On My Way To CERN
CERN is reached from the centre of Geneva by a number 18 tram, which ends its journey at the site. You can either pick this up at the main station or as I did at Bel-Air, which is a major tram interchange at the foot of the old town.
It was all very simple and civilised and took under thirty minutes.
La Tavola In Geneva
I arrived in my hotel about 19:00 on the Friday and despite the excellent meal in Jamie’s Italian at Gatwick, I was peckish. The hotel recommended two local Italian restaurants, which meant I didn’t have to walk, as it was raining hard. The first was full, so I settled on the second and after a bit of negotiation, I got a table at 21:00. It was called La Tavola and here are a few pictures.
The first course was vitello tonnato, which is one of my favourites and properly made it is gluten-free. The second was salmon, leeks and mash potato. It looked slightly unappetising, but like the vitello tonnato, it was excellent.
I would certainly return to La Tavola again. One point was that being Italian, they knew their gluten-free well. My pronounciation too of celiachia is getting better each year.
I sometimes believe that most Italians believe that good food is the healer of all ills.
I don’t think, I’ve had a bad meal, either in Italy or cooked by Italians, for some years. The only one that stands out for awfulness, was one in Housto, about thirty years ago.
The Hotel Les Armures In Geneva
Someone told me to stay in the Old City in Geneva and as they say it’s all about location. This hotel is expensive, but my good deal got even better, when I was upgraded to a small suite on arrival.
However, it was money well spent as I had no issue with rooms, plumbing or service, as I often do in hotels. But then after what I’ve been through in recent years, I have a right to be picky. I did wonder, who had slept in my room in the past, judging by the signatures in the lift.
Bill Clinton Slept Here
At least the American President, who’d stayed here, hadn’t been Dubya.
Checking on the Internet, it would appear Bill Clinton spent the night of the 15th May, 1994 in Geneva and had a meeting with President Assad, before going on to visit Italy and have an audience with the Pope. It’s all here.
Would I stay in the hotel again?
If I had good reason to, I would.
But I doubt, I’ll ever need to go to Geneva and spend a night there again, as it is such an easy place to visit on a day trip. I might pass through on one of my trips back after a fly out, whilst taking a train home, but a hotel, by the station would be much more convenient.
A Pretty Well Organised Tourist City
On arriving in the centre of Geneva, I needed to find my way to the hotel, I’d booked at a very good rate.
The tourist office was a short walk towards the river and I got one of the best free maps, I’ve ever got from such a place. I’ve even be charged for an awful map in some places.
I actually walked to my hotel in the Old City, which wasn’t that far. One of the reasons for walking was that I knew hotels were supposed to give you a free travel ticket, for whilst you were in the city.
It was a bit cold, but a pleasant walk and I crossed one of the many bridges of the Rhone.
The Rhone At Geneva
Admittedly, I had to climb up to the hotel, but despite my problems, I managed it well. I took this picture from the top on the Saturday morning.
The Climb To The Hotel
This shows the advantage of travelling light, as I always do.
Note however the maps and signposts grouped together. Geneva is a well-mapped city and others could do worse, than follow Geneva’s example.
Incidentally the first thing I got from reception in the hotel along with the room key, was a Geneva Transport Card, valid from Friday until Sunday. You even get them if you are camping, rather than in a five star hotel as I was!
Here’s what the Visit Geneva web site says.
When you stay in a hotel, a youth hostel or at a campsite, you receive free of charge a Geneva Transport Card. Taking the tram, the bus and the train on Geneva territory will not cost you a penny. You even can cross the lake with the yellow taxi-boats for free.
This personal and non-transferable card is offered to you at arrival. During your stay in Geneva, you can use the entire Geneva transport network (UNIRESO: bus and tram (TPG), train (CFF) and taxi-boats (Mouettes Genevoises).
If you arrive at Geneva International Airport, you can get a 80-minute ticket free of charge for a ride to the place of your accommodation. The ticket machine is in the luggage retrieval hall.
