Geneva and the Romandie
Stef and I had ummed and ahhed about what to do in Europe when Cassy left us to our own devices. We had decided early on that we would like to see some cycling and the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland suited our timing. So we escaped Paris, much to both of our delight, and headed to Geneva.
We had been warned that the prices in Geneva were high and they are. Everything is expensive. My favourite example was a 200 ml bottle of orange juice for 3.50SFR (the SFR and AUD are roughly equivalent). That is orange juice at $17.50 a litre without table service.
But Geneva is a beautiful city tucked into the end of Lac Leman on the Rhone River. We were happy to see the European Alps and the beautiful hills surrounding the city. The first night we went a pub and watched Barcelona bore Real Madrid and the rest of the world to death in the first leg of the Champions League semi final.
The next morning was our first taste of European cycling. We caught the train to Romont for stage 2 of the Tour of Romandie. Cadel Evans was in the top ten after stage one. Romont is a gorgeous town perched on a hill (every town in Europe is perched on a hill to aid defence from invaders). That day’s stage was leaving Romont with three different loops of areas around the town. We arrived early, watched the area being set up, watched the race depart, watch the race ride through town twice and then watch Cadel finish second behind Damien Cunego.
This all happened over the course of about eight hours during which time we availed ourselves of all the free samples on offer. Gruyere AOC was one of the main sponsors so there was plenty of free cheese floating about (in both its solid and liquid forms), including an all day cheese making display (Cassy chose the wrong time to go home). Everyone was giving away free hats. The tourist bureau gave us cans of fresh mountain air. We collected Tour de Romandie flags, key rings, bags, satchels, t-shirts – the list goes on. I made Stef and me a milkshake using a bicycle – which must be seen to be believed. And we both managed to get our photo taken with Cadel – or behind Cadel – or in front of Cadel – or with Cadel being obscured by someone else. We were in our own little world of cycling heaven.
Back in Geneva after the race we decided to hang around for the next few days as the final stage of the Tour would be into Geneva. As events unfolded that was a smart decision! The next day we visited the Red Cross museum and did a tour of the United Nations before heading out for an early dinner followed by some classic brotherly bonding over a number of beers at a number of city locations.
We bought the last two beers at the deli near our hotel to drink in our hotel room. However, it took a bit of Swiss subterfuge to complete the purchase. Apparently the delis aren’t allowed to sell beer after 9pm. It was after midnight when we stepped into the deli. Fortunately there was a nice young man standing next to the beer fridge telling us we could still have the beers if we hid them under our jackets when we walked out of the store. Maybe he was training to become a Swiss banker!
The next day we both woke a little hazy. But the sun was shining so we decided to make the most of it by climbing Mount Saverne – Geneva’s favourite location for a day trip. Climbing Mount Saverne is easy – you take a bus from Geneva to the French border (a trip of around 5km) then walk across the border. Waiting for you on the French side of a border is a cable car to the top. What an exhausting climb! Still we managed to tire ourselves out by walking around on top of the mountain whilst admiring Mont Blanc and the other Swiss Alps in the middle distance. The site is also a favourite of paragliders and hanggliders and we spent half an hour watching them take off into the thermals with spectacular views of Geneva and the lake. We arrived back in time to catch stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie, the time trial, on television in our hotel room. Which was fortunate because we saw Cadel finish 44 seconds behind the time of Tony Martin which launched Cadel into the lead. Cadel would go into the final day 18 seconds ahead of Tony Martin and an even larger gap to his greatest rival, Alexandre Vinikourov.
Our last day in Geneva was the last day of the Tour de Romandie. With nothing else to show for us being Aussie, I pulled on my Socceroos T-Shirt. I don’t think anyone noticed. There was no serious challenge to Cadel’s lead and we watched him cross the line in the yellow jersey. Victory for the second time in the Tour de Romandie – his last being in 2006. We waited in front of the winner’s podium to watch the awards ceremony and see Cadel one last time. But before Cadel was crowned the winner they awarded the prize for the winner of stage 5.
The stage winner, Englishmen Ben Swift from BSKYB, accepted his prize of a bunch of flowers from the organisers and his kiss from the sponsor’s girl and then launched the flowers into the crowd. All my soccer goalkeeping instincts came to the fore as I launched myself at the flying bunch and plucked them from the waiting arms of a the girl next to me. She didn’t look too happy. Still I managed to walk through French customs with the flowers. Now I am just waiting to see the look on Cassy’s face when she arrives in Paris exhausted after 30 hours of flying to be awarded the winner’s flowers from stage 5 of the Tour de Romandie. She has earned them after all her cycling efforts to date. And it may just be my chance to start the resurrection of Paris as the romantic city.
Stef and I had ummed and ahhed about what to do in Europe when Cassy left us to our own devices. We had decided early on that we would like to see some cycling and the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland suited our timing. So we escaped Paris, much to both of our delight, and headed to Geneva.
We had been warned that the prices in Geneva were high and they are. Everything is expensive. My favourite example was a 200 ml bottle of orange juice for 3.50SFR (the SFR and AUD are roughly equivalent). That is orange juice at $17.50 a litre without table service.
But Geneva is a beautiful city tucked into the end of Lac Leman on the Rhone River. We were happy to see the European Alps and the beautiful hills surrounding the city. The first night we went a pub and watched Barcelona bore Real Madrid and the rest of the world to death in the first leg of the Champions League semi final.
The next morning was our first taste of European cycling. We caught the train to Romont for stage 2 of the Tour of Romandie. Cadel Evans was in the top ten after stage one. Romont is a gorgeous town perched on a hill (every town in Europe is perched on a hill to aid defence from invaders). That day’s stage was leaving Romont with three different loops of areas around the town. We arrived early, watched the area being set up, watched the race depart, watch the race ride through town twice and then watch Cadel finish second behind Damien Cunego.
This all happened over the course of about eight hours during which time we availed ourselves of all the free samples on offer. Gruyere AOC was one of the main sponsors so there was plenty of free cheese floating about (in both its solid and liquid forms), including an all day cheese making display (Cassy chose the wrong time to go home). Everyone was giving away free hats. The tourist bureau gave us cans of fresh mountain air. We collected Tour de Romandie flags, key rings, bags, satchels, t-shirts – the list goes on. I made Stef and me a milkshake using a bicycle – which must be seen to be believed. And we both managed to get our photo taken with Cadel – or behind Cadel – or in front of Cadel – or with Cadel being obscured by someone else. We were in our own little world of cycling heaven.
Back in Geneva after the race we decided to hang around for the next few days as the final stage of the Tour would be into Geneva. As events unfolded that was a smart decision! The next day we visited the Red Cross museum and did a tour of the United Nations before heading out for an early dinner followed by some classic brotherly bonding over a number of beers at a number of city locations.
We bought the last two beers at the deli near our hotel to drink in our hotel room. However, it took a bit of Swiss subterfuge to complete the purchase. Apparently the delis aren’t allowed to sell beer after 9pm. It was after midnight when we stepped into the deli. Fortunately there was a nice young man standing next to the beer fridge telling us we could still have the beers if we hid them under our jackets when we walked out of the store. Maybe he was training to become a Swiss banker!
The next day we both woke a little hazy. But the sun was shining so we decided to make the most of it by climbing Mount Saverne – Geneva’s favourite location for a day trip. Climbing Mount Saverne is easy – you take a bus from Geneva to the French border (a trip of around 5km) then walk across the border. Waiting for you on the French side of a border is a cable car to the top. What an exhausting climb! Still we managed to tire ourselves out by walking around on top of the mountain whilst admiring Mont Blanc and the other Swiss Alps in the middle distance. The site is also a favourite of paragliders and hanggliders and we spent half an hour watching them take off into the thermals with spectacular views of Geneva and the lake. We arrived back in time to catch stage 4 of the Tour de Romandie, the time trial, on television in our hotel room. Which was fortunate because we saw Cadel finish 44 seconds behind the time of Tony Martin which launched Cadel into the lead. Cadel would go into the final day 18 seconds ahead of Tony Martin and an even larger gap to his greatest rival, Alexandre Vinikourov.
Our last day in Geneva was the last day of the Tour de Romandie. With nothing else to show for us being Aussie, I pulled on my Socceroos T-Shirt. I don’t think anyone noticed. There was no serious challenge to Cadel’s lead and we watched him cross the line in the yellow jersey. Victory for the second time in the Tour de Romandie – his last being in 2006. We waited in front of the winner’s podium to watch the awards ceremony and see Cadel one last time. But before Cadel was crowned the winner they awarded the prize for the winner of stage 5.
The stage winner, Englishmen Ben Swift from BSKYB, accepted his prize of a bunch of flowers from the organisers and his kiss from the sponsor’s girl and then launched the flowers into the crowd. All my soccer goalkeeping instincts came to the fore as I launched myself at the flying bunch and plucked them from the waiting arms of a the girl next to me. She didn’t look too happy. Still I managed to walk through French customs with the flowers. Now I am just waiting to see the look on Cassy’s face when she arrives in Paris exhausted after 30 hours of flying to be awarded the winner’s flowers from stage 5 of the Tour de Romandie. She has earned them after all her cycling efforts to date. And it may just be my chance to start the resurrection of Paris as the romantic city.
