Overdosing on Cheese: Geneva, Switzerland

In July 2011 I had some surgery on my right ankle which effectively left me not able to walk for 3 months and resulted in most of the summer passing me by pretty uneventfully. During this time, I was also not allowed to fly due to my leg being in a plaster of paris cast and certain risks associated with that.  As soon as I was out of that cast, I was desperate to get away for a quick break. So in November 2011 Hamish and I did one of our typical European weekend breaks, this time, the destination was Geneva, Switzerland.

When we arrived I was expecting rolling green hills, emerald lakes, white capped mountains in the distance and general beautiful "Heidi" scenery {yodel-eh-hee-hooooo}, all of which I had seen on previous visits to other parts of Switzerland.  Geneva was however, at first sight, just another concrete urban city. I don't think it helped matters that we arrived relatively late on the Friday night and were staying in a dodgy central area.  I will admit, there were a few moments, when navigating the streets from the train station to the hotel where I thought we may be mugged and/or savagely attacked. Alas, the homeless, drug-taking, street people were far nicer than I gave them credit for and we made it to the hotel in one piece. With our luggage {go us!!}. 

We were lucky to make it to the hotel alive really. 

Now before I completely ruin Geneva's tourist appeal, when we woke up on Saturday morning and made our way out of the central area we were in towards the more touristy beautiful lakeside region, my mind was changed and I realised I had been wrong to judge the city on the previous night’s experience. The lakeside area was beautiful. It really was actually clear emerald water and there were honest to goodness white capped mountains in the distance. I honestly have never seen a body of water, in a city, as clear as that of Lake Geneva. You could literally see individual sand grains in the deep depths below

The clear water below my very white converse. 

Lake Geneva with the famous Jet D'Eau in the background 

We spent most of the weekend walking alongside the lake, taking the water taxis back and forth across the clear water, visiting the Phillip Patek watch museum and generally enjoying all things  Swiss....including of course the Swiss cheese. Anyone that has spent any time with me will know about my love of cheese. I use the term "love" loosely, it is more of an obsessive, all-consuming addiction. In light of this addiction it only seemed fair that we try out a local fondue restaurant. We did some research and found a place that came highly recommended and decided to give it a go. This was a great choice of ours as this restaurant was seriously off the beaten track and, as far as I could tell, there were no other tourists in sight.  I embraced the Swiss culture and only ordered cheese. A massive, extra-large cheese fondue to be exact.  For the first 20 minutes of cheesy bread consumption I was in heaven, but as the night wore on, I began to feel more and more ill. Not one to give up easily, I continued to plough on and managed to get through just about the entire fondue. This was a mistake, a BIG mistake. Fondue cheese is not a creamy, mild cheddar cheese, it is a rich Gruyere and Emmental concoction and I do believe they include alcohol too, so by the end of the night I was feeling pretty ill. This overdose in cheese resulted in a temporary cure of my cheese addiction, I think I steered clear of all cheeses for at least a week month after.  For anyone wanting to experiment in this type of cure, in order to be sure you have found an authentic and cheesy enough venue, you should walk 100m away from the building and close your eyes. If you can smell the cheese (and from personal experience, let me tell you this is in no way a good smell) then you have a winner - go in and indulge away your addiction, you have my permission.

This is the face of a cheese addict before the "cure" has become effective. 

 Fun facts about Geneva:

• Lake Geneva is one of the largest lakes in Western Europe
• Geneva is the European headquarter of the United Nations
• The biggest annual complaint of the residents of Geneva is.....dog droppings. {Hmmm}
• The Jet D'Eau is one of the largest fountains in the world, 500l of water are jetted 140m into the air and this can be seen from the air up to an altitude of 10km.
• A pint of beer in Geneva costs GBP 4.35 * 

* Correct at time of publishing. 

Exploring London with my mom { A Backyard Series post}

I am going to take a break in the recapping of past holidays to share a bit of my right now.  I fall into a pretty grey area when it comes to defining my place in the UK and probably the world {dramatic much? haha}. Although I lived here when I was younger, I moved to South Africa when I was about 5 or so and that is the country I remember growing up in. I went to school and university there and grew up in a small  beachy town with the best friends and childhood memories. I really do love South Africa. The grey area comes in due to the fact that both of my parents are British and both grew up here and got their respective degrees/careers on track here. My dad's entire family have only ever lived in England, and my moms brother lives here too, so while I like to think if myself as a South African expat, am I really? I hold both passports, and have only ever been a tax payer in the United Kingdom, I have more family on this side of the world, but I vote in both countries elections and feel patriotic towards both. It's kind of like I have a split personality,am I more British or South African?! Identity crisis of note I tell ya! Try watching a sporting game between England and South Africa with my issues...its not pretty! Anywho, I digress, the point I am trying to make is that I sometimes forget to enjoy my time in London and England because it just feels normal to me, like home, but this year I made a conscious decision to explore my "backyard" and make the most of my time here- who knows where the future will find me.

Yesterday my lovely mom took a short train trip down from her little village in the Midlands to spend the day with me in London. She only recently relocated back to the UK and it really is so great having her back on the same soil as me - not only do Hamish and I have a second home to visit in the countryside when we get tired of the craziness that is life in the Capital, but I can call her with my free minutes, at any time of the day! Bonus!  I won't even go into the fact that she brought my beautiful dog Sophie over with her  - that is a whole other post!

Introducing Sophie, otherwise known as the best, most beautiful dog in the world.

