in the restaurant was done to look like a Swiss chalet. Meaning that there was lots of wood and even a little cuckoo clock. Even the cuckoo clock was made to look like a little chalet.
I paid for my meal and left the restaurant. I had time before I needed to go back to the airport, a lot of time. So, I decided to go see Lake Geneva and rest a bit near the train station before going back to the airport.
Lake Geneva is a huge lake and is over 7 times bigger than Loch Lomond. When I arrived at Lake Geneva, one of the first things that I saw was a strangely colored duck. The duck was big and had reddish-brown feathers. It reminded me of bread. There were other ducks too as well as swans. There was a big group of swans and there was a little duck leading them. I thought it was kind of funny that a little duck was in charge of big swans. I was reminded for a second of Napoleon, who, even though he was a bit short, was very powerful. Although many people disagree and say that he was tall.
I left the lake and walked to the train station to hang out a little then go to the airport. While I was walking, I saw a statue of a sphinx but I didn’t like it because its red eyes gave me an eerie feeling. I sat down on a chair, but a very strange chair. The chair was wide and curved. There were two little holes at the end and the edges were round. And best of all, it was covered with grass! I rested on the chair for a little bit. I felt relaxed as I sat in the grass seat. It felt soothing on my paws and fur and I could hear a musician in the square playing different instruments.
I went to the train station and from there, back to the airport to return to Glasgow. So, all that I have to say now is… until the next post!
The Beary Good Adventures 