Les Vacances de Noël - Christmas in Geneva

Lake Geneva and its trademark Jet d'Eau water fountain

First of all, Bonne Année! Happy 2014! Here's to a New Year full of happiness, new adventures and great success!

After a refreshing two-week break, I'm slowly settling back into my old routine...less than 8 weeks left until our next break (not that I'm counting or anything!).  I do have to say that I had the most unconventional Christmas ever, but I know that it will make next year's holidays at home with my family and friends that much more special for me!

I hopped a train bright and early on December 22 bound for Geneva. Unfortunately, due to my geographical location in France, getting to Switzerland took a bit of time. [Click here to see a map of where I went!]  Train #1 took me 40 minutes west of Forbach to Metz, while Train #2 brought me from Metz all the way up north to Paris (essentially 2 hours in the opposite direction of Switzerland).  In Paris, I had an hour to change train stations, which was kind of a tease as I had to pass through all my favorite old haunts to get to Train #3 which was finally bound for Geneva.  Four hours after leaving Paris, I arrived in Switzerland and was extremely surprised to exit the train station into unseasonably warm temperatures - three days before Christmas and it was nearly 55 degrees out!

First glimpses of Lake Geneva and snow-capped Mont Blanc in the background

Bumbling around, I found our hotel and was a bit disappointed with it's lack of...umm...warm fuzzy Christmas cheer? Peeling paint, coffee-stained curtains, and a community toilet/shower in the hallway? Not really what I was envisioning! I had a few hours before Eric was due to arrive, so I hastily left our hovel and went down to poke around the shores of Lac Léman (aka Lac de Genève, also known as Lake Geneva).

On the Jetée des Pâquis, a popular beach in summer

Swan Lake?!

One piece of info about Geneva that I failed to realize before booking a vacation here: Geneva is EXPENSIVE!!  Yeah, people warned me of that when I said I was considering Switzerland as a holiday destination, stupid me failed to listen or do further research to find out what that actually meant. In my head, I was thinking Paris is expensive, but you lived there for 6 months without any problems, so what's 4 days in Geneva? Wrong!! For example, a delicious kebab sandwich with a side of fries (common Turkish street food found everywhere in Europe), which you can buy from between 4 and 7 Euro in most cities, cost 20 Swiss Francs in Geneva! With the current exchange rate, that's $22 for a sandwich. We're not talking high-class, five-star sandwiches made with organic ingredients - this is more like grease-up-to-your-elbows, you're-gonna-need-10-napkins-to-wipe-your-face messy, unsophisticated corner store food.  And don't even get me started on McDonald's "Value Menu"...

Swiss Francs? Or the newest type of Monopoly Money?

Regardless, even though we were spending Christmas thousands of miles away from our families, we were  in Geneva afterall and were determined to make the best of our situation.  Fortunately, the city has a lot of free museums which we were planning on visiting to give our wallets a break.  Unfortunately, Switzerland takes their holiday breaks really seriously.  When I arrived on Sunday, everything was closed (normal for Europe). Some things were going to be open on December 23 (shops and a few museums), but everything closed by mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve, and Christmas was a wash as well.  

The 3-Legged Chair which stands in the plaza before the United Nations HQ, a symbol of the fragility of peace and the devastation caused by landmines

Eric and I took advantage of the warm, sunny weather and headed over to check out the United Nations headquarters on the far side of town.  We had heard that you could go on guided tours of the Palais des Nations and thought that'd be a neat experience. And it probably would have been, had it not been closed for Christmas break.  So we strolled down the street to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum...which was also conveniently closed!  We have such good timing, it's unbelievable.

American Ambassador White, representing Westfield at the UN!

The United Nations

International Red Cross & Red Crescent Museum

I did manage to visit the Maison Tavel, however.  It's the city's oldest private dwelling and now a museum about the urban development of Geneva, providing a glimpse into the lives of its residents throughout the ages.  Interactive exhibits showed how the city expanded, was ravaged by invaders and fires, and ultimately became the city it is today.  Old coins, medieval armor and weapons, and household objects from many centuries are on display, providing a comprehensive understanding of how the city developed.  The only thing it failed to explain is why everything costs so much there...a comment for the suggestion box, perhaps?  

