I shall attempt to be brief here as I am writing up two weeks worth of stuff in one go. Brevity is not, however, my strong point…
06/05 - Tonight I did some work and watched endless election coverage, that's about it really. Crap rainy day, again. And a hung parliament, woo! I mean, I think such a situation might be a good shakeup for the UK system, but we'll see how it pans out.
07/05 - I got to bed at 8 this morning, slept for a few hours then got up at one. I filled the afternoon somehow then went over to James and Dan's for a thai curry, cooked by James, which was really good. I then went and got Mum, Clare and Hannah from the airport, I missed the bus so I was late, but so were they. On the way back I made them run for a train, which Hannah did but the others did not, which set the theme for the weekend a bit (I hadn't really realised how much I rely on being able to sprint for stuff, or how I am always just a few seconds late for everything, which is what necessitates the sprinting).
The Eastwest Hôtel, where I had booked a room for Mum and Hannah, was pretty nice, all purple and flash inside. We buggered around with the coffee machine for a bit and Hannah opted for whichever option (staying at the hotel or staying with me) gave her the most sleep. Mum, Clare and I went down to the bar for a (ridiculously expensive) drink, then Clare and I left about half 12 maybe. I forgot that there are no (or relatively few) buses at this time of night, so we had to walk it - we missed a couple of buses en route, meaning that we had a rather inefficient journey, getting home and actually going to sleep by about 0230.
08/05 - Mum rang at 0911, we scrambled about a bit and managed to meet them at about 1030. We had a rubbish breakfast - the croques monsieurs were nice, but we had them in a café with loads of birds around it (and their associated debris on the chairs) on a junction near the bus station. We went for a stroll round the Old Town, to the cathedral etc. then stopped at the créperie that Kelly and I tried to eat in the other day. I had Spinach, roquefort and ham (I did not want the ham and they charged me 4 CHF for it anyway), they forgot Hannah's meal entirely and the salad was awful. Not a good day so far, food wise. We then went to CERN where I showed them about a bit - essentially I showed them the same stuff as I showed Ed and Kelly. We then headed back to town and hung out by the water (started to rain a bit) until dinner time - Fondue at Bains des Pâquis. I went and got it, having told Mum you pay at the end so that I could buy it for us. It turned out that Hannah wasn't a big fan of Fondue, so she got the meat and paté, which she also didn't like. Poor Hannah. We then went home and, after some discussion, watched The Sting, which was excellent - Hannah was fast asleep well before the end. I went over and stayed at James', as there isn't quite room for four people in the flat.
The Rose children atop a Henry Moore, Geneva
09/05 - Clare and I went to Pain Quotidien to get some croques for breakfast, and ended up with massive toasties (never enough filling in Switzerland) with no cheese sauce on them, for 14 CHF each! That is ridiculous. We came home and racletted them to make them a bit better. We headed up La Salève on the cloudiest day possible, I forgot Mum was scared of heights - oops. It was fine once we were up there, we got about 10 minutes of views then the clouds settled in. We went for a walk, Hannah was not too keen but we persuaded her, then promptly got lost. My fault, I think. We got too hot in spite of the cold, so we grabbed an ice cream and then Clare sent Hannah off in a strop by pretending to put a Calippo down her back - she said it was my idea (true) so I was also on the receiving end. By the end of the ice cream she had calmed down, so we went back home, got their stuff and went to Café De Paris for a late lunch - definitely the most successful meal of the weekend. Everyone loved it, I had trois decis of Gamay to wash it down, then we went to the airport and I said farewell. Clare was really hoping that their flight was cancelled so she didn't have to go to work on Monday, but that was not the case. Easyjet cancelled all theirs, but not so BA. I went home, don't remember dinner, and I assume I fell asleep pretty quickly - going straight from night shift to a packed tourist itinerary has not really allowed me much time for sleep.
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