Drove up to Lausanne yesterday, with Elizabeth and Marthe from work, to go shopping (as Geneva is so rubbish when not buying Prada and the like). Despite the weather being a bit horrible, the shops were really full!
I bought a sunny-yellow summer dress from Zara, and a comfy green cardigan and hello kitty knickers from h&m. Was so nice just to be shopping, and having a bit of a girly day!
Ooh, and we did actually go to Starbucks too, which I normally avoid.. but the Vanilla Latte was yummy. We were talking about all sorts of things, and must have spent ages in there!
And also went into the swatch shop, saw a nice watch there (only 80-odd francs) so thinking about getting that instead of the super-expensive (but kinda for my 21st) Raymond Weil watch that I totally adore and love - but I think I might be too scared to ever wear for fear of scratching it or god forbid it getting stolen or lost. So, cheaper one it is! Still going to look for some different ones though, I really could do with one with the date on it!
Sunday 29 March 2009
Saturday 21 March 2009
Thanks CIC!
No, not really. All they've done is mess me about again and again. Now I have to sort out the fact that my car insurance hasn't been paid to AXA since December. I got letters from AXA to find that out, the bank didn't even tell me!! I also noticed, from the overall statement I had to get from them today (it's not sent to me, otherwise this wouldn't have happened repeatedly) that the reason I don't have enough to pay AXA is because they keep charging me for 'interventions' because my payments aren't going to AXA.. Or that's what I can figure anyway.
There's no way I'll get any of those charges back either, they just won't hear of it. I have to talk to Stephanie in Douvaine (and ONLY Stephanie) as she's my registered bank rep or some such crap. Sent her an email (in English, she sends me them in French) and she didn't answer any of my questions about charges, just told me the balance was 0 and that the problem was my car insurance payments weren't getting paid. Helpful. I keep asking for them to transfer me to an English-speaking person in Saint Genis, but they never do.
Talk about being immensely aggravating.
There's no way I'll get any of those charges back either, they just won't hear of it. I have to talk to Stephanie in Douvaine (and ONLY Stephanie) as she's my registered bank rep or some such crap. Sent her an email (in English, she sends me them in French) and she didn't answer any of my questions about charges, just told me the balance was 0 and that the problem was my car insurance payments weren't getting paid. Helpful. I keep asking for them to transfer me to an English-speaking person in Saint Genis, but they never do.
Talk about being immensely aggravating.
Monday 16 March 2009
In the snow!
Well, we decided to spend two days in Chamonix (instead of one day in Crozet, then one in Chamonix) as it actually turned out cheaper with the lift passes, as we only needed to pay for the small slopes for beginners (much less than the big slopes) and to hire everything from one place for both days.
Ended up staying in the car Friday night, as the hostel was 28 euro's each and we thought that was just too much, even if it is cheap compared to other places in Chamonix, we wanted to save the money.
Well, anyway, we had a great time on the slopes, I feel I've really improved for one. We had the slopes to ourselves for most of Saturday too, which was good, and the weather was gorgeous! Even if I caught the sun a bit, Russell won the imitating-a-tomato award. I think they both really enjoyed themselves, and after both days had really picked up the skill of it. Was the best fun I'd had so far snowboarding!
Will be adding some pictures and videos on facebook before too long, and might come back and add one or two videos to the end of this post when I've found the best ones!
Now though, I was just happy to have a day without doing anything since I've been running around so much recently! I've had fun, it's just been one thing then another for a couple of weeks. Been nice to clear up some of the stuff in the flat and chill out, spending the day in my pyjama's like everyone should do on a Sunday sometimes.
Ended up staying in the car Friday night, as the hostel was 28 euro's each and we thought that was just too much, even if it is cheap compared to other places in Chamonix, we wanted to save the money.