The Maison Tavel's impressive model of Geneva in 1860, crafted out of copper and zinc

Eric and I did some more wandering in the oldest section of Geneva, with its narrow cobblestone streets, and decided to climb to the top of the Cathedral of St. Pierre in order to get a bird's-eye view of the city and its surroundings.  Belonging to the Swiss Reformed Church, it's best-known as the adopted church of John Calvin, historic leader of the Protestant Reformers (the Calvinists).

The Chapel of the Maccabees, a superb example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture inside Cathedral St-Pierre

The look-out tower atop the cathedral once served as a fire watch post

View from the top! Lake Geneva and the Old City

Hello French Alps!

One of the cathedral's intricate bell towers

Geneva also has a large bas-relief monument called the Reformation Wall to commemorate the city's influence on the radical theological shifts in thinking which took place during the 16th century.  In a nutshell, the Protestant Reformation was an attempt to reform the Catholic Church by people who thought it had become corrupt - the sale of indulgences (where people could pay money to be absolved of temporal punishment for their sins) and rampant simony (the buying and selling of Church offices) didn't sit well with many people.  Situated in Bastions Park on the grounds of the University of Geneva (conveniently founded by the Reformer John Calvin), Reformation Wall tells the story of the Protestant Reformation, showcasing the history, individuals, and important literature so central to this movement.

Statues of the Reformers: William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox

The park also has quite a large area with giant chess and checker boards, quite the hub for well-dressed older men who assemble to test their game strategies while sipping coffee and puffing away on cigars. But hey, it was free entertainment! So Eric and I enjoyed the sunshine and played what can only be described as the world's longest game of checkers with our tire-sized game pieces.

Game time in the park! Green Bench photo...

...meet earlier Blue Bench photo! (from Spain)

Speaking of things that are long - and benches - our next stop ironically was the World's Longest Bench!  Measuring 126 meters (413 feet) long, the bench on Promenade de la Treille offers those who sit upon it a beautiful view down over the lower city, with the picturesque snow-topped Alps in the background.

Enough room for me and all of my friends!

The Alps

While in the neighborhood, the two of us headed over to see the Natural History Museum (also free!), and if you really enjoy learning about the geological formation of Europe, you're in for a treat! There was even a hands-on exhibit about the creation of the Grand Canyon that Eric particularly enjoyed...

"The Grand Canyon: The World's Oldest and Largest History Book"

Enjoying the lovely weather, we sauntered along the lakeside to take in all the gorgeous views...

Lake Geneva's trademark Jet d'Eau water fountain spouts an amazing 132 gallons of water per second 460 feet into the sky, leaving over 1800 gallons of water in its path at any given time

Hey there little buddy

Seagulls catching some rays by the lake

In an effort to save money, we opted to stock up on some food from the grocery store and eat back at our hotel instead of unloading lots of cash at restaurants. The whole situation was quite comical, as mealtime turned into a picnic on our bed (which was barely big enough for one person, nevermind two!).  We did buy a lot of delicious Swiss cheese and enjoyed the free samples of Swiss chocolate at the supermarket while we shopped - a win-win situation!  Wash it all down with some local wine and you almost forget you're eating dinner on your bed!  

Eric showing off one of our gourmet dinners: cheese, turkey and a crispy baguette, some fruit & wine for dessert!

And then, it was Christmas Eve! After spending a good part of the day (window)shopping, we decided our hotel room needed a little bit of Christmas cheer.  We obviously weren't about to buy a Christmas tree, so we did the next best thing: snapped a branch off of a big decorated tree in the center of town and brought it back to our room.  Not having any decorations on hand, we improvised: dental floss bows! Prop that bad boy up behind the heater and you've got yourself one heck of an impressive tree, let me tell you...

The tree that was to become our victim...

Tada! Our beautifully decorated Xmas tree, complete with my festive stocking from the US!

It was better than no decorations, but pretty pitiful nonetheless! My parents had thought to mail me my Christmas stocking from home full of little presents, and I had brought it along so I'd have something to open on Christmas morning, so I hung it on the radiator and pretended it was hanging by the fireplace. Merry Christmas, I guess?

