A Friend Came To Town

On Friday evening a Miss Eleanor Jest arrived in town on a little orange plane from England.  I was just a bit excited to have a visitor from my homeland come to see me, and my Au Pair life in this part of the world.  We talked at ten miles an hour late into the night rapidly jumping from one topic to another till we realised we did actually have the next four days to catch up, not just this one night.  Saturday morning was to be the start of the ‘Eleanor Swiss Adventure’.  We had plans.  Big plans.  Plans all written out on a scrappy piece of paper.

On Saturday morning Eleanor and I, plus three other Au Pairs (Iveta, Sondie and Naomi) all squeezed into my car for a day of traditional Swissness.  It’s a day that I have done before with all the Link Au Pairs, but it was so good I had to share it with those who hadn’t been to these places before.  We first went to the Caillier chocolate factory where a LOT of chocolate was eaten…and purchased too.  You have to buy chocolate when you visit a chocolate factory! Despite all the chocolate that you have just eaten two minutes before you entered the shop.  Mmmmmm…..delicious though!

We then drove to the little, but beautiful Swiss town of Gruyere sat on top of its snowy hill (with a couple of photo stops on the way, of course). After parking the car we wrapped up very warm and walked to the top of the hill into the centre of the town.  We got there just in time to see a traditional marching band dressed in bright blue and red, being led by a priest and some children, to church for mass.  It was a lovely little surprise to see that in Gruyere.  Pretty much made the day even better than it already was, being with some great people, having a good laugh while discovering new places and all.

After walking around the town, peering into all the shops, laughing at the tributes to the alien films, taking silly photos in door and window frames and walking up to the castle to see the spectacular view across the mountains we got all cosy in a restaurant for some traditional Swiss soup with Gruyere cheese.  Yum!  A box of chocolates helped the dark drive back to Geneva!  We all had had a fun day getting to know each other better, revelling in the beautifulness of Switzerland.

Sunday Eleanor and I took it easy.  Watching Peter Pan, going to church, baking Oreo cookie cookies and taking too many photos of ourselves whilst time just escaped us completely!

If Saturday was a day seeing the traditional and beautiful side of Switzerland, then Monday was seeing the intellectual and international cooperating side of Switzerland.  Eleanor, Iveta and myself went to the U.N.  I had organised for a bunch of Au Pairs to meet up together to go on a tour.  Once we got there and met up with our fellow Au Pairs, Christian (the token boy Au Pair for the day) took over and got us a group pass to join a tour.

It was really interesting walking through the U.N. seeing so many different people from all over the world constantly on the move to and from their various meetings.  The building is far bigger than I imagined, and we didn’t even see half of it.  It is full of beautiful art from every country covering all the walls.  We also walked past the library, but I was gutted that I couldn’t actually go in and lose myself amongst the hundreds of books.  However the President of Germany did walk past our tour group and say ‘Hello’ to us on his way to a meeting that we had been looking in on earlier.  That had to be the highlight of the day!

After the tour everyone came back to mine for lunch (where the Oreo cookie cookies that Eleanor and I had made the day before got devoured).  It was lovely having a nice lunch with a few new people I hadn’t met before that day and a couple of old (like Anna and Christian).  Once full we all headed back out to take a quick look around CERN.  We got to the CERN globe at the perfect time to see the lights dim and stars appear all around us as the current project at CERN was explained through beautiful images of space.  We also had a lot of other items in room that looked too technical for Anna and I to understand, but were fully explained by Christian (who was in his element that whole day).

After a great but busy day of the U.N., CERN and then actually doing my Au Pair job Eleanor and I dragged ourselves out of the house after dinner to see a little of Geneva by night.  We had a little wonder through old town and down my favourite street that has lighted blocks on the floor with sayings in many different languages.

Tuesday was a day in France.  So where do I take someone in France?  My favourite place, which is Annecy of course!  The clouds had finally decided it was time to part a little and let the sun shine through.  We got a beautiful view of the lake and mountains in Annecy while we shivered and took more photos.  We strolled through the town seeing the rivers that run through the place, a little art gallery and eating crepes of course.  Most of our time was spent in my favourite shop in Annecy that is full of hand made and painted pottery.  I have admired the shops contents many times and promised myself that before I left for England I would finally get myself a pretty jug to remember Annecy by.  The purchase was made…eventually!  The afternoon ended with us eating some extra large macaroons by the river in the sun.

The time quickly came for Eleanor to be taken to the airport and kissed goodbye.  We had a fantastic few days exploring Switzerland and France together with many other people along the way.  Yet of course four days later we still needed more time for everything we wanted to say and do.

Eleanor, it was brilliant having you here!