Last weekend I went on yet another day trip – this time to Geneva. Weekends in LA are spent going to LACMA and eating Chipotle in Westwood. Over in France all I ever do is hop on trains and eat fancy food is European cities.

Like most of my day trips, this one was planned at the last minute. My friend Sasha and I wanted to do something with our Friday (no school on Fridays, yippee!), and we decided that leaving the country was the best idea. Tickets were actually not very expensive at all, which made me happy because spending less money on a day trip is always a nice thing. But the money luck stopped with the train ride because apparently Geneva is one of the most expensive cities in Europe. Nobody told me. I didn’t even think to pack a lunch, so I ended spending around $24 on a plate of orange chicken and rice (which on the plus side made me feel like a swanky businessperson). Geneva’s priciness did, however, have the lovely side effect of making it one of the cleanest and most beautiful cities I’ve ever been in. Lake Geneva looked fun to swim in, which isn’t really the case for Lyon’s greenish rivers.  The buildings were all tall with pretty roofs, and the stores all had signs with some seriously fancy font. I loved it.

We spent most of the day taking a long walk through Geneva’s cobblestone streets. We stopped for coffee at a tea shop that was immaculately decorated (probably by the same person who did all the landscape design for Alice in Wonderland), and we always took breaks at the city’s many drinking fountains (which are, in fact, actual fountains that spray potable water). Geneva is also home to the Jet d’Eau, a giant jet of water that shoots straight up into the air. It was almost too much. But then again seeing that much airborne water at once was very cool.

We finished up the day with a trip to the UN (we only got to see the outside because we missed the last tour by three minutes), and a visit to Geneva’s museum of ceramics and glasswork. I absolutely loved the museum – there was a special exhibit on Langenthal, a company that has made tons and tons of teacups. All very pretty.

After that we grabbed dinner (which was thankfully slightly less expensive than lunch) and then got back on our train. I’ve done a lot of traveling recently, so I will glad to rest at home a bit this weekend. But I do have a week off from school coming up soon, so be prepared for my traveling stories in a few weeks!

Charley Guptill