Geneva, Day 1 – Flight, Arrival and the Geneva Lake

In my previous post I mentioned I had started packing for something, but I didn’t tell you for what. Well, I can tell you now! I am back from Geneva, Switzerland, where I visited my dear friend Emilie for four days! ♥ I’ve had an absolutely wonderful time and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I hope you will like my posts (especially since I have just finished my Tokyo posts). ^^

For my birthday, back in December 2012, my parents gave me a plane ticket to Geneva as a gift, to visit Emilie there! After we had met in Paris for the Lolita Tea Parties we hadn’t seen each other ‘in real life’ anymore and we really missed each other. Talking on Facebook chat isn’t everything of course. ^^ Together we counted down the days until I would depart and finally Tuesday February 26th came!
I woke up at 5:45 am (so early!), to have some breakfast and get dressed. I dragged my suitcase downstairs, said bye to my dogs and put on my pink Angelic Pretty coat. My dad drove my mom and me to the train station, from where we took the train to the airport at 7 am. The train was quite full, but luckily we managed to find two seats next to each other. Despite the fact I had pressed my suitcase almost against my legs, people still managed to bump into it. Apparently they needed glasses or something. Or they got distracted by my pinkness in a sea of black coats (I swear, no one wears pastel during the winter days here).
I had a lot of trouble waking up. It was so early! >_< I was also pretty nervous: this was the first time I would fly all by myself! Luckily my mom and I could talk and have fun together. ^^
We arrived at the airport, where I looked up my flight details on one of the signs. I had already printed my boarding pass, but I needed to see where to check in my suitcase.

Ah, the quietness of the airport in the morning! I was still waking up here.
We took the escalators up to the luggage hall where it took me some time to find the right place. It was a bit confusing as to where I had to check in. Luckily a staff member could show me.
My mom waited while I went to get rid of my suitcase. I showed my passport and then walked up to the weird check in machines, where I put my suitcase in a niche, confirmed my personal- and flight details and printed my label. After that, I walked back to my mom. We talked for a little while (‘Be careful’ and ‘I’ll miss you’, etc. ♥) and then it was time to go through customs. We walked around a wall and then it was really time to say goodbye. My bag, laptop and coat got scanned, I walked through the scanner myself too, I put on my coat, waved a final goodbye at my mom and then I was completely alone at the airport. God, I was so nervous! I knew there was no reason to be nervous at all: it’s not like I could board the wrong plane or something, but the fact I was alone and completely responsible for everything was quite nerve racking!
I walked around for a while, just looking at the different shops. I saw the bar my mom had taken a picture of the last time she was at the airport, I passed a chocolate café where a girl was literally hammering on a massive block of chocolate and I browsed a toy store. I also walked into some cool devices where you could do little experiments, like big mirrors and a glass ball with ‘lightning’ in it.
I noticed a lot of people looking at me. I swear: pink must be such a sight these days!
I turned around and followed the crowd of people, discovering another part of the airport. I passed an impressive bar (it looked like a palace hall, very pretty) and when I went up the escalators I ended up in ‘the green part’, where a forest was painted on the windows and trees reached through the ceiling. It was very cool!
Finally it was time to go to my gate. I walked for a while and ended up at gate C14, direction Geneva. Boarding had already started, so I could immediately show my boarding pass. For a moment it seemed something was wrong, as the woman who took my boarding pass walked away with it to ask something to her colleague. When she returned, everything seemed fine, so I didn’t think too much about it. I waited in line in the tunnel and then was able to board the plane.

Ok, I’ll be honest. This wasn’t the plane I boarded, it was the one next to it.
But they were almost the same!
The plane was quite small (in my opinion) with only two rows of three seats each. My seat was a window seat in the 19th row, so I had to wait for a while until I could reach it. The poor people next to my seat had to stand up for me. ^^’
I put my coat in the luggage rack above my seat, but I preferred to keep my bag with me. There was candy in it after all, very important. I got seated and put on my seat belt. As the flight would only take about 1 hour and 30 minutes, I didn’t expect to have to leave my seat.
I had quite a nice view: I had reserved a seat behind the wing, so I could look down well. When everyone got seated, the plane started moving and the instruction video began. Not long after we were already on the takeoff strip! Everything went so fast! I grabbed my camera to start filming when the plane started to make speed. We quickly left the ground and we were flying! I was flying! Alone!
I ate some (really nice) candy to prevent my ears from hurting and I looked out the window. The grey, sad-looking ground quickly turned into white clouds, which quickly turned into a bright blue sky. I still think it’s so magical the sun is always shining behind the clouds!