Well, anyway, we had a great time on the slopes, I feel I've really improved for one. We had the slopes to ourselves for most of Saturday too, which was good, and the weather was gorgeous! Even if I caught the sun a bit, Russell won the imitating-a-tomato award. I think they both really enjoyed themselves, and after both days had really picked up the skill of it. Was the best fun I'd had so far snowboarding!
Will be adding some pictures and videos on facebook before too long, and might come back and add one or two videos to the end of this post when I've found the best ones!
Now though, I was just happy to have a day without doing anything since I've been running around so much recently! I've had fun, it's just been one thing then another for a couple of weeks. Been nice to clear up some of the stuff in the flat and chill out, spending the day in my pyjama's like everyone should do on a Sunday sometimes.
Friday 13 March 2009
Mad about Motors?
Wow, my feet ach just a bit now from walking around the whole of the Palexpo arena today at the Motor Show!
Saw some pretty cool concept cars, and sat in random ones (not the super expensive ones though..) but to be honest, after a while it all blurs together.
There was a cool games area, with Nintendo Wii's and DS's and Playstations all with driving games running, and an F1 simulator thing I'd liked to have gone in (but long queue). Best bit was having a go on the Segways though!! Very funny, and now I want one, unfortunately there is the small snag of one costing 10,000 swiss francs (~ £5,000).
Pete and Russell seem to be having fun so far though! They spent the day in Geneva whilst I was at work yesterday, and then we went to Bains de Paquis for fondue in the evening, which they were both surprised by how good it was!
Now looking at two days in Chamonix, hopefully we can find a hostel tomorrow night to save driving back and forth! (which was a change of plan somewhat..) Also looks like there's going to be really good weather up there this weekend, which is fantastic! More on that in the next blog post I guess!!
Saw some pretty cool concept cars, and sat in random ones (not the super expensive ones though..) but to be honest, after a while it all blurs together.
There was a cool games area, with Nintendo Wii's and DS's and Playstations all with driving games running, and an F1 simulator thing I'd liked to have gone in (but long queue). Best bit was having a go on the Segways though!! Very funny, and now I want one, unfortunately there is the small snag of one costing 10,000 swiss francs (~ £5,000).
Pete and Russell seem to be having fun so far though! They spent the day in Geneva whilst I was at work yesterday, and then we went to Bains de Paquis for fondue in the evening, which they were both surprised by how good it was!
Now looking at two days in Chamonix, hopefully we can find a hostel tomorrow night to save driving back and forth! (which was a change of plan somewhat..) Also looks like there's going to be really good weather up there this weekend, which is fantastic! More on that in the next blog post I guess!!
Wednesday 4 March 2009
Hallo aus Berlin!
Ok, so second part really from the previous post... I've been in Berlin the last couple of days!!
Arrived Saturday morning with Anne, Alex, Michi and Simon, met Nina at the airport, then Merlin and Jonathon later at the hostel/train station respectively. We went to the Reichstag building (parliament) and up to the roof-top glass dome which you could walk up inside, and cool 'cause it was free! Had really good Indian food that night too.
Sunday was our main day being touristy, with free walking tours in the afternoon around the main sights to see, and the stories and history that go with them. I thought they were really good, and I think I learnt some more about Berlin and the Wall, even if most of it I don't really remember all that much.. Still, it was interesting, and we had a fun guide, for my half of the group anyway; we split up over two different groups.
So then Monday we went up in the TV Tower, even though there wasn't much of a view at all, I was still able to find the main buildings in the city apart from the Reichstag, as it was just a bit too cloudy to see that. The rest of the afternoon, we walked along a random canal near there and the Town Halls, then went to the Judisches (Jewish) Museum which was open late, so we spent quite a lot of time in there. That was also really interesting, but in the end far too much to see. The main thing for me was the architecture itself; the building was shaped as a zig-zag, so was fairly easy to lose track of time and surroundings. I think a lot of thought was given to the exhibition and the building though, and I really enjoyed looking round it. Very thought-provoking too.
