In Switzerland now. Had a nice day with my host nicoli touring a bit of geneva. He made extra effort to wander through the parks and gardens. I think he knows I have a burning desire right now to be back in nature. His friend has a shalay in the alps which were meant to go to today but may not until tomorrow. Either way of to the mountains it is for me, whether by bus and foot or deep into the mountains to stay. Geneva is a beautiful little city, by the lake. Massive harbour. I am currently getting serenaded by nicoli's piano now as I write haha. He composes and his friend with the shayla is a Swiss composeer. Now here is a bit about Paris...
Ole' pa'ris. Who ever said the French are rude. I had some of my nicest run ins, and the most help from, French. Even if they don't speak English they will usually help. I honestly didn't see it. Even in the train station they were the most helpful. Unfortunately only first class tickets for over 80 euro to geneve, so I had to go to the third train station of the day to get a train to Lyon, where the connection to geneve overlaps one minute. Hopefully this babies early or that is late. I am couch surfing wi a guy nick and have no way to let him know I will be late. In France I stayed with matt and his flatmate gium. They were so sweet. People really genuinely enjoy this couch surfing. Steve, who I met last night and had recommended me to matt has hosted over 300 people, and did a whole trip around the world with it for a year. He hosts up to like eight people at a time sometimes. It's like a massive party. He and matt used to live together.
When I arrived on friday matt took me down to the city centre where we walked Paris by night. I am really glad I did this. It's a whole different vibe. All the monuments are illuminated and with the near full moon it made everything so picturesque. Also much quieter. It was nice having someone to lead me around again as well. Saw most of the major monument like nitre dame, on the island, walked the river all the way to the louvre. There are big barge like boats, and people live on them just docked on the side of e river in the middle of the city. Strange but great. The bridges are so pretty and the Eiffel tower is lit by night. The first night and the next day the weather was clear and warm. Matts apartment has a gorgeous view, because it is one of the few very tall building in Paris, 12 floors. The eiffel towers lights were all twinkling as they do for just fifteen minutes each evening. The sky line is so charming with all the little smoke stacked roofs. The louvre by night and the arch is really neat with the pyramid and the full moon reflecting on it. We headed back to the neighbourhood near by to have, what we thought was one drink, at the bar where he is good friends with the owner. It turned into a 1 am evening and a rough start to my first day in Paris.
Luckily it was a bright sunny day and I hardly even needed a jacket. There seems to be a consistent theme of me showing up right after bad weather and leaving places right before. Works out for me though, but it is seriously everywhere I go. I should jinx myself I guess. I am looking forward to Switzerland and some hiking. The one host that wasn't available for the weekend let me on to some buses and trails. In geneva I think there is the highest peak of the alps. It should be gorgeous. I'm over this city stuff:). On thursday I went to sacre cour, which is massive and could also be seen from matts apartment. The atmosphere was really neat, with the vendors and people walking. The view at the top of the steps leading up to it is amazing as well. Overlooking the whole city. I met ask a guy from the Netherlands. At least I think. He was a couch surfer too and was wandering around the city until he met up with a friend. We walked and talked. He was very clever and witty, which made him funny entertainment for me. He was there for a job interview. After this lovely sunny morning I took the metro to the arch de triumphe. Very triumphant. Snap snap and back on the metro to the Eiffel tower. It either looks cool from really far away or really up close. In between you just look like your walking towards a hunk of high metal. It was pretty cool still I must say. Not to much to see around it. Got all the way to the steps to walk up but couldn't bring myself to walk up slowly behind a crowd of people. From here I walked back to the louvre along the river, but this time from the other direction that I hadn't seen yet. A lot of great monuments, architecture and views in this city. I arrived at the louvre with only an hour left, but enough time to get the feel of this massive museum, and to see the mona Lisa of course. It is nice going that late and skipping the lines, and the fight to see the famous works of leonardo de Vinci. I could stand, as close as you can get anyways, right in front of the mona Lisa without anyone around.
I was beat after this. I went back to matt and giams where they were preparing to go out for a friends party. We made some dinner together out of what we both had. Giams mother had arrived just before me with her friend from new York city. She is almost sixty and had just completed the new York marathon in 5:15. Pretty incredible. She was so cute an enthusiastic and actual knew a bit of English. It was a great visit and we ended up staying a bit longer than expected at the apartment. I was exhausted by this point but trooped through it. All of there friends were really sweet and Steve was there. A french tv station actually followed him on one of his travels to document how couch surfing works. He's a character. He is extremely involved with it. Hopefully Kate and the other roomies will let me do it until I get back in the boat. Made it back to the apartment for some late night goodies and snacks, and then crashed hard. Full house with the giams family and his brother arriving at 6 am. Did a bit of visiting this morning, although I should of just got the first train out, so I wouldn't be in this predicament of traveling all day again haha. I would have been pretty useless today anyways. That is the only thing with couch surfing is you kind of have to go with the flow and be a trooper. Which is great but exhausting. They get a break after and I move on to the next place and start all over. Switzerland will hopefully be a nice break. Then just. Few more days to see France before my meeting with Pat in Madrid. Ten days in Spain should be a sufficient end to this adventure. Hopefully get into Portugal and southern Spain. Maybe even morocco. Well hopefully get a hold of you all soon. Going to be moving pretty quick to we will see
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