Can you believe I took these picture one minute after each other!?
About twenty minutes into the flight, the stewardesses offered something to drink and eat. The choice between sweet and salty was easy: sweet please! I received a nice sugared waffle and I asked for a can of diet coke. They were both very nice. ^^
I looked out of the window as often as I could. When there was nothing to see (aka miles of white clouds only) I read the special magazine the KLM offers during the flight, called the Holland Herald. It’s a really nice magazine, full of interesting articles about all kinds of things and places in the world.
After a while, I could see snowy meadows and rivers and after some more time: mountains! Oh my God, beautiful mountains! They reached through the clouds, topped with snow and striking against the blue sky. They immediately made me think of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit! ♥

Far over the Misty Mountains cold…
The plane made a big turn and started its descend. We broke through the clouds, where I could see the sky was grey that day. Being above the clouds almost makes you forget it doesn’t necessarily have to be nice weather down there too. ^^’
We quickly taxied to our gate and within a couple of minutes people were already leaving the plane. The man who sat in my row at the aisle was kind enough to give me my coat already, so it didn’t take long for me to leave. I left the airplane and checked my bag. A couple of maintenance men were talking to each other, in French! I love French so much…
I walked into the airport and followed the ‘baggage pick up’ signs. I quickly walked up to the luggage belt and since it would take a couple of minutes for the suitcases to arrive, I looked around for a bit. There was a big poster saying ‘Welcome to Geneva’ and I also noticed signs saying every passenger could get a free public transport ticket to the city itself. I thought that was so nice!
The luggage belt started rolling and the first suitcases appeared. Almost every suitcase was black, as was mine, but I had put a white ribbon on the handle so I could recognize it. I am always afraid my luggage won’t show up or gets stolen somehow, so I looked at every single suitcase. More and more suitcases rolled out and got dragged off the belt, but mine wasn’t! I started panicking a little, until I realized one of the black suitcases that had passed me already was in fact mine after all. I hadn’t seen the ribbon. Oops! ^^’
I grabbed my suitcase and walked up to the exit. I was a little nervous: what if I somehow couldn’t find Emilie and her mom? Well, my fears were for nothing: as soon as I walked through the doors I could see a bright pink coat from the corner of my eye. I could finally hug my friend after such a long time! ♥ I also introduced myself properly to Emilie’s mom of course.
The three of us walked through the airport, to the parking garage where Emilie’s mom had parked her car. We put my suitcase in the trunk and I got seated in the back. We drove for a while and through a lot of tunnels. I was a bit shy, so I didn’t talk much (yet, huhu).
After some time we arrived at the apartment complex where Emilie and her family live. Her mom parked the car and we took the elevator up to the right floor. When I walked through the door, I was amazed by the space and the view on the mountain (although it was a bit blocked by clouds) of the wonderful apartment. I would love to live in a place like that!
I installed my things in Emilie’s room and of course I just had to browse her a-ma-zing Lolita closet! I swear, everything she owns is wonderful! Every dress, every pair of shoes, even every pair of socks! She has such great taste! ♥

Browsing through Emilie’s wonderful dresses was so fun!
We had gotten hungry, so we had lunch. Emilie’s mom made us sandwiches, they were really nice. After that we took some outfit shots. We both wore quite a cute outfit, both pink-themed. Emilie’s was pastel and candy-ish, mine was candy cane-themed.

