The Perfect Cappuccino

It was a crazy weekend in Geneva, but I had a great time on my surprise excursion. It's great to have so many friends scattered around the world, and I really appreciate Grega hosting me for the weekend. On my way down to Verona, I ended up parked in front of the Mont Blanc tunnel for nearly two hours, but it was a beautiful day in the alps, and I joined the crowds of people that abandoned their vehicles to lay in the grass and enjoy the sun. Once I finally made the nearly 7 mile drive through the tunnel, I realized that I was probably lucky to have been one of the people waiting outside the tunnel instead of being one of the people inside with all the police, fire fighters and ambulances. I'm still not sure what happened in there, but I am sure it was more of an inconvenience than a few hours of waiting.

Once in Verona, I pulled up to a large well-manicured villa and found myself immersed in the world of the European "yacht-club" crowd. Everyone is attired in pastel colors, with collars up and sweaters draped over their shoulders. The hotel itself is completely filled with random pieces of modern art; a few naked women here, random brightly colored blobs there, sculptures of unusually contorted people sitting on pedestals, and the random incredible Venetian glass chandelier in the lobby.

After the long drive, I was in no mood to sit for an extended dinner and people watch, so I chose to have the quintessential non-Italian, Italian meal in my room. I had a Cesar Salad and Spaghetti Bolognese (ok, so Spaghetti alla Bolognese is actually Italian, but I still felt overly American ordering it). I cracked open the bottle of local red wine that the hotel had left in my room as a welcome gift, and had a nice evening in front of the TV.

Breakfast this morning was relaxing. I had an assortment of Italian cheeses with some fresh bread and prosciutto, some yogurt, a boiled egg, and a small apricot tart. The best part of sitting on the terrace by the fountain was enjoying my morning cappuccino. So often in life, one is confronted with mediocre cappucinos or worse, but in this establishment, the coffee was strong and dark, the milk properly frothed and mixed in ideal proportions with the aesthetically crucial swirl at the top. It was indeed the perfect cappucino.

Shortly, I plan on visiting the exhibit of modern art by Marc Quinn, the ticket for which was included in my room rate. The afternoon will probably involve some relaxing by the pool and some photography of the property. Tomorrow... well, I don't know about tomorrow yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough.

For a short moment, with pretty woman playing on radio nostalgie, I was able to see the peak of Mont Blanc through a break in the clouds. Spectacular as it was, I am now stuck outside the mont blanc tunnel due to some accident inside. It has been over an hour already, but I think we may be allowed in the tunnel soon.

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.