The map I have, also points out the location of some of the large free museums in the city.
My First Encounter With Swiss Trains
Arriving at Geneva Airport, I found it difficult to find the information for the trains to the City. I eventually found the station and bought a ticket that I hoped would take me to the centre.
But finding the right platform was difficult, and eventually,a whole party of us, led by a Russian translator from Chelyabinsk, where the recent meteor landed, got on a train to the city.
Incidentally, she’d managed to get a free ticket, as opposed to my one, which cost three or so Swiss francs.
More information or someone to ask, would have helped. Gatwick, for instance isn’t perfect, but at least there are a few staff to help. Remember I can make myself understandable in French and can read it pretty well, except in Montreal. But that is another story.
Behimd all of this was my worry, that I’d heard that Swiss ticket inspectors, were rather hard in dealing with supposed fare dodgers. They don’t use the approach I found on Southern.
The London News Company
WH Smith, had re-branded their outlet at Gatwick as the London News Company.
The London News Company
It was the same old store, with the same old things that annoy me.
My hope is that one day, we get a good travel convenience store.
Newspapers On The Overground
I get my favourite newspaper, by buying vouchers. Picking a paper up on the Overground is sometimes difficult, as there isn’t many paper stores. And often finding one that accepts vouchers is not easy. I changed onto the Overground at Whitechapel, where I’ve fruitlessly searched before, so as I wanted to change to a Clapham Junction train, I tried Canada Water instead.
Newspapers On The Overground
I struck lucky in that there was this excellent kiosk, just a short escalator ride up and down from the platform.
An Unusual Transport Interchange
On Friday, I had a small problem. I had a guest, who was going to take a ferry back to The Netherlands and I had to get to Gatwick. To complicate matters, my guest was low on go-juice and they didn’t know the intricacies of East London.
I have never driven since I’ve moved here to Dalston, but felt that the best route would be for my guest to use the Blackwall Tunnel to get on the road to Dover. As there is a large Tesco on the approach to the tunnel, it seemed that might solve the fuel problem and I could jump ship there and get the Underground at the nearby Bromley-by-Bow station.
It all worked very well and fifteen minutes after being dropped, I was on an Overground train to Clapham Junction after changing at Whitechapel.
The interface between drivers and public transport is not good in London. There are few places, where you get an easy drop off point to public transport, a filling station and other services on major roads.
But Tesco at Bow have provided an interchange. The only problem is that the walking route to the Underground is not very salubrious.
At least it wasn’t raining. The link to the store is here.
EatNakd Bars At Gatwick
I searched everywhere and couldn’t find any, or in fact any other gluten-free snacks to take with me on the trip.
I had thought I’d forgotten to pack any, but luckily it turned out I was mistaken.
But obtaining gluten-free snacks on the move is always difficult.
The Southern Way To Do PR
I flew to Geneva from Gatwick on easyJet on an early afternoon flight, as that way, I got to have a good lunch in Jamie’s Italian in the North Terminal. I always prefer to arrive in a strange place well fed, as I can’t be sure of the food I can get there.
To get to Gatwick, I generally go using the Overground to Clapham Junction and then get one of the many trains to the airport, from there.
Together with quite a few other passengers, I piled into one of Southern’s Class 377 trains. I’ve written about these trains before, and Second Class is so good, I never bother with First. At £6.85 from Clapham Junction to Gatwick, it’s definitely good value, especially as they are well-tabled trains.
But we all piled into a First Class section of the train!
Before the first stop at East Croydon, this was discovered by the ticket collector, who very politely asked us to move on, or buy a simple upgrade. A few jokes were exchanged and I think we all moved, although one guy did buy the upgrade.
I never saw the ticket collector again.
I do wonder though, whether with these trains, the comfort in Second Class is not perceptibly below that in First. The only difference is you have a big table in First and a few signs.
The inspector had handled the situation impeccably and he had warned us about revenue protection officers, who aren’t so pleasant.
I suspect that the whole incident, got Southern a few more returning customers.
The Anonymous Widower 