saturday, sugar, sunshine
Today was a pretty sugar-laden one, especially for The Bun. All of us went out right after breakfast to make the most of the spring sunshine. I didn't want to drive far because we're saving all the day trips for when my family arrives next week, so today we just hung around the city centre and did some exploring.
First was a quick visit to the Cité du Temps, an old pump house along the lake that has been turned into an exhibition centre. They have a permanent gallery devoted to Swatch that has free entry, so we popped by for a look. The gallery is quite small and the children got bored quickly, but J and I enjoyed looking at the watches and reminiscing about the times when we used to wear them. J even spotted an old design that he used to have - it was really gaudy and colourful and I was surprised because now everything he owns is in a muted palette and mostly monochrome.
I popped by Starbucks after that for another of my green tea latte fixes, and I was in a good mood so I bought The Bun a large chocolate coin. That worked out in my favour in the end because he spent the rest of our morning quietly nibbling away at the coin while cruising along on the buggy board as J and I strolled along the streets. (Bao was sitting in the stroller nibbling on a rice cake, oblivious to her brother's treat at the back.) We don't often cross to the Rive Gauche side of the lake because of the awful bridge traffic (a couple of days ago I chatted to a French guy who told me that he was sick of the hour-long jams on the bridge and bought a motorbike instead) and now that the weather is nice we don't have much excuse not to wander the city more often.
We didn't buy anything at all and just popped in and out of a couple of shops, soaking in the city vibe and the sunshine. Geneva is so much nicer when the sun is shining. Lunch was a takeout meal from one of the better HK restaurants along the way home, and The Bun enjoyed his noodles so much he ate half a portion on his own.
After Bao's nap we headed off to the Festichoc, a chocolate festival in nearby Versoix. We were VERY lucky to snag a parking lot right on the edge of town because the whole place was packed, and in fact we were just trying our luck with the parking and were prepared to drive a little further away and take the bus in.
Huge chocolate sculpture.
Although the festival was devoted to chocolate there were lots of other things on offer - funfair-style games for the kids, hotdog and beer stands, a mini 'choco-train' ride that shuttled people from the Farvarger chocolate factory to the main arena, exhibitions on chocolate creations, and lots of sunshine and space to play in. J and I had a pitstop to drink some chocolate beer, which tastes like stout, and sat in the sun while The Bun and a bunch of other kids went crazy ripping a huge styrofoam board into bits, shedding all the tiny bits onto the grass like snowflakes. The Bun loaded up on plenty of chocolate samples from all the stalls and we all shared a very indulgent cup of sliced strawberries with dark chocolate poured all over it. Bao got a tiny taste of that but most of the time she was occupied with a helium balloon tied to her wrist.
Styrofoam 'snow'. Sorry, ozone layer.
We also bumped into The Bun's teacher Mrs B and her family, and The Bun was so stunned to see her outside of school, he couldn't even muster a hello. Later on I asked him where he thought Mrs B lived and he replied 'school', claiming that the teacher's office, which is out-of-bounds to students, had beds for the teachers to sleep in. I then asked who would then look after and play with Mrs B's kids if she lived in school all the time, and he just got more and more confused, which was very funny to see.
Farvarger was offering factory tours for CHF10 each, and this was popular with the crowds because they otherwise rarely do open-days like these. However, we decided to skip this because it was getting late and also because when my family arrive we plan to visit the Cailler chocolate factory in Gruyere, about an hour-and-a-half away. Anyway Festichoc is an annual event and we can hit Farvarger again next year.
We didn't leave the festival empty-handed: The Bun bought a packet of chocolate-covered hazelnuts with his allowance money, and J and I bought a few boxes of dark chocolate pralines that were on offer. I wasn't that tempted to buy more because most of the stalls were offering Easter goodies that were mostly done in milk or white chocolate and I won't eat those. As if he didn't already eat enough chocolate in the afternoon, The Bun asked to sample his purchase after dinner so we had a few more chocolates for dessert to end a very sugary day. At least he didn't go into some sugar-induced hyperactive craze after all that and went to bed quite easily.