Our outfits of the day! Unfortunately you won’t see them after this picture,
since we wore coats all day long. X)
Then we got dressed in our matching coats (which was a coincidence) and went to explore Geneva! We took the tram (there is a stop in front of the building where Emilie lives, such luxury!) and got out in the middle of the city. Geneva reminded me of Paris a bit, but it’s also entirely different! I followed Emilie and after passing some nice buildings and shops, we arrived at the waterside of the Geneva Lake (or in French: Lac Léman). Unfortunately, the famous Jet d’Eau, the big water fountain in the lake, wasn’t on! We were a bit disappointed, but we hoped it would be turned on later that day.
We crossed a bridge and I couldn’t stop looking around: there were so many beautiful buildings like hotels and apartments at the waterside everywhere! It must be so expensive to stay or even live there!
We passed a shop filled with beautiful watches. Real Swiss watches, haha!
I just walked along with Emilie while looking at some of the wonderful buildings. After walking for a while, I saw a beautiful brown building on my right, with pillars and flags. It looked so fancy, it just had to be an opera or something! ‘That’s our post office,’ Emilie then told me. I was shocked! O_O

Of course I wanted to be in a picture with the post office! Don’t you think it looks fancy?
We kept walking for a while, until we arrived at another tram station. We took the tram and got out a couple of stations further. We passed a modern building, shaped like a globe. It turned out to be a church! Geneva is an interesting place.
We arrived at a little Japanese supermarket called Uchitomi, where they sold all kinds of Japanese food and drinks. After looking around for a bit, Emilie bought some strawberry mochi, some candy and a peach-flavoured drink. I bought the same drink and dorayaki, some kind of Japanese pancake filled with red beans and paste.

So many choices~!
We left the shop again and tried some of Emilie’s candy (which tasted like peach too, very nice). After some walking we went right and followed a long path up to an old-fashioned house at the waterside of the Geneva Lake. We went right and walked along the lake. It was really cold, but the view was gorgeous. The only downside was that the clouds blocked the mountains, but oh well. ^^
After some walking, I wanted to take pictures of us with the lake, so we climbed up the little wall next to the pavement, which was a bit scary, because there were a lot of rocks next to it.

Emilie in her sweet pastel outfit next to the Geneva Lake. ^^
After some normal pictures first, we did some jumping pictures too! Poor Emilie almost broke her knee when she landed!
Walking along the lake was so wonderful. The sound of the water hitting the rocks was very calming and the view was breathtaking. But it was so cooold! Some of the rocks were covered in ice (which looked really pretty by the way).

Such an artsy picture! ♥
When we passed a little harbor, we saw some gulls standing on the ice, but it really seemed like they were just standing on water! We called them ‘Jesus-gulls’. XD
We walked for a very long time. A nice woman walking her dog asked us if we were going to a wedding (because of our pink coats again, haha). She was very nice. ^^ And I felt quite proud, because I could actually understand her entire conversation in French with Emilie. My French knowledge hasn’t disappeared yet, yay!

We took a picture of us taking a picture of the other. ^^ I love the effect.
We arrived at a square with pruned trees. They had really weird shapes: they looked like cones, but it was as if a giant had cut off all their tops! I needed a picture with them, of course.
From the square, you usually have a really nice view on the Jet d’Eau, but it still wasn’t on unfortunately. Later we heard it was turned off because it was freezing.

Looking out over the lake.
We decided to take some jumping pictures together, which turned out to be quite an adventure! We used Emilie’s camera and set the timer, but we weren’t very good at timing ourselves! We have a lot of failed pictures: either we’re both not jumping or one of us is jumping. Sometimes we also had people walking behind us. One of our pictures is actually perfect, except for the man who was just walking behind Emilie, ruining the image after all. XD After about 30 minutes, we finally managed to get the perfect picture!

We’re flying~!
We crossed the road and walked up to the beautiful Brunswick monument . We took some pictures around it and I also tried my dorayaki. It was sooo good! ♥

The beautifully detailed Brunswick monument.
We walked on for some time, passing a long row of gulls sitting on a fence, and then arrived back at the place where we had started our ‘tour’. We went inside a shopping center to have some hot chocolate and we also both ate a ‘boule de Berlin’.

The hot chocolate was really nice. Switzerland is a chocolate country of course. ;)
We were really tired from our endless walking, so we strolled to the nearest tram station, where we took the tram back to the apartment.
Back there, we talked for a while and uploaded pictures, I skyped with my parents at home and we had dinner (delicious noodles with chicken and a lemony sauce, it was so nice).
After dinner we took a shower and changed into our pajamas. We also coordinated our Lolita outfits for the next day. Emilie and I have three Angelic Pretty dresses from the same line, but in different colours, so I took two of them with me so we could wear matching outfits! ^^
Then we finally went to bed. It had been a wonderful first day!

Pictures are either taken by Emilie or by me.