Switzerland!

Finally, the whirlwind of activity of the past couple of days has settled, and I can write a proper post, although there is no way I can catch up in one fell swoop. So we shall go at it in several smaller swoops. Herewith are the highlights of the past few days.

Getting to the airport Wednesday morning was pretty straightforward, and I arrived at Sheremetevo in plenty of time to chat with Aeroflot. It turns out that, having used the first 'half' of my London-Moscow ticket, it was not possible to rewrite the return leg to take me to Geneva, which was a shame. So, I really had no choice but to fly to London, buoyed by the encouraging news that a round trip from Heathrow to Geneva would cost only £92 on British Airways.

As I waited for my flight in the airport restaurant, I mused that while Moscow may not believe in tears, it certainly does believe in outrageous airport restaurant prices. A half liter bottle of refreshment costs 120 rubles, or about US$4.50. On the positive side, I had my first Schweppes Bitter Lemon in years.

The weather coming into Heathrow was causing delays, so we arrived about an hour late. Eventually, I did get a ticket to/from Geneva, but aboard the Swiss carrier, with a return on Sunday morning at some unlikely early hour.

Departure from Heathrow was delayed as well, and concomitantly the plane into Geneva arrived late. What made this phase of the trip particularly nerve-wracking was the utter lack of information regarding what gate the flight was boarding from, as the overhead displays were on the blink and public address announcements were fairly few and far between. This situation continued until after the departure time for the flight. Imagine my state of mind: it's 3:15 pm, the plane was supposed to leave 10 minutes ago, and I've heard no word over the loudspeakers. It was not pleasant.

The flight itself was uneventful. I sat next to a Japanese couple who found the televised Tom & Jerry cartoons to be hilarious. The airline surprised me by announcing that refreshments for the passengers in steerage economy class was on a pay-as-you-go basis. A can of Coke cost €2.80. Fortunately, the plane landed before I got thirsty.

As it turns out, the airport in Geneva is set up with a train platform that takes you into town to the main station. There, one goes to track 7, where the French authorities check your passport, you pass through French customs, and then go out onto the platform to wait for the train to Lyon.

The train from Geneva to Lyon takes just under two hours, and the scenery is quite easy on the eyes. By the time I got to Lyon, it was dark. I gathered my stuff and found a taxi, which took me to a hotel, where by prearrangement I joined LJ friend brenk and her husband Chris, who were in town on business. Yesterday (was it yesterday?.. yes), their daughter joined us in Lyon.

(Lyon will warrant its own series of posts, to be written later.)

Today, I accompanied the family back to their home in Switzerland by car. It was a marvelous drive, with a stop in a village called Pérouges, which is one of those places that is kept midieval-looking for the tourists. (Fortunately, there were very few tourists in evidence today.)

So here I am, checking my mail and updating my LJ from Switzerland. I can feel my batteries recharging. Departure for home is Sunday.

Cheers...