Bonjour de la Suisse: The jet-setters

Fi dropped us off at the train station in Sterling and we were off to Edinburgh. This was the first big city we had been to so far and it was a stark difference from the country side. But we were excited to start exploring right away. We first stopped to drop our stuff off in the dorm room we were staying in (yup, we were staying in the dorms at Edinburgh University), then we were ready to hit the town.

We spent the afternoon at Edinburgh Castle and wandering around downtown. The Fringe Fest was just getting started (the world’s largest arts festival that precedes the famous Edinburgh Festival) and the town was really lively. We ate a pub dinner and had a bit of time to hit an internet cafe where Chica got to see the first pictures of her brand new nephew who was born earlier in the week. He is so cute with a full head of red hair!

That night we signed up for the Literary Pub Tour. I figured Chica would love it considering she was an English major in collage, but unfortunately she had a hard time understanding the thick Scottish accent that the lead actor had. But all was not lost, the beer was flowing and we met some really fun people, some locals and some American girls. There were about 10 of us and we ended up bar hopping with them until the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say we didn't do too much the next morning. We had a plane to catch in the early afternoon, so we just ended up spending the rest of our time in Edinburgh walking around and poking into a couple of free museums.

We were on our way to Dublin! We got to the hotel and were told we were on the 4th floor, which meant four flights of very long and very steep stairs (sorry, no elevator). We were ready for a nap! We ventured to Temple Bar for dinner and found a fantastic traditional Irish restaurant. Delicious.

The next day was our only full day in Dublin, so we were determined to make the most of it. We got up early and headed to Trinity College to see The Book of Kells, then we were off to Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol (the former prison), and then the Guinness factory. We were having a great time, but we had to rush off to dinner, since we made reservations at one of the most popular places in Temple Bar and we didn't want to loose our spot.

Dinner did not disappoint, the food was great and there was even a small band, it was fantastic. But shortly after we sat down, Chica lets out a little scream. "You okay?!?" I asked. Turns out the air conditioning unit above her seat was periodically dripping water that was hitting her on the arm, which she insisted was quite startling. I offered to switch spots but she refused. It was quite funny but some of our fellow diners didn't think so. Well, a few screams later we switched and thanks to my sweater, I hardly felt the drops.

After dinner we went on a Musical Pub Crawl (do you see a pattern?), it was one of the best tours I've ever been on. There was a fiddle player and a guitar player who took us outside the tourist areas and we visited several local pubs where they played traditional Irish music. People were singing along and at one point people were even asked to come up and play/sing their own songs. Earlier I had happened to mention to the fiddle player that Chica played the guitar. Oops. I didn't realize that I had now put her in danger of being called up to play, but it all turned out okay, neither of us had to sing or play anything.

Afterwards we continued on with the fiddle player and a gal from South Africa (who earlier had been very brave and sang her national anthem in front of the entire group) to another local pub where local musicians come to jam. It was really incredible; we even met one of the top fiddle players in Ireland! I was so moved by the music that I decided to take up the fiddle (at some point - check back with me in a couple of years). We didn't get back to our hotel until nearly 3am! That was a bummer considering we had to leave for the airport at 5am!! It was a rough morning, but we made our flight to Paris.

Now in the spirit of saving some money, I booked a flight on RyanAir into Paris Beauvais, an airport an hour and a half north of the city. After the long bus ride we then had to walk to the metro and catch a train to Orly airport (which is South of Paris) where we were to meet G and pick up our rental car. Unfortunately there was major work being done on the metro which greatly complicated our journey, but several hours later we made it to Orly, where G had just arrived. In hindsight it would have been worth every cent of the extra ticket faire to fly directly into Orly. Next time. Soon we had our very tiny car and we were zipping through the country side to Normandy. We were staying in the town of Bayeux, a cute little French village close to the D-Day beaches. We had a delicious typical French dinner in an adorable garden. I have to say we ate really well on our trip! We raised our glasses and cheered "Enchanté!", I mean "Santé!" to meeting up with G and our amazing trip so far.

We had booked a full day tour of the D-Day beaches for the next day. We shared a minivan with two other couples and a British lady that really got on Chica's nerves. The tour was fantastic, our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and he told the most interesting stories as he whisked us to the different museums and WWII sites. It was a beautiful day too, which made it even nicer to be outside. But it was a tiring day with a lot of information to absorb. Back in town we checked out the cathedral and the Bayeux Tapestries before dinner.

In the morning we drove to the edge of Brittany to Mont Saint Michel, the tiny island abbey that has draw pilgrims for thousands of years. We fought the crowds to get to the abbey at the top of the island. It was beautiful, but the sheer number of people was a bit overwhelming. We struggled to walk down the single lane road to get back down the hill. I've never seen so many people crowded in such a small area in my whole life. After lunch and ice cream we were headed out. There were just way too many people!

We were spending the night near the Orly airport to catch an early morning flight back to Geneva. We decided to stop in Versailles, which was on the way back, for dinner. This turned out to be a big mistake. Dinner was fine, and walking around the front of the palace at sunset was cool, but due to detours on the road we became hopelessly lost. And I really mean hopelessly!!

A drive that should have taken us an hour or so took us almost 4 hours!!! We simply could not find our way back to Orly. We were so late that the reception office closed and we had to retrieve our key out of a machine that we almost could not operate! But somehow we got into our room. I was starting to worry we would be spending the night in our car. Even in the morning we got lost once again trying to find a gas station! I have to tell you I was thrilled to be turning in that car! We were exhausted, but happy to have a bit of downtime in Geneva. The trip so far had been great, and Chica was still out for another week!