Hey Fabulous Followers! Our AmaWaterways trip ended in Nice and we said goodbye to our travel group and friends. Our journey continued by train, which was a bucket item for Joe. Our travel agent and friend, Pam booked Railbookers for us. All train tickets, hotel stays and local city tours were included. All we had to do was show up. Sounds easy, right?
Well, navigating the French trains in French with no one to ask help was challenging. One time I was trying to figure out Translate to read the French signs. I will admit I was nervous, but Joe kept saying it will be ok and I prayed a lot. It also didn’t help that I was reading the Arrivals sign instead of the Departure sign.
But we did it! We got on the train, figured out where to store luggage and off we went. A lovely couple gave us tips on how to read our tickets and signs for our other transfers.
Of course we don’t do anything easy. Our first day navigating trains, we had 4 transfers and a 9 hour day to go from Nice to Geneva. Having an assigned seat is great until you realize upper deck means hauling luggage up stairs and back down to get off…. All with dealing with more people getting on and off. I had to stand at foot of stairs blocking people from using stairs while Joe used his outdoor voice shouting Stop!! Ha! You could hear a pin drop and then a litany of French being spoken…..I can only imagine what they were saying. A young guy came and helped us.
We finally made it to Geneva, Switzerland and bless God! Our hotel was next door to the station.
Geneva
Geneva is known for diplomacy and banking and home to the United Nations and Red Cross.
United Nations
The broken chair marks the signing of the Mine Treaty to honor those hurt and killed by mines.
We took a boat ride on Lake Geneva and saw the iconic water fountain, Jet d’Eau.
We enjoyed a city tour, browsing, eating Chinese, Indian and Mediterranean food. Oh! We went to Lindt’s chocolate shop that was gearing up for Christmas.
Look at Joe chocolate shopping in Lindt’s!
Enjoy sights of Geneva
Below is a wall that represents the birth of Calvinism
On the boat ride on Lake Geneva
It may be hard to see but in this window are cuckoo clocks. Geneva had lots of clocks and watches. This window display provided me with another wonderful childhood memory. When I was born and mom went back to work she hired a lady named Wilma Allen to take care of me. Mrs. Allen and her husband became my Ma and Pa Allen. I loved them so. I spent the night at their house, she bought me dresses at Furchgott’s, they took me to the circus and she made clothes for my Barbie dolls. They had a cuckoo clock and seeing this display flooded my heart with all these memories.
Brussels
Our next train adventure was only 2 transfers and 6 hours. We got up at 515am to catch a 7am train. Ugh… I told myself this is the last day on this trip I have to get up this early. Our hotel was not next to the station, but got a taxi for the 20 minute ride.
Brussels is the capital of Belgium and was founded between 8th and 10th centuries. It is famous for the Mannekin Pis, a boy peeing.
We took a tour on the history of chocolate and walked a lot around this area.
There is chocolate and waffles and French fries everywhere! The Begian waffle is the best I have ever tasted!
Other Brussels sights
Well, after Brussels only 1 train ride to go. On the Eurostar that we clocked at 192 mph and went through the Chunnel to London. From London a driver took us to Southampton, so we can come home on the 13 nights transatlantic cruise.
Stay tuned for the transatlantic highlights.
Blessings!
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