What language do you use in a country that has four official languages?

French?  German?  Italian?  Romansh?
Welcome to Switzerland.

Arrived in Geneva around 3 this afternoon.  Came to Switzerland just for the Golden Round Trip, which is tomorrow (well, technically today, it's 2 AM here).  ORIGINAL plan was to take the train to Lucerne right after my plane landed, but I figured I might as well explore Geneva while I was here, and I can go to Lucerne in the morning (don't need to be there until 12:30, and it's a 3 hour ride so I can take it at 6, 7, or 8 AM).  So I cancelled my hostel in Lucerne, and am now in the Geneva airport spending the night.

Geneva itself is a really pretty city, what you'd expect of a Swiss town.  The mountain backdrop, the old European buildings and small streets, the tram riding through the streets with the cars, the pretty lake.  I didn't come with a plan, I just walked around for a few hours.  Saw the lake (the water jet wasn't on though, oh well), saw a few churches, basically got some exercise in.  It did rain for a bit though, so I had to seek cover in stores and under awnings.  Perfect.

It is true what they say, though, Switzerland is VERY expensive.  The dollar and the swiss franc are about equal.  However, everything here is VERY overpriced.  For example, I searched and searched for an affordable place to eat until it seemed as if McDonalds would be my cheapest option.  Wrong.  A big mac value meal was 11.50.  No, thank you.  Went into a grocery store and gave myself a 5 franc limit.  Came out with a loaf of bread, a bag of funyon-like chips, and three iced tea juice boxes.  Total: 4.50.  Good enough for me, and I have plenty of bread to last until breakfast.

Overall, Geneva was a nice place to spend a few hours in, but I definitely couldn't see myself spending even a night here.  There really wasn't that much that would have kept me entertained, and the 5 hours or so that I spent in the city was definitely good enough for me.

So now I'm sitting in the airport.  They're doing some sort of construction or electrical work which makes it very hard to sleep.  But that's sort of what makes traveling fun...when things like this happen.  I'll probably get in a short nap, and then I'll sleep on the train ride to Lucerne.

A Switzerland post with pictures will come tomorrow or Saturday.  For now, I'm going to lock this computer in my backpack, tie the backpack straps through and around my legs, and put my head on a table and sleep.  Probably with my iPod in so that the music drowns out the construction.  Like I said, makes for a great experience.  Adios!