The Old City, all decked out for Christmas

Then it was time to get all dolled up for our Christmas Eve dinner reservations! (Yes, we splurged on an actual dinner at a restaurant!)  We had decided to go for a traditional Swiss restaurant and booked a table at a place called Au Petit Chalet.  They had so many delicious cheesy dishes to pick from, it was hard to decide, but we settled on tomato & cheese fondue with bread and mini roasted potatoes to dip in it. So delicious and definitely worth the splurge - 27 Francs for the fondue vs. 20 Francs for a sandwich!    

Say CHEESE!  

And the next thing we knew, it was Christmas day! After chowing down the hotel breakfast (which was surprisingly really good and actually the sole part of our stay at the hotel to look forward to every day), Eric and I opened up some presents and then headed out for our holiday excursion: a 3 hour cruise on Lake Geneva - in frigid temperatures and pouring rain, wahoo!  

Our cruise ship

Thankfully the ship stayed sort of close to shore so we had something to look at, because the fog was thick as pea soup and masked what I can only imagine would have been some amazing views of the surrounding snowy mountains.  We had bought second-class tickets and ended up having the entire section of the boat to ourselves - everyone else had splurged on the first-class section which included a three-course meal...at least we had our choice of seats! 

The World's Most unconventional Christmas EVER!

The Swiss Flag

Rain! And the mansions on the Swiss side of the lake - at least the water was a beautiful shade of aqua!

Hanging out with all our friends in second-class

Lake Geneva straddles the border between France and Switzerland

We returned from our scenic cruise and headed back to the hotel once again for another picnic on our bed - nothing but the best for Christmas day!

We used only our fanciest china and most expensive silverware

Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like flan!

We filled the rest of our day playing Candy Crush on our cell phones, watching French trivia shows on our snowy TV, Skyping with our families at home who were actually have fun, and searching for somewhere to go for dinner.  Just like in the movie "A Christmas Story," no restaurants were open except for Chinese ones. I had done some searching online for cheap eats in Geneva, and we settled on a Chinese place called Boky, whose sole questionable recommendation said "Some praise its extensive Chinese menu, some say it's gross, but one thing's indisputable: it's hard to find a cheaper dinner in the city center than here."  While the food was relatively cheap and actually really tasty, the restaurant sits just outside the city's red light district, and we were subsequently seated next to an escort and her client who were having less-than-savory conversations in broken English all during our meal...definitely a Christmas dinner to remember!

Christmas Day orange chicken!

While our Christmas 2013 experience was a bit unorthodox, we couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous nature of our adventures and both decided that next year's celebrations with our families will be that much more special! Geneva is definitely a neat locale to visit, but unless you come with deep pockets, I'd say a day trip to the city is sufficient.  With the Christmas segment of my break behind me, Eric and I said goodbye on the 26th and I hopped on yet another train to head to Öhringen, Germany where I'd spend the rest of my vacation with my roommate Meike and her family at home...

What A Week

Saying that I'm happy it's finally Christmas vacation couldn't be more of an understatement.  After a very trying week, I'm finally done teaching and eager to begin travelling once again for my two-week break!

Angsty high school students, problems with the bank and a general lack of empathy from anyone I went to looking for help made this week one to remember, but unfortunately not for good reasons!

...to be an English Teaching Assistant in Forbach!!

I had the difficult task of trying to keep classes of students who were all too eager for school vacation to start under control - if you all could see what goes on in French classrooms, you'd be amazed.  I thought that my bad experiences at the Université de Paris III two years ago were just a fluke, thinking I had been put in classes with rowdy kids who misbehaved all through the lesson and couldn't care less what the teacher was saying.  Now, I can confidently say that behavior like this (general animosity, talking over others, throwing things during class) is omnipresent in all French classrooms, regardless of the kids' age or grade.  Every day here is an adventure: the second I turn my back to write something on the board, I brace myself for the worst.  I've been hit in the head with a flying pencil case, told I was ugly when I asked someone 3 times to spit out his gum, and am generally just disrespected by a vast majority of my students...and it's driving me crazy!!!  When I look back on all of these incidents, I can generally laugh it off, but simply cannot imagine what American teachers would do if they were transplanted into a classroom of animals here in France!

No, I didn't make this...someone else in the world just happens to share my same sentiments!