I think that was pretty much it, landed back in Geneva this afternoon, and now have bank and car insurance nearly sorted (hopefully done by tomorrow) and shiny new number plates on my car. England on Thursday, wooooohooo!
Arrived Saturday morning with Anne, Alex, Michi and Simon, met Nina at the airport, then Merlin and Jonathon later at the hostel/train station respectively. We went to the Reichstag building (parliament) and up to the roof-top glass dome which you could walk up inside, and cool 'cause it was free! Had really good Indian food that night too.
Sunday was our main day being touristy, with free walking tours in the afternoon around the main sights to see, and the stories and history that go with them. I thought they were really good, and I think I learnt some more about Berlin and the Wall, even if most of it I don't really remember all that much.. Still, it was interesting, and we had a fun guide, for my half of the group anyway; we split up over two different groups.
So then Monday we went up in the TV Tower, even though there wasn't much of a view at all, I was still able to find the main buildings in the city apart from the Reichstag, as it was just a bit too cloudy to see that. The rest of the afternoon, we walked along a random canal near there and the Town Halls, then went to the Judisches (Jewish) Museum which was open late, so we spent quite a lot of time in there. That was also really interesting, but in the end far too much to see. The main thing for me was the architecture itself; the building was shaped as a zig-zag, so was fairly easy to lose track of time and surroundings. I think a lot of thought was given to the exhibition and the building though, and I really enjoyed looking round it. Very thought-provoking too.
I think that was pretty much it, landed back in Geneva this afternoon, and now have bank and car insurance nearly sorted (hopefully done by tomorrow) and shiny new number plates on my car. England on Thursday, wooooohooo!
Up-LIFT-ing
So, this is a little later than planned, but more on that next.
Last Weds-Fri I spent my time in Geneva at the Lift09 conference and I have to say I had great fun there!
Weds was taken up with workshops, so I went to the Web of Things in the morning session and then 'What can we get out of the lift community for the other 362 days of the year?' in the first afternoon session. Another I wanted to go to in the second part of the afternoon was fully booked, but was videoed so I intend to catch up later.
Thursday and Friday were both talks, which I found really varied and interesting. Some were more than a little bonkers, such as carnivorous robotics and one woman's story about when she walked around Australia. Others were about such things as 'metromantics' (an idea I rather liked) or a project in Cameroon for women to find husbands online. The big finale on Friday evening was Vint Cerf from Google, who invented the protocols for TCP/IP and is one of the reasons we even have internet. So, basically an internet/geek demi-god.
Met with a fair few people too, was nice to recognise and talk to people at different points, and I played on the Atari in the breaks (hehe) - although Pong was pretty popular actually.
It was a really interesting time, and I'm going to apply for a student ticket next year to see if I can go again, which would be awesome! It's a very inspiring place to be/event to be part of.
Last Weds-Fri I spent my time in Geneva at the Lift09 conference and I have to say I had great fun there!
Weds was taken up with workshops, so I went to the Web of Things in the morning session and then 'What can we get out of the lift community for the other 362 days of the year?' in the first afternoon session. Another I wanted to go to in the second part of the afternoon was fully booked, but was videoed so I intend to catch up later.
Thursday and Friday were both talks, which I found really varied and interesting. Some were more than a little bonkers, such as carnivorous robotics and one woman's story about when she walked around Australia. Others were about such things as 'metromantics' (an idea I rather liked) or a project in Cameroon for women to find husbands online. The big finale on Friday evening was Vint Cerf from Google, who invented the protocols for TCP/IP and is one of the reasons we even have internet. So, basically an internet/geek demi-god.
Met with a fair few people too, was nice to recognise and talk to people at different points, and I played on the Atari in the breaks (hehe) - although Pong was pretty popular actually.
It was a really interesting time, and I'm going to apply for a student ticket next year to see if I can go again, which would be awesome! It's a very inspiring place to be/event to be part of.
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