Here’s the link to the photoset.

In my mind the one thing that stands out is feeling cold everywhere. My nose and ears, hands, feet. At one point I took some snow in my hands to play with it and regretted it immediately as it froze my hands. The other thing about taking photographs is that you really don’t have the chance to change lenses when each such change requires getting exposed to the weather. All photos on this trip was made using the kit 18-55mm lens. Nevertheless, I am happy with the pictures. They have come out well exposed and sharp, a testament to the abilities of this simple and cheap lens. Perhaps a better all-round zoom may have made it a little more easier to get some of the more difficult shots (dusk / night / from the airplane).

Geneva airport had a lot of luggage lying around when I landed. Now I know why: there has been a baggage handlers’ strike going on! They are trying to break the strike by bringing in handlers from Zurich.

The other crazy thing here is that the airport serves France and Switzerland and is located at the border (question to self: is this near CERN?). So to get into this flight, I had to go through French customs and check-in on the French side of the airport. When I landed also I noticed the split, but this was really interesting since they have two sets of check-in counters and all…

Today was indoors completely, but for the hotel to office and office to airport. Cold yes, but not exposed to it.

My flight boards in 6 minutes, so I will sign off here.

It is the end of the holiday season and tickets were hard to come by, so I was put on a route through Paris CDG on Air France. The flight was nothing to talk about, but Paris CDG almost put LHR to shame this time. Firstly it is freezing weather (at the 8 am landing time, it was -6 degrees C). And they asked everyone to get into buses, which meant alighting on the tarmac in that cold. Not having anticpated this, I had my warmest stuff (and consequently heaviest) inside the check-in bag.
Still had some warm stuff. Got on the bus and on to terminal 2C. Flight to Geneva leaves from 2F. Okay another coach. Again brave the cold and get to new terminal.

As if this was not enough, the boarding gate was changed at the last minute. Right, things have not gone well with CDG so far, but it seems to be looking up. The old departure gate would have taken us through a bus (cold again – getting the theme?) and the new one had an aero-bridge! Yay! Not so fast. They make us climb down the aero-bridge and into a bus. So there you have it, in one of the coldest winters in years, CDG decides to shunt me through the open air at every opportunity possible.

Part 2: First impressions

Geneva is a lovely town. My hotel is at the edge of the old town and near the private banking district. The lake Geneva is just around the corner and I had a lovely walk in the afternoon along its bank watching the Jet d’Eau – a 140 feet tall fountain. Later I walked in and around the old town walking up to the Plainpalais, Place de Bastion and the University of Geneva, past the St Peter’s Cathedral. One very interesting sight was the Eglise Orthodox Russe – the Russian Orthodox Church.

Being Switzerland, everything is maintained well. The roads are cleared of snow properly. Nevertheless there was so much snow that I slipped several times – one time on a slope when I was certain I would take a tumble. But my luck held and I was on two feet all along!

More: I wanted to get this post up quickly in the time before heading to a business dinner. Photos and more will follow.

PS: The couple of recent travels to France has really improved my French. I am able to understand aircraft announcements now!