30/04 - So I remained in the office until 2020, a record for me - in spite of this, and in spite of it also being Friday night, I was not the last to leave - Rudi left about 10 minutes before me, and Clive asked to borrow my key as he was planning to stay longer. His girlfriend had come by at about 6pm to borrow his housekeys before she went shopping, rang him a couple of times to see how long he would be, and in spite of this he remained at his desk. What could he possibly be doing which is that important?
I picked Kelly up from the airport and we headed back for some dinner. This was salmon with a horseradish crust, which was incredibly simple and incredibly delicious - I may make it for my Mum and sisters when they come out next weekend, if there is any time in between sumptuous cheese-based meals. Yesterday I bought a selection of local white wines for us to sample over the weekend, and we started with one from Morges - we will be going there for the annual Caves Ouvertes in three weeks time - a day of wine tasting, with a free bus which goes between about 15 vineyards. I doubt we'll make it to all of them.
01/05 - Today turned out to be another grey and rainy day, so after some discussion we decided to have brunch instead of breakfast - the distinction being that it is fine to have wine with brunch. We then headed down to see Zack, Masa and their new son Finn - he is a shade under three weeks old, cannot yet focus his eyes or do very much at all, but still captivated Kelly for the duration of our stay. Zack's dad (Bing) and Masa's mum (umm, Mrs. Kovacevic) were both staying as well, so I had a bit of a chat with Bing about the upcoming election over some strong Croation wine, blagged some knowledge about subjects I know little about, and then we all walked to Parc des Bastions to catch some of the May Day parade. I had been intrigued to see what Swiss anarchy looks like, and it turned out to be a bit of a socialist rally, with a load of Latin American food stalls. Kelly and I had brought some wine and plastic cups along (a nice sweet Muscadet we bought in the south of France), I had some sardines, Bing bought some more awful wine from a stall, and then all of a sudden Finn woke up and they all had to leave.
We opted to remain in the park for a little, until we remembered that I lived really close and my flat was warm and dry. We decided to round a few people up and go for dinner at a tapas bar which Zack had told us about, so we went home and awaited the arrival of the two Dans, James and his girlfriend Claire (they said they would be over after Dr. Who). While we were waiting we opened another bottle of wine, then another etc. and needless to say we didn't go for dinner in the end. Instead we stayed up until 2 or so debating many important points - these ranged from the topic of expenses, more election chat and whether or not the current controversy surrounding Zahia Dehar has helped her career, such as it is (she has been all over the news here since it emerged that a few French football players had paid her for sex when she was under 18 - I have since found out that she was paid €50,000 for a photoshoot in Paris Match, so I can only assume yes).
02/05 - We started today with no plans at all. We dedicated much of the day to exploring, first some hotels for Mum and Hannah/Clare to stay in when they come out next weekend, then we got a boat across to Eaux-Vives and up to Geneve-Plage. We found a lot of beautiful places, it's just a pity that it was such a grey day. isn'tThe purpose (if there was one) of this wander was to investigate Le Buffet de la Gare D'Eaux-Vives, a Michelin starred restaurant at the station - it was closed and had no menu outside. We headed back into the old town for a drink in Café Demi-Lune, then absolutely failed to find anywhere suitable for dinner. After much tramping around, including going all the way down to Planpalais to a restaurant Zack recommended (which was closed), we ended up in Chez Ma Cousine, a cheap place that sells chicken and provençale potatoes for CHF 15. It was pretty good actually, we got a pot of wine to wash it down and then went home and watched Hot Fuzz on the sofa. Lovely.
03/05 - The first thing I had to do today was have a meeting with Ricardo at 3pm. Kelly is still here as it is bank holiday Monday back in the UK, so I left her doing some work while I went in to CERN. I made the mistake of having a massive lunch (steak, ravioli and chips) which made me incredibly sleepy for my meeting - it was just Ricardo and I, going over a load of stuff for two hours, after which I made my excuses and dashed off to meet Kelly in Manor (she had gone to the WHO but, being Geneva it was closed). We looked around the store for a bit, helped ourselves to an unmanned wine-tasting counter and then went to what I call the Shutter Bar - it is a small bar on Rue Lissignol which has a mostly gay clientèle, and also has the cheapest drinks I have yet found in Geneva.
Next stop was L'Entrecôte Couronnée, a restaurant in Pâquis which we have been meaning to go to for a while. Kelly and I shared the menu degustation and the selection of fish (main course). It was pretty awesome, there was an unexpected aperitif and amuse-bouche (something cheesy), followed by a selection of starters including some great gazpacho and asparagus. Next course was some reasonable sea-bass, followed by an incredible tower of two small steaks atop a sauce soaked rosti - the morilles sauce was one of the best things I have tasted, I have not had this particular type of odd little mushroom before, but I definitely will again. Kelly's selection of fish was very well cooked, but not very exciting. Both mains had some boring boiled vegetables added as an afterthought which detracted from the meal as a whole. Dessert was a tasty lemon tart with some strawberries and balsamic something or other. We accompanied this with a bottle of Swiss Sauvignon, and followed it with a quick drink in the Café Arts next door while we waited for the bus. When we got home Kelly packed and promptly passed out, complaining of too much wine. I swiftly followed, although by my reckoning we only had about 3 (Swiss) glasses each and half a bottle - I suppose this adds up to nearly a whole bottle of wine each over the course of 5 hours, which is plenty for a Monday night.
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