No sign of Tony, but I saw a Swiss Frank!

I managed to wangle myself a completely free trip to Geneva for a few days. The purpose was to accompany a friend from work who is relocating there and to help her look for a place to live. Now, this was an opportunity that was difficult to turn down. Aside from the obvious joy of getting something for nothing, the idea of looking at other people's houses and having to choose one, with no emotional involvement whatsoever, was too good to miss.

So, having checked-in online (isn't technology wonderful?) we thought it would be a relaxed wander through security and into the BA fancy lounge (for my friend is an Executive Club Gold Card holder and settles for nothing short of fabulous)! However, my boarding card wouldn't print, so we had to queue to check-in. Then the sour-faced BA lady said I'd have to check my bag as it was too heavy for hand luggage (and lo, it was 0.4kg too heavy, so hats off to her for her 'picking something up and guessing its weight' skill).

Which leads me to digress slightly - if my bag was a bit too heavy, so I took something out of it and put it in my handbag, I'd still be carrying the same weight, so what's the problem? It makes my head hurt thinking about that...

Anyhoo, we then went to go through security and the queue was 3 times the length of the terminal building. Two and a half hours to get through, apparently, and our flight was in 45 minutes! We managed to get through after making a fuss and getting 'randomly selected' to participate in the trial body scanner security thing (which involves standing on some yellow tape and putting your arms in the air while people giggle at you from behind a screen). Anyway, we successfully managed to push in to the front of the queue and had to run to the gate, just in time to board the plane. Phew!

Which, though it meant I missed my first BA Executive Lounge experience, did prevent any tedious hanging around at the airport. Which is the thing I hate most about travelling.

Arriving in Geneva, we got a taxi to the hotel, freshened up (lady talk for going to the loo!), and headed off for fondue. Martina, being Austrian, has fond childhood memories of fondue. I, being a child in the seventies, have too. After much conversation about the difference between Fondue Bourguignonne and Fondue Chinoise (the first is cooking in oil, the other in broth, since you asked) we plumped for the former - at the very least, it makes sure you chew your food well, eating one small piece of beef every 5 minutes...

The next 2 days were taken up with visiting apartment after apartment and getting incredibly confused about which one had the nice view, or the awful kitchen, or the funny smell. No confusion about which one had the fantastic wood floor - they all did! The good news is that we found a lovely apartment just a street away from the lake and a 15-minute walk from the office. Hurrah!

With all the apartments viewed, and our final appointment cancelled, we were back at the airport just in time to catch the earlier flight. Again, we had to hurry to the gate and had no hanging around time! Hurrah! And, we got upgraded to Club!

So, if you're interested, my Geneva observations:-

• It's a nice city, but not a 'holiday' city, in my opinion - though only 20 minutes from the nearest ski slopes, so it would make a great base for a winter break.
• Judging by the apartments we viewed, the Genevese(?) aren't much bothered about having a nice bathroom.
• There are buses and trams aplenty - just the way it should be.
• The 'old town' is fabulous - it reminded me of Montmartre.
• The lake is really big.