We had a great day being tourists in London. We started the day off at the markets in Greenwich, which are indoors {thankfully as it was pouring}so we spent some time perusing the various craft and food stalls before heading to a cute little arty cafe called the Red Door Cafe. Their hot chocolate was amazing, or so says my mother dear, but sadly I was not impressed with my cappuccino. I am a big coffee lover and it tasted like the coffee had been burned and was incredibly bitter.  I was not a happy camper, sigh.  I was soon cheered up when we found an authentic old school sweet shop, anyone who knows me will know I have a soft spot for junk food and sweets, especially sour sweets. We got chatting to the lady serving us and somehow the conversation turned to sour sweets and my love for them. This led to mom and I leaving with two sour sweets. Two, you say? How bad can two sweets be? My thoughts exactly, but these came with a health warning, no more than two a day or else you could have stomach issues and your mouth may bleed.  I tried them later on in the day, when Hamish was around to witness the reaction, and let me say, they did not disappoint. Wow! 

Old Royal Naval College

Old Royal Naval College

The weather cleared up enough for us to take a boat  trip from Greenwich to embankment and it was brilliant! We got some great views of the city of London and  Canary Wharf, which is where I work. I gave mom a quick tour around Covent Garden and then we headed back to the river for a  late lunch on board the Tattershall Castle. This floating boat is, in my opinion, a hidden gem in London. It is never busy, ever. We have always been able to get a seat and if you are at the window, the views of the Thames and the London eye are second to none.  Considering just a few hundred meters away the streets, restaurants and shops are always crammed and chaotic with people, this little pub is an oasis of calmness. I love it. 

There is so much to do and see in London, I am really looking forward to spending more time exploring this great city this year. I just need to remind myself every now and then to actually go and do it! Thanks mom for a great day, was lovely to see you! 

Mom!

Falling in love with Provence, France { A Road Trip Series}

One of my all time favourite holidays since living in England has to be one we did in June 2011. Four of us hopped on a plane to Marseilles, rented a car and zig-zagged throughout the beautiful Provence region. The South of France is simply magical and I loved it. 

I actually can't believe that we did this trip nearly three whole years ago, it still seems like yesterday in my mind. This was one of those holidays, that even though we were only away for something ridiculous like 4 days, when we returned to London it felt like we had been away for ages. In other words, the best kind of holiday!  Below are my five highlights and definite recommendations from our little voyage into the world of sunshine, croissants, macron's and lovely French goodness. 

This is the face of happiness, content and satisfaction. Also, this was the best Gnocchi I have eaten. Ever.

5. Winding roads and breathtaking window scenery 

This is pretty much guaranteed along the coastal route. We drove along the coast, from Marseilles, through to Monte Carlo in Monaco. The route took us through St Tropez, Cannes and Nice to mention a few of the spots we stopped at. I think between St Tropez and Nice I was literally hyperventilating from the beauty of the area. Having been cooped up on the muddy island known as the UK for too long, this brief respite from greyness into the sunshine soaked coast of Provence had me almost overwhelmed. We managed to just miss the school summer holidays and were rewarded with perfect weather and near-empty roads. I think that had we done this a few weeks later the experience might have been slightly more stressful and a bit too tourist packed for my liking. 

Beach in Nice...it was very very Nice {hahaha}

2. Gelato and boat viewing in St Tropez

These boats are more like floating mansions. The amount of obvious wealth  in this small seaside town was somewhat worrying.  We didn't stay very long {due to parking costing approximately the same as the daily hire rate of the car!} but for some reason, I really enjoyed our few hours here. Maybe it was the fact we got to experience a small part of such a different world or maybe it was just the fact that the gelato's we bought and ate, walking along the pier, were to die for - whatever the reason, it remains one of my highlights. 

Look at the size of the people next to the boat, and this one was just an average sized boat...

St Tropez

3. Pont du Gard World Heritage site (Roman Aqueduct) 

This was an unexpected favourite of the holiday.  It is mind blowing that this structure was built in the 1st century AD. It is nearly 50m high and 280m long (it was originally 360m long) and seeing it in person, you can really understand why this is a UNESCO world heritage site. Not only is the aqueduct itself impressive, but the surrounding scenery is beautiful, it is built across a lovely river and on the banks of this are a handful of cute restaurants and cafes. Certainly worth a detour in any itinerary. 

2. Walking around St Paul-de-Vence 

It was like walking around the most perfectly preserved movie set.  This little town was gorgeous, I think that we stopped by on a particularly good day - the beautiful old architecture, coupled with the most perfect sunny weather and clear skies left us with a real-life fairytale experience.  I loved the cobbled walkways and the blue shuttered houses, the car-less streets and the numerous little art shops and cafes. I fell head over heels in love with this little village and would return in a split second if the opportunity arose. 

1. Breakfast overlooking the bay on the outskirts of Nice

This may seem like a rather random number one highlight of the whole holiday, but, simply put, it just was. We drove from Nice to Monte Carlo one morning and along the way we stopped at a view point right on the outskirts of Nice and ate breakfast against the most stunning backdrop. We had picked up some fresh croissants, cheese, jams and breads from a local supermarket and ate them while drinking in the phenomenal ocean views. I think it is fair to say  this was the best breakfast of my life to date and it probably only cost about EUR 3.00. It just shows that the best things in life certainly can be free {the view!}.  I will forever remember the feeling of the warm sun, croissant crumbs all over my clothes and face, the great company and the sea and sky so blue and clear they merged together as one. 

Talk about breakfast with a view...

Fun facts about Provence: 

• Provence was the first Roman Province outside of Italy and there are still loads of Roman monuments in the area. 
• Although most people speak French in this region, Provencal is actually the traditional language of the area. It is similar to Catalan or Spanish.
• In Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a famous wine village in Provence, a municipal law of 1954 prohibits flying saucers from landing in the town - just so you know!
• A pint of beer in France costs £4.66 (it should also be said it was cheaper to order wine than diet coke in most of the restaurants we visited)