Geneva, Switzerland

Hearing: soft whispers of others working in the conference centre.

I'm in the hotel conference centre in Geneva, its my second day here and I wont be leaving till tomorrow. I've already been into the city twice, yesterday and this morning for a walk around with some girls on my flight but feeling a little under the weather decided I should get out of the cold and look after myself so I don't get worse...after all I have a Munich trip in 3 days and I don't want to miss out on it.

Geneva is a small city but I took time to walk around and have a good look. I managed to take a lot of photos before my batteries threw in the towel. One particular place I loved was the Cathedrale St-Pierre.

Situated in the "Old Town" at a high point it overlooks Geneva and is beautiful in its own right. It was built between 1160-1230. You can climb the tower to get a birds-eye view, take in the beautiful stain glass windows

or have your eyes pop out when you enter the Chapelle des Macchabees. I took so many photos in there and would have just sat there for hours if I didn't have another girl with me who was itching to go.




There is a main shopping strip and of course cafes, tea rooms, chocolate shops everywhere you go. Step into a little hideaway nook to get out of the biting cold and warm up. The minute you walk in you can smell the fresh bread baking and hear the chatter of others seeking refuge in a hot cup of soup, coffee or slice if pizza (which looks like a foccacia with topping). The staff are friendly and you sit down for your own bit of peace and to rest from all the walking.

Now I think I'll just head to my room to rest up properly as my heads pounding away. Hope everyone is warm and cozy.

Always,
VP

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Amsterdam, Brussels, Toronto Photo update.

Hearing: Arabic music and kids shouts of triumph over some networked game.

Hi all, I'm back to post photos of Amsterdam, Brussels and Toronto as promised in my "brr" entry. I'm set up at an internet cafe near my apartment so I can take advantage of the faster connection to upload all the photos. Enjoy!

First up is Amsterdam. Most of my photos turned out blurry but i'll still post a few. As mentioned our CM knew the place so he took us around. This photo is of some of the crew, CP and FO on our way to Amsterdam.














Amsterdams red light district...

The view from one of the bridges our group blocked...



...And our group actually blocking the bridge..teehee














Christmas markets were everywhere, there were hot waffles, handicrafts, souvenirs and misc. gifts for sale, an out door ice rink and merry-go-round.



Brussels - I had to look up some info on the places I visited here and one very useful site is here, very good if you want to know the legends behind the Mannikin-Pis, or the names of the houses in Grote Markt (Grand Place).

Grote Markt has to be one of the most popular attractions in Brussels, these giant baubles were just littered throughout the square some as you can see with little Christmas trees in them.

The Mannikin-Pis appropriately dress in a fireman's costume according to one of the legends concerning him. This little guy has over 400 costumes!



Nearby Grote Markt there is a bunch of alleyways that are filled with seafood restaurants - their specialty being muscles - and often are captured by local artists in their paintings or drawings.



The thing about Brussels is that you can be walking along a road in what you think to be a very modern part of the city and look right and see something like this.



Being in the Christmas spirit some places really went all out, this restaurant definitely caught my eye. If you cant see it properly it looks like it has a bunch of Santa's with presents climbing the walls.



The Royal Palace. It overlooks a large park and is home to the office of the King, residence of the Crown Prince and a museum.



Saint Michael and Saint Gudula Cathedral, about 10 mins walk from Grote Markt.



Some pics from around Toronto, you can see some snow/frost on the ground and a pic of CN tower which isn't good but the only one I have.

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Colombo, Sri Lanka

Hearing: Objection - Shakira

Guess where i spent New Years Eve? In crew briefing for a Colombo flight...LOL not the best way to do it but at least its different, and you would be surprised how many people traveled that night on the flight, we were almost full. But who can be grumpy about all that when you wake up to this the next day.



It was a nice simple trip. We literally were taken for a ride by one of the Tuk-tuk drivers who took us to this souvenir shop even though we wanted him to take us to somewhere to eat. I should say its a good idea to stick to what you know when eating as i ended up trying a local dish which tasted like it had gravel in it.

Later that day my friend, the first officer and i went for a walk along the "beach" where everyone was out enjoying the public holiday.


Some of the locals were playing in the water fully clothed - i say playing cuz none of them looked like they could swim properly and the girls ran away when the water came too close or got too high.



There were all these little kiosks along the pathway selling all sorts of snacks and drinks - a popular snack was this round doughy looking thing which had 3 shrimps on it and was orange in colour that i decided not to try as i didnt want to call in sick the next day and instead settled for some yummy mango slices.



VP

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