Thankfully, I'm not the only teaching assistant I know who's facing these same problems - in fact, every teaching assistant I talk to is having the same issues. Daily frustration in the classroom compounded with weekly bureaucratic hassles are really becoming a pain.  For instance, La Sécu, the French Social Security office, has been sending me nasty letters requesting a copy of my paystub from October...since the end of October...and as of this past Thursday (over halfway through the month of December), I had still yet to receive it.  Every time I would go to ask about it, I'd just get brushed off and told that things here just take a little extra time - if we're talking about a mid-afternoon wine break taking extra time, I'm all for it, but when important things just seem to get ignored time and time again, I really start to get annoyed.

[Side note: my paystub finally appeared on Friday! One more thing to cross off my bureaucratic to-do list!]

To top it all off, I happened to notice a mysterious 120€ charge on my debit card early Thursday morning...hello hackers! So I had the pleasure of going to the bank to try to straighten out the matter and getting stuck with an uptight banker who told me that in all his years of banking, he'd never heard of such a thing...was I sure I hadn't forgotten I'd gone out to lunch that day and spent a lot of money without realizing it?? 

"BNP Paribas: The bank for a changing world"...one which has apparently never heard of hacking!

Back at home, I know these problems can usually be corrected within minutes, as I had a similar problem a few years ago that was taken care of over the phone in under 5 minutes. Not in France! After being laughed at by the banker, I got to trudge through the pouring rain to the police station where I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes (coffee break apparently takes precedence over customer service! "Things take time here," remember?) before I got to explain my whole story once again to a policier while he typed up a report for me. I was the second person before noon that day with the same hacked bank card problem, yet the man at the bank had never, ever heard of such an occurrence...Back to the bank I went with my 12-page report, only to be told that they'd have to launch an investigation to try to figure out who took my money, and if they could figure out who it was, maybe I'd get my money back, but it'd take at least two to four months! All this would be stressful enough back home, never mind trying to sort all this out here in a second language…

To top it all off, I had to cancel my French debit card and go without it for a few days until I get my new one in the mail sometime early next week. Conveniently, I leave for Christmas break in Geneva & Germany on Sunday, so I won't get my card back/have access to my account (where my month's salary was just deposited yesterday) until January 6th when I return. What a nightmare!!

[Second side note: Yesterday morning, the mystery charge was strangely deleted from my account, and my balance was restored to normal...so much for that taking 4 months, but at least I got my money back!]

The Swiss Flag

But, on a happy note, it is officially Christmas vacation now! I leave early Sunday morning on a train bound for Geneva (the land of fondue and world-famous Swiss chocolates!), where I'll meet up with Eric for a Christmas adventure on the scenic banks of Lake Geneva. The day after Christmas, I'm heading up to Germany to spend the rest of my break at my roommate Meike's house with her and her family (with the prospect of a ski trip to the Black Forest included!).  I'm very much looking forward to getting away from Forbach for a couple weeks and doing some more exploring, and by the time I get back, I'll be halfway through my stint as a foreign language assistant - hallelujah! Although the second half of my time here will be more exciting, as I'll have a good number of visitors coming and a few fun adventures up my sleeve.  

So, as we say in France, Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année! Here's hoping that 2014 is a fresh start to my last 4 months in Forbach!  

Strasbourg & Les Marchés de Noël

Christmas cookies at the Strasbourg market

Always eager to immerse ourselves in Christmas cheer, Meike and I took a mid-week trip to the city of Strasbourg, the self-proclaimed "Capital of Christmas."  Home to France's oldest marché de Noël, the

Christkindelsmärik (Market of the Child Jesus), Strasbourg's Christmas markets are a festive holiday tradition begun all the way back in 1570 (2013 marks its 443th year!).  The city is situated about 2 hours south of Forbach and we had been banking on spending a weekend there to enjoy the festivities...apparently everyone else in the area had the same idea! All the hotels in the area were booked for every weekend of December - unless we felt like coughing up half of our monthly salary to stay in a ritzy place - so instead we opted to arrive in the city on a Tuesday night so we could spend all day Wednesday (our day off) wandering the town.

Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region of Eastern France, as well as the country's 9th largest city

We didn't arrive until nearly 9pm, a full hour after the markets close for the day, but we wanted to take advantage of the bright moonlit night to explore the city and admire all of the Christmas lights and decorations - we sure weren't disappointed!  