Whew! Tomorrow J and I are planning to work off all that chocolate by deep-cleaning the apartment and washing the cars. Nothing like your mother visiting to motivate you into cleaning, is there?
First was a quick visit to the Cité du Temps, an old pump house along the lake that has been turned into an exhibition centre. They have a permanent gallery devoted to Swatch that has free entry, so we popped by for a look. The gallery is quite small and the children got bored quickly, but J and I enjoyed looking at the watches and reminiscing about the times when we used to wear them. J even spotted an old design that he used to have - it was really gaudy and colourful and I was surprised because now everything he owns is in a muted palette and mostly monochrome.
I popped by Starbucks after that for another of my green tea latte fixes, and I was in a good mood so I bought The Bun a large chocolate coin. That worked out in my favour in the end because he spent the rest of our morning quietly nibbling away at the coin while cruising along on the buggy board as J and I strolled along the streets. (Bao was sitting in the stroller nibbling on a rice cake, oblivious to her brother's treat at the back.) We don't often cross to the Rive Gauche side of the lake because of the awful bridge traffic (a couple of days ago I chatted to a French guy who told me that he was sick of the hour-long jams on the bridge and bought a motorbike instead) and now that the weather is nice we don't have much excuse not to wander the city more often.
We didn't buy anything at all and just popped in and out of a couple of shops, soaking in the city vibe and the sunshine. Geneva is so much nicer when the sun is shining. Lunch was a takeout meal from one of the better HK restaurants along the way home, and The Bun enjoyed his noodles so much he ate half a portion on his own.
After Bao's nap we headed off to the Festichoc, a chocolate festival in nearby Versoix. We were VERY lucky to snag a parking lot right on the edge of town because the whole place was packed, and in fact we were just trying our luck with the parking and were prepared to drive a little further away and take the bus in.
Huge chocolate sculpture.
Although the festival was devoted to chocolate there were lots of other things on offer - funfair-style games for the kids, hotdog and beer stands, a mini 'choco-train' ride that shuttled people from the Farvarger chocolate factory to the main arena, exhibitions on chocolate creations, and lots of sunshine and space to play in. J and I had a pitstop to drink some chocolate beer, which tastes like stout, and sat in the sun while The Bun and a bunch of other kids went crazy ripping a huge styrofoam board into bits, shedding all the tiny bits onto the grass like snowflakes. The Bun loaded up on plenty of chocolate samples from all the stalls and we all shared a very indulgent cup of sliced strawberries with dark chocolate poured all over it. Bao got a tiny taste of that but most of the time she was occupied with a helium balloon tied to her wrist.
Styrofoam 'snow'. Sorry, ozone layer.
We also bumped into The Bun's teacher Mrs B and her family, and The Bun was so stunned to see her outside of school, he couldn't even muster a hello. Later on I asked him where he thought Mrs B lived and he replied 'school', claiming that the teacher's office, which is out-of-bounds to students, had beds for the teachers to sleep in. I then asked who would then look after and play with Mrs B's kids if she lived in school all the time, and he just got more and more confused, which was very funny to see.
Farvarger was offering factory tours for CHF10 each, and this was popular with the crowds because they otherwise rarely do open-days like these. However, we decided to skip this because it was getting late and also because when my family arrive we plan to visit the Cailler chocolate factory in Gruyere, about an hour-and-a-half away. Anyway Festichoc is an annual event and we can hit Farvarger again next year.
We didn't leave the festival empty-handed: The Bun bought a packet of chocolate-covered hazelnuts with his allowance money, and J and I bought a few boxes of dark chocolate pralines that were on offer. I wasn't that tempted to buy more because most of the stalls were offering Easter goodies that were mostly done in milk or white chocolate and I won't eat those. As if he didn't already eat enough chocolate in the afternoon, The Bun asked to sample his purchase after dinner so we had a few more chocolates for dessert to end a very sugary day. At least he didn't go into some sugar-induced hyperactive craze after all that and went to bed quite easily.
Whew! Tomorrow J and I are planning to work off all that chocolate by deep-cleaning the apartment and washing the cars. Nothing like your mother visiting to motivate you into cleaning, is there?