Switzerland Trip December 2021 - Geneva (Day 7 - 12)

 Assalamualaikum wbt and good day people. 😃 This would be my last Switzerland entry this time around. There will be more travel blogs soon, perhaps domestic ones instead of international ones this time? Hehe. Anyway, the last part only involves Geneva, the southern part of Swiss, nearby France border. As I mentioned in Part 1 of our Swiss entry, I did the itinerary for this travel episode two days before we flew. In fact, we made some date changes to our departing flight from Geneva when we were in Bern. How very last minute this trip was. Haha. But I pat myself on the back as I did this myself, and with my husband's trust, I believe I did a good job. Haha. We always do our travel by ourselves, we don't use any tour packages as we like to roam ourselves like the locals. Hehe. 

So here it goes, from Basel to Geneva, it took us 2 hours 50 minutes with 1 train change at Bern. Their train comes without any food or drinks (perhaps because of covid), but you can buy your food at the train cafe. 

Some of the views were spectacular, with greens covered with snow, villages and trees. No wonder people said that Swiss is a very beautiful country. 

I booked a hotel near the train station, just around 500m away. The Warwick Geneva, a hotel with a 90's vibe to it, looks like an old high-end hotel situated in Cornavin. Hehe. We initially booked CitizenM hotel but then found out that the hotel room was only 14-meter square (super small for us who has 2 colossal luggage, a stroller and many other kinds of stuff). The window could not be open, so I booked a new hotel, Warwick Geneva, and took their Penthouse room with a balcony. We need more air as this would be our last place before flying back to Malaysia. 

We spent 6 days in Geneva, and it was the most boring 6 days we had ever had. Haha. We even thought of going to the snowy areas of Geneva, Mont Blanc, which is at the border of France but when I checked the tours, all of them were fully booked. The first 5 days we were in Geneva, it rained, and we could not do anything else freely. 

Damages on our first day in Geneva. We found out that they have great Halal restaurants there. When we searched in Uber Eats, there was plenty of Halal / Vegetarian food. We ordered this burger (the best so far!) and nugget for Marissa. She really like the nugget so much that she ended up eating them 2-3 times when we were in Geneva. But when people say that Swiss is a costly country, just see it to yourself then. The price for 3 burgers and 1 chicken nugget, with drinks, is CHF 72.70. That is MYR 318.57 around that price. Haha. Crazy! But the burgers were delicious. It came with fries as well. 

Again, 3rd swab self-test in Swiss. I was actually not well 3 days before we were scheduled to depart Swiss. So doing this test, I was nervous as hell. Also, we need to schedule a swab test to go back to Malaysia as it was part of the requirements as well. And one swab test costs us CHF 130. Haha.

The result of the test they shared via email, and I have asked the hotel to help print out the tests for all of us. 

In Geneva, the only place that we went to every day was Starbucks in the old Geneva area. I absolutely ❤️ their Foccacia Tomato. Super sedap! We spent time there, eating and having coffee. Lame, I know but we had nowhere to go as it was raining every day. 

Lets enjoy some photos of Geneva before I end this blog entry. 

*Old Town Geneva lies all the shops*

*The lift in Geneva Warwick can only fit 1-2 pax*

*Tesla in Geneva*

*Parquis is actually their red-light district*

*The flag of Switzerland on Pont Du Mont Blanc*

*Longchamp shop*

*The famous Jet D'Eau*

I know most of you must be wondering, how did we wash our clothes in Swiss? I have seen that their laundry was so expensive (you have seen the price of their burgers, right?) I actually bought a mini washing machine with us, and we washed all of our clothes using that washing machine. Jeans, sweaters, jackets all of them. 

One pair of jeans cost CHF 12 in Swiss, so do your own math. Hehe. Mini washing machine can be bought here: Link to Washing Machine Shopee.

Till then,

XX