Aux Bonnes Choses

We arrived in Geneva and one of the first things we did was grab a snack. We checked out a few places and decided on Aux Bonnes Choses (which I think means "good things" in French). It was located in the railway station that was connected to the airport and had various snacks and pastries (croissants, quiches, sandwiches) that all looked good.

We picked up a peach iced tea, which in Europe, tastes sweet just like gummy peach candy:


For snack, we split a tomato mozzarella focaccia sandwich. I thought they were going to give it to us cold, but they put it on a panini grill before serving it, so we got a warm and toasty grilled sandwich:


It wasn't a very thick sandwich, as you can see from this side view, but it was tasty:


The sandwich tasted rich and buttery (probably from the bread). It tasted like it was lined with a pesto before the tomato and mozzarella were added. Once melted together, it all tasted really good. A snack in our bellies is what we needed before heading out to explore the city!

Next: More airport exploration and then we take the train to the city center!

Potter Again

I vividly remembered my dream this morning when I woke up. That hasn't happened much recently, since we've either been traveling or sleeping really late. (I think I'm still jetlagged and on Pacific time.)

In the dream, a group of my college friends and others had gotten together. That's a big deal on its own, since we are spread around the country/world. We walked to a movie theater near where we were staying; it was someplace sunny, spacious and relaxing, so maybe it was in California. It was called the Rainbow Cinema. (Not sure where that visual/name came from...)

Even though Captain America was opening that weekend (it was apparently a very current dream), we went to go see Harry Potter. I had already seen it (true in real life) but happily went to see it again because I love all things Harry Potter (also true in real life). Our tickets had one theater number on them (I think 8) but we were told to go to a different one. It was an "overflow theater" concept, where they send everyone for a movie to one place until it's full, and then fill the next theater. (This has happened to me before but I can't remember for which movie.)

The theater did not have stadium seating. I was stuck behind a tall woman with blond feathery kind-of-80s hair (kind of like Ferris Bueller's mother). And the 3 tall people in front of her. That kind of sucked. A wasn't there either. He had been but then I think he got caught up talking to some people from work and then maybe didn't see Potter with us. Not sure.

At some point before the movie, I left to get a snack. I was thinking of a hot dog. Then I decided to go to the bathroom. Unfortunately, after I got there after walking through a giant complex (and it looked like the bathrooms were at a hotel connected to the theater), I found that the toilets were all not flushed and it was gross. But if you have to go, you have to go! Then I woke up.

The end of that dream was no doubt influenced by our last AMC visit. We went to see Harry Potter at an evening showing (around 7:45) so it was after 10 when we got out of the theater. Our first stop after a movie is usually the bathroom. However, all the bathrooms were closed/closing already! There were still so many movies in progress, so why would they do that?! Before I realized they were closing, I had gone to one bathroom where a girl was complaining to a friend/sister that none of the toilets were flushing. So not only were they closing, but you can turn off the flush? She was right, as the toilets held contents that were yellow, yellow, yellow, red, yellow, yellow and yellow (TMI?). I ran out of there and waited until we got home, because that's really just gross. I'm glad we stick to matinee showings...

I guess I have movies on the brain because we are trying to make it to Captain America this morning. But where is Rainbow Cinema?

Eating from EWR to GVA

As we mentioned before, we weren't sure how good the food would be on our flight from Newark to Geneva so we got a snack from Smashburger before leaving. That turned out to be a good idea because the food was mediocre.

A and I got different entrees (there were two choices). But otherwise, both dinners were the same. They each came with a salad:


As you can see, it's a rather boring salad. Mostly iceberg lettuce, with some tomato, cucumber and carrots. The only thing that made it less bland was the dressing. But the only dressing option was an unhealthy caesar dressing. Neither of us really thought too highly of the salad.

The meal also came with a cold boring dinner roll and a package of milano cookies. A likes milano cookies, so I gave mine to him.


A's entree was chicken with tomato sauce and green beans over rice. It wasn't too bad. Relatively healthy and way better than mine. At least it had flavor.


My entree was not very good at all. I got spaghetti thinking it would be a safe option. It shouldn't be that difficult to make a good pasta (or at least a decent one). I also figured that, since the meals were probably sitting for some time, pasta might be a better choice since the chicken could easily dry out. I was so wrong.


The dish was flavorless. There wasn't much tomato sauce at all and what was there didn't have very much flavor. It felt like eating just for the sake of eating, without enjoying the actual food. The meatballs were dry and didn't add much flavor either. How can meatballs have no flavor?! I ate the whole thing because I was hungry for dinner but it was so bland.

Throughout the entire dinner, I just kept thinking about how our last flights had much better food. The last time we left NYC for Europe, it was on KLM and we had this fantastic and healthy chicken curry meal. I was not impressed by Continental's dinner. A had a better meal, but was still not that impressed.

If I was not impressed by dinner, I was even less impressed by breakfast.


Breakfast consisted of a croissant, some canteloupe and honeydew, and a little packet of strawberry jam. Not healthy at all! We already have such a reputation in the US for eating complete crap, and the airlines can't even serve a healthy container of yogurt? (That's what we had on KLM last time.) It was mid-May and the height of allergy season, so I couldn't eat the melons either. All I ate was the strawberry jam. Woohoo, that's a great breakfast. Although A didn't have as many issues with it as I did, he still thought it was nothing special.

This flight, combined with the next 4 flights on non-US airlines, confirmed what we had already been thinking about flights. The food on the non-US flights is so much better. Lesson learned!

Next: We land in Geneva and explore the airport.