La toussaint holiday!

I don’t know where to start with this blog post! I feel like so many great things have happened since I last wrote!

So firstly, my Mum arrived on Friday. It was so amazing to see her and be able to show her round Grenoble. She brought a big case with her, mostly containing goodies for me! I didn’t think I would ever be so excited to see baked beans, squash and chocolate (OK, I knew how excited I would be to see Cadbury’s!). We went up the cable car to la Bastille and looked at the amazing views. Then we went to the University campus and did a lot of wandering around the streets while I pointed out my favourite place for coffee, and my favourite place for wine and my favourite place to eat……no wonder this year is turning out to be expensive! I realised whilst showing Mum around how much I have come to know Grenoble and how much I have come to love it. It will never replace home in Britain, but it is definitely my French ‘home’!

After I saw Mum off on Monday I headed off to Switzerland with Hannah for a little holiday. First stop was Geneva! We had found a cheap hotel and decided to book it for 2 nights. When we got out to the hotel, we discovered why it was so cheap! There wasn’t a separate bathroom in the room! There was a cupboard with a toilet in it and the sink and the shower weren’t in separate rooms! To keep a small bit of dignity, the shower had a frosted strip over the door! Thoughtful! We did all the tourist sites in Geneva and looked round the city centre! It was amazing how many glamorous people there were walking about! I did not fit in wearing my turquoise waterproof jacket!

After 2 nights in Geneva, we bought train tickets up to Lausanne. Neither of us could believe how expensive it was for a return train ticket for a journey that took 40 minutes each way – 40 CHF!

However, Lausanne was an amazing place and I really loved it! After checking into our hotel (luxury compared the last one!) we went up into the old town to explore and see the cathedral and then went down to the lake before going back into the centre and having the best, but most expensive, hot chocolate I have ever had! Nothing will compare now! The next day we explored the centre a bit more and then headed out to a big park where there was supposedly a lake, a tower and an animal park! Naturally I thought that meant there was going to be elephants and giraffes etc. When we got to the animal park though, we were greeted by cows, pigs, rabbits, sheep and goats! Not what I was expecting!

Unfortunately our holiday had to come to an end at some point and we got the train back to Grenoble. At least I still have a few more days off until I am back to classes! Hope everyone has a good weekend!