(April 27, Geneva): The Last Supper

Friday morning we woke up bright and early to catch our cab to Gare de Lyon to get back to good ol' Geneva.  In yet another small world moment (or perhaps the 2nd time this trip the heavens tried  to tell us that Texas is taking over the planet), Ryan & I wound up sitting across from a couple visiting Paris from Dallas.  They very nearly ruined American Idol for us, but luckily they caught themselves and did not, thus they remained in our good graces.

The train ride back was fairly uneventful except for the last 15 minutes when poor Jake got very restless.  After all, the camel's back had already been broken the day before so homeboy was ready to be HOME already.  He was doing a little bit of fussing.  I should point out that Jake was a model traveller for the bulk of the 3 hour train ride, unlike a fellow train rider in our car who fussed for the most of the trip.  About 2 minutes into Jake's fussing a helpful lady stuck her head up over her seat, looked at Melanie and started speaking to her in French.  Jonathan asked if she spoke Inglesias and she said (and I quote), "have you tried PLAYING with the baby?"  I was so proud of Melanie & Jonathan for not hoping seats to deck her.  Melanie averted her eyes and Jonathan just said "okay."  Thank heavens for helpful people in the world who remind