Strasbourg's giant sapin de Noël at Place Kléber

An illuminated model of the city sits below the tree

A modern take on the traditional manger scene: chainsaw-carved statues

The awe-inspiring Gothic cathédrale de Strasbourg

Basically, the entire city looked like a giant version of Bright Nights

Spectacle son et lumière: animations light up Place Kléber with light and sound

After being thoroughly chilled to the bone thanks to our late-night stroll in the sub-zero weather, we headed back to the hotel for the night, eager to see what the city had to offer by daylight...

La Petite France, a section of Strasbourg filled with half-timber houses sitting along the canals of the River Ill

Strasbourg is actually like a giant fairy-tale village, as its streets are lined with half-timber houses, all sporting vibrantly colored shutters and really giving the city a medieval feel.  Add about a million Christmas lights to that and you've got yourself the perfect kitschy Christmas paradise.

As is typical, I couldn't pass up a peek inside the city's cathedral - one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture still standing today.  Soaring an impressive 466 feet into the heavens, it was actually the world's tallest building for 277 years (from 1647-1874) and today stands as the world's sixth tallest church.  That's quite impressive considering the building was begun in 1015 (in a time of rudimentary tools but obviously extremely precise architectural calculations), standing as a testament to the power of faith, perseverance and mind-boggling craftsmanship.  It's hard to put it all into perspective when computer programs today could spit out a blueprint for this edifice without a problem, but when you take a minute to really think about it, it's actually really impressive that people were even capable of creating such beautiful works of art like this 1000 years ago with such basic tools.

The cathedral's amazingly detailed facade

Radiant stained glass windows illuminate the church's interior

The cathedral's astronomical clock, very impressive to watch all its parts whirring around

The cathedral towers over one of Strasbourg's eleven marchés de Noël, serving as an impressive backdrop for the dozens of vendors peddling their wares in the square below.  What can you find at the Christmas markets, you ask? A better question is what can't you find there...

Artisans tempt those strolling through the markets with hand-crafted ornaments, figures for the Nativity scene, fine Alsatian lace, candles, Santa hats...you name it, you can probably find it there! 

And then there's the food. Cheap, delicious, made with local ingredients, and cooked to order while you wait. 

My delicious lunch: sauerkraut and spaetzle mixed with bacon, onions, cheese and a white wine sauce, topped off with two bratwursts

Hungry for lunch? How about some local choucroute (grilled sausages garnished with a heaping portion of barrel-cured sauerkraut)? Cheese-covered pretzels? Freshly-shucked oysters with a squeeze of lemon? What about some deep-fried frogs' legs? Pizza? Maybe even a tarte flambée smothered in crème fraîche and topped with all the bacon, cheese and onions you could dream of... 

Quite possibly the World's Largest Pretzel - all for only 3€!

Thirsty? Grab a mug of vin chaud, France's famous mulled wine - you can get it in red or white. Christmas beer is popular here too, thanks to the region's German influence. Or if you don't feel like stumbling home from the markets, try a glass of hot spiced orange juice sweetened with a touch of honey.

One of the many vin chaud vendors with it huge kettles of simmering wine

What about dessert? Crêpes, deep fried beignets filled with Nutella, hot waffles topped with whipped cream, Alsatian nougat, Christmas cookies (of both the French and German varieties), chocolate-dipped pretzels...is your mouth watering yet?

1/3 liter of hot wine for 3€, quite the bargain!

The food portion of les marchés de Noël is a double-edged sword: everything's pretty cheap so you don't feel bad trying something...and then the next thing that catches your eye...and the next. Two hours and twenty pounds later you're rolling yourself back to your hotel wondering where your 20€ went...but it's totally worth it!

The Christmas market at Place de la Cathédrale

You'd think we would have had our fill of Christmas cheer after our shopping/eating extravaganza in Strasbourg, but no! Meike and I headed up to Metz along with one of her friends who was visiting to see what was going on during the Christmas season there...but unfortunately there wasn't much!  In any case, we enjoyed another day of shopping (and eating), and I finally got my Christmas shopping finished up.

In other news: we decorated our little Christmas tree (with popcorn garland and a batch of those amazing smelling homemade cinnamon ornaments) and Santa delivered me a box of presents from home! I couldn't have been more excited to open the box and find my stocking from home as well as some pint-sized presents to put under the tree. All that's left is to wait 2 more weeks to open them...the countdown continues... 

Our little sapin de Noël and some presents from home!