Tyson Luck Strikes Again!
Man, I can't believe I'm already on my last week of work here. 3 more days of class, then a week off, then it's back home again. I really miss Erin, but I certainly am not missing the record heat; hopefully it'll cool down in the next week or so.
Anyway, on to my post.
This past week had a lot going on, what with the 4th of July (we made good old American burgers and tater tots) and with the Lake Parade and the huge party for Switzerland's winning of the America's Cup again.
A few days ago I was hungry for some fishing, and I decided to hike along the River Versoix because I found a site which said you could walk along about three miles of it through the forest, and someone else said it held trout. Well, I walked about 1 mile or so along a little paved pathway, but it's been raining so much here (every day since we got here) that the river was totally swollen and inaccessable. The path turned out to be a driveway to a neat little farmhouse, but I didn't go any farther because I didn't want to freak out the farmers. I turned around and instead decided I'd follow it to where it dumped into the lake. About 2 miles later I came to the spot, a lovely little area owned by the University of Geneva, with a little park, and a pebbly beach to fish from. I fished for awhile, got a bite and saw some jump, but didn't land a fish. It started to rain again so I decided to head home. I decided to walk through town this time, since I hadn't been down there before, and I saw lots of neat little stores, a bakery, a chocolate factory, and this place. No, it's not what you think, it's actually a Thai market/restaurant, but what a great name for brand recognition!
It was closed though, so I hit the bakery across the street, got a coconut gellato, and made my way home, deciding that the next day I would ride my loaner bicycle to this little town in France called Divonne les Bains which is about 8 miles away. There is a lake there that is said to have trout, as well as hotsprings and a casino which just started featuring Hold 'Em poker a few months ago. I figured I'd fish a few hours, play cards a few hours, and ride home in plenty of time for a good night's sleep.
Well, my usual Tyson luck struck again. I rode out of town along the lake road with my backpack filled with fishing gear to the town of Coppet because someone told me there was a bike shop where I could get a lock for my bike since the school had none, and I was worried about someone stealing the bike while I was in France. The shop was closed, so I went into Coppet then turned left for the long 3 mile ride uphill to Divonne. I know it doesn't sound horrible (it was only mildly hard on my out-of-shape body) but it was longer and more difficult than my original route would have been, and I never scored the lock I was after. Anyway, in casinos here you must dress up, so I was wearing slacks and a white oxford, lightweight enough not to get too sweaty provided I didn't over-exert myself. Sadly, the uphill was harder than I thought, and I was sweaty by 2/3 the way up. On top of that, the chain popped off twice, and it was VERY greasy. I did an admirable job of not getting grease on my clothes, and just as I was topping the hill coming up to the A-1 freeway, the chain on my bike broke.
Shit.
OK, I was about 7 miles from school and only 2 or so from Divonne, so I stashed the bike in some weeds on the side of the road and began making a run for France! Well, a walk anyway.
I'd forgotten my passport, but I was fairly confident no one would ask (no one did) and besides, I really had no other choice. Divonne is away from the lake and has no train service, so I planned to get to town, then figure out the rest.
About 30 minutes and one border-crossing later, I walked out of the quaint and narrow little downtown area and up to the casino. It was about 6:30, and the poker room had opened about 30 minutes before, or so I thought. Turns out I was wrong; it didn't open for another hour and a half. Fortunately the conscierge that was helping me spoke English ( I HATE not knowing French!) and was actually the only one there who did, and she listened to my tale and suggested I go to the bus station because the last bus to Coppet on Fridays ran sometime between 8:30 and 9:30, and there would be a schedule posted. Thanking her for her help, I walked a few blocks to the station where I saw that there were 2 more busses scheduled to depart for Coppet that evening, and then I could catch a train from there back to Versoix.
The next bus wasn't scheduled to arrive for about 30 minutes, so I bought a pizza from a mobile pizza truck on the corner. It was a neat idea, but the pizza was kind of a let-down. I guess that "supremo" in French means frickin'-everything-whether-flavors-pair-or-not, because that pizza was gross. Among the toppings were Ham, blue cheese, tuna, and capers. I ate a few of the toppings and dumped the rest. I also read a little, and explored the abandoned train station across the street. Then I read some more, listen to my ipod, and realized, hey.... where the f*ck is that damned bus?!
The time now being 8:10, I wandered back to the casino. The only other bus out of town had been here 3 times, but it went the other direction, so I figured something must have happened to my bus. I found the same lady at the casino, but instead of playing poker I decided that I was too distracted, so I asked her to call me a cab, which she did, then the cabby drove me home; the cost for the 9 mile trip? 35 euro, or about 50 bucks.
The next day the activity director drove me to pick the bike up, and thankfully it was still there. So for now, I was back on foot.
The girls all wanted to go into Geneva for the Lake Parade, and the drinking, and it just didn't seem like my idea of fun. I was all jazzed to play poker, so I did a little research and found out that there was another casino in the Swiss town of Montreux that offered poker starting at 4:00. Montreux is all the way at the other end of lake Geneva, about 1 1/2 hours by train, but it WAS on the line, so I decided to check it out, and if it wasn't any good, it would still be early enough to make my way back to Coppet and take a cab into Divonne.
The World-famous Montreux Jazz festival is happening right now, and so the town was packed. I made it there without any problems, had dinner, and just wandered around a bit while waiting for the cardroom to open (it didn't open until 9:00; for some reason I keep getting my time wrong!) and enjoying what was the most picturesque place I have ever been. The views of the alps, the castle, the old-time streets... it was just beautiful.
And the poker?
That's a story unto itself, for a later post.
T