Switzerland

Our flight got into Geneva an hour late. The airport is divided into a French side and a Swiss side. You can access your luggage from either side. We first enquired about hiring a car on the Swiss side, but were told it would probably be cheaper to hire it on the French side (as we planned to return it in France). We were already a bit stressed by the late flight. The hire car cost considerably more than anticipated, but eventually we got to the car only to find that the GPS was setup in French - another delay. An additional cost of car hire was a fee of 40 euros to cover tolls on expressways.

When the time came, I drove out very tentively (on the wrong side of the road by my way of thinking). We had to drive a short while through Geneva suburbs before getting to the wide-open road.


After that the going got easier. Our stop was at the town of Vevey, on the shores of Lake Geneva. The view of snow-capped peaks behind the lake was spectacular.

We parked the car and wen't straight to the first hotel we could find but it was full. It was getting late, so we had to take the first one with a vacancy. It was a place called Hotel Les Negotiants and it was very ordinary. For the huge sum of 170 Swiss francs per night (about $170aud) it claimed to be a four star hotel, but it was inferior to the one star place in Paris. There was only one pillow. The doonah gave the choice of covering toes or shoulders but never both. We were glad to depart it the next day but sad about how much lighter our wallet was.

The next day, the Tourist information office was open. They suggested the drive to Gruyere. It was well worthwhile. The countryside was classic "sound of music" stuff.

There are several Bed & Breakfasts in the old town at reasonable prices. We hoped to stay in one, but unfortunately they were booked out. Instead we stayed at a nearby farmstay. The hosts didn't speak English, but it was a pleasant and cheap place to stay. The next morning, we drove to France.