100 mph through Europe

Some plans with a friend fell through, so I found myself trying to decide what to do with my weekend. Having recently discovered that my friend Grega had moved from Ljubljana to Geneva, I figured, "I have a brand new Mercedes C class that is dying to hit the highways, why not go to Switzerland?"

Overnight, I had ditched my plans for Croatia and took off to Geneva with the hopes of heading down to Provence for a bit as well. I loaded my stuff in the car and took off. I waved Trieste, said hi to Venice, sped through Milan, admired the Val d'aosta, tunneled through Mont Blanc (which cost 33EUR by the way!), passed quickly through France before finally getting a bit lost in Geneva. Watching Europe pass by at high speed is a thrilling experience. At several points along the way, I was close to just pulling onto the shoulder of the highway to take pictures, but I decided this was a bad idea for a number of reasons. The open fields with random patches of trees, the hills and valleys, quaint villages with stone churches and the occasional castle, rushing rivers, snow capped alps in the background; I couldn't help but enjoy myself. Besides, I was driving through Italy, which has great sandwiches at their gas stations - nothing beats stopping at an Autogrill for a snack.

I managed to leave Ljubljana without thinking to print directions, so I tested my European geography skills by navigating my way to Geneva with no map, no directions and no GPS. I made one wrong highway choice and headed down the road to Genova from Vercelli, but as soon as I noticed the alps in my rear view mirror, I figured I was probably going the wrong direction. The mistake cost me about an hour thanks to highway construction and a decidedly sparce offering of exits. About 30km outside of Geneva, I called Grega to get an address, thinking I could manage to find his place with the help of my iPhone. For future reference, written instructions and a second-rate GPS tracker are of little help when you're driving solo in a new city. I finally just paused at a stop light to take a look at the map, and then found my way to Grega's.

Almost immediately, we took off to meet some of Grega's colleagues for dinner. Working with the UN and other NGOs in Geneva, Grega has met some interesting people. I've always been fascinated with the world of international diplomacy, so it's fun meeting people from so many different countries working in the field. After dinner, we met some more friends for drinks, and it ended up being quite a long night. Two bars and one club later, the two of us walked a young Mexican woman back to her apartment and then got home just as the sun was rising.

After a few hours of sleep, we enjoyed a nice day wandering around the lake, walking through the old town, and hanging out with more friends. Now, I'm relaxing in the apartment, listening to the dogs bark down the street. Unfortunately, my new favorite hotel in France, La Bastide de Moustiers, is fully booked the next couple days, so my plans for Provence have evolved into a couple days in Verona before heading back to Ljubljana.