Day 42 - Geneva, Switzerland

When we left the hotel this morning the ground was wet. We were like, what is this strange substance on the ground. It’s only the second rain we’ve seen in 42 days. It stopped raining, but it’s overcast and a nice 80 degrees.

Today is our last full day in Geneva. We took a small boat across the lake to see what was on the other side. Turns out, not much more than our side. We had lunch on the pier and did get some good pics of the water spout, as well as a minor spray when we went under.

We went on a longer boat tour on the lake this afternoon. There were many unhappy children on the boat (nap time missed, possibly). We saw a ten meter platform that kids were jumping off, skiing and wake boarding, and lots of sailing. Just a fun adventure watching people enjoy their environment.

The six boys in the two boats made me laugh, what kind of trouble could they be up to?

The water spout catches your eye from everywhere. I could post twenty pictures, but I won’t. It is pretty cool though!

The pointy hill is Mont Blanc, like the pen, is the highest mountain in the Alps and Western Europe. It was also the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. The French and Swiss say the mountain is in France, the Italians say it is in Italy and France. Who knows?

So, I might have forgotten some clothes in Aix-en-Provence. I didn’t notice until I was folding laundry the other day. I’m down an outfit or two. What to do? After the boat we were walking to the Frankenstein monster (more below) and we had to go up hill-way uphill. We walked past a mall and we thought, hey, let’s take the escalator up three flights and skip some steps. Along the way (we are in a mall, after alll) we both might have bought new shorts and a new shirt for Maggie. What can I say, sometimes sh$& just works out.

As we were wandering to find Frankenstein, we came across a very cool area with small shops and cobblestone streets.

We also found a little corner wine bar, so we were forced to stop and check it out. It was sooo cute. And yes, I changed to my new shirt because the other one was trashed after walking this afternoon. I too am amazed at what we encountered on our way to Frankenstein. Who knew???

We finally made it to the Frankenstein statue. When we were on the boat, the tour mentioned how the story came about.

Wiki: Mary Shelley's father was a famous author of the time, and her education was of great importance to him, although it was not formal. Shelley grew up surrounded by her father's friends, writers, and persons of political importance, who often gathered at the family home.

This inspired her authorship at an early age. Mary, at the age of sixteen, met Percy Bysshe Shelley (who later became her husband) while he was visiting her father. Godwin (Mary’s father) did not approve of the relationship between his daughter and an older, married man, so they fled to France along with her half sister, Claire Clairmont.

In the summer of 1816, Mary, Percy, and Claire took a trip to visit Claire's lover, Lord Byron, in Geneva. Poor weather conditions (named “the year of no summer”), more akin to winter, forced Byron and the visitors to stay indoors. To help pass time, Byron suggested that he, Mary, Percy, and Byron's physician, John Polidori, have a competition to write the best ghost story to pass time stuck indoors. Mary was just eighteen years old when she won the contest with her creation of Frankenstein also known as “The Modern Prometheus.”

I’m not big on the horror story of Frankenstein. But Martha’s favorite movie of all time is Young Frankenstein and I find myself calling things Abee-Normal because she does. No way was I taking a picture with a monster. My dreams are already weird enough.

We haven’t talked much about where we are staying in various cities, but this hotel, Hotel de la Cigogne, was sooo nice. We have a fireplace in our room. It is not a Marriott, which will shock those who know us well. It is a few blocks from the lake, old town, many restaurants, and last night’s roof top bar. Check out the room key, which you can leave at the desk if you don’t want to carry it, lol. The wooden part has an RFID chip to open the door.