Day 3 began rather early, and we headed off to Geneva, but first we had to find something to eat for breakfast. I used the GPS to find nearby grocery stores, but shops don't open until about 8:15 in France, so after a couple of luckless and somewhat time-consuming attempts, we decided to start driving towards Geneva and stop before we got there. By 8:15 we were about 15 minutes outside of Geneva, and we got off the road and stopped at the first grocery store we saw which was a Carrefour.  Shopping in French was a little confusing, because we couldn't find what we were looking for, but it was surprisingly manageable. We spent about 50 euro and bought enough food to last us several meals. We when got to Geneva we found ourselves in stop and go traffic.

After a little while we parked on the side of the road by a pretty stone pier

(which happened to be near the monument to Empress Elisabeth of Austria and the place where she was murdered.
)
We took some pictures and bought a key chain and post card at a souvenir stand that also happened to be right there. Like everything in Switzerland it was very expensive, over $10 for just those two things.

It was the only stop we made in Geneva and it was only for about 5 or 10 minutes, but surprisingly enough it was still rather productive. There was nothing in particular that we wanted to see there, so we got back in the car and headed on to Italy.

Getting to Italy, required driving through the Alps, and Dad had particularly wanted to see Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn. Mount Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe, was right on our way, in fact drove through it. We got lots of pictures which i won't be uploading. This is one of the prettiest.

The Matterhorn was 2-3 hours out of our way, since we got lost trying to find it.We found ourselves driving along twisting, sharply turning, narrow roads through little towns/villages. People were staring at our car and a little boy shouted something at us in Italian. After a bit we started to hear a noise too, but we didn't chheck to see what was going on until we were almost at the top (it turned out to be a large stick caught in my door). Because the mountain roads were so narrow and twisting it was difficult to follow the GPS, but the scenery and picturesque mountain villages were worth the extra time. Katie and Elissa slept through most of it, but we got them up when we were getting close to the top. It was amazing how high up the roads and villages went. The view was incredible. We pulled over by a soccer field and took pictures of the summit. 

I wish I had a better camera that could do justice to the scene, but hopefully the pictures convey some of the beauty.

The guard rails ruined most of the pictures we took throughout the whole trip. If there weren't guardrails there wasn't a view :(

We had planned to spend a day or two in Milan, but we realized that there wasn't really anything we wanted to see there, so we drove straight down to Pisa following the Mediterranean coast.  we drove through what I believe was the Cinque Terre and it was cool because there were steep hills that went right up to the "beach" and there were cities built on the slopes in between. We got to Pisa shortly before sunset. Our hotel was right on the beach so we girls immediately headed for the water upon our arrival and stuck our hands in and took lots more pictures.

When we carried our stuff into the room afterwards I was carrying a plastic Walmart bag which held more than its recommended load and as a result the jar of applesauce we had purchased that morning tore through the bottom of the bag and crashed to the floor, making quite a mess. Fortunately, it was a tile hallway and we had a mop and bucket in the room. That place was nice and it had internet access (one of only three places on our trip that did), so Katie and I got on for an hour(that was all we got free) and did some research on hotels for the next couple of nights and caught up on our emails and Facebook.

Clouds and sunrise from the plane

       Day 1 primarily consisted of flying so I'll skip on to day 2 when we landed in Barcelona after what was for me a sleepless night. After some searching we found our rental car (a white BMW) and in spite of its diminutive size were able to fit everything and everyone in it comfortably. We hit the road shortly after 9AM, planning to make it to Geneva that afternoon. Barcelona was trashier than I was expecting. For the most part, the buildings were ugly, dilapidated, 20th century constructions. There were, however, some cool looking old buildings sprinkled amongst them, and so long as one was driving through the city it didn't look as bad as from the air. Our route went alongside the Mediterranean from Barcelona to about a third of the way up through France, but there were large hills blocking our view.

       We wanted to stick our feet in it and since we didn't know if we'd have another opportunity we got off the main road and followed signs to a random beach on the French coast. After a very long drive we found a spot that looked promising, so we parked and walked toward the beach. There were signs trying to tell us something about this particular beach, but they were all in French so we more or less ignored them, although we had the vague impression that the area was connect to wildlife or nature preservation, whatever "naturalness" was supposed to mean. We got out of the car and walked up to the beach, only to be greeted a few moments later by the sight of a very tan very bare buttocks. You guessed it - nude beach. We left rather abruptly.

        Dad was very tired so we had to stop a number of times along the way. Consequently, we had to skip Geneva and head straight to our hotel in order to get there before the office closed. It was a resort up in the Alps, overlooking Lake Geneva.

It took a little while to get there and since we weren't seeing any signs for it and we were on little winding roads we weren't sure if we were going the right way, but eventually we found the place. The office had already closed, but they left a room key and map of the place for us in a safe next to their door, so it was alright. Dad was still exhausted so we didn't end up having any dinner that night except for what crackers we had left over from our stash for the plane ride and some water we had bought at a place off the road in Spain. All the food places had been so expensive that we never got anything, but it wasn't too bad. The place was really cute. We had our first experience with European bathtubs and windows there. The windows I like, they don't have screens and you just turn the handle and pull it right open, whereas here you have to do a lot of pinching and pushing and hoping there aren't spiders. The bathtubs however, weren't so likeable. They don't have shower curtains, just a piece of glass that doesn't even keep all the water in, and they have those moveable shower-heads that you hold in your hand or hang on the wall. 

Elissa modeling the bed we three girls shared that night. The sofabed didn't work so Dad slept on a mattress in the kitchen/living area

      I think we all got a pretty good sleep that night.

So Daddy did something quite lovely for my sisters Katie, Elissa, and myself. He took us on a trip. Not just any trip mind you, but a trip I've been wanting to take for a very long time. He took us to Europe! We were gone for a little over two weeks and made many memories and took several pictures. The next few posts will be accounts of each day of that trip and accompanying pictures. Don't hold your breath because they will probably be none too short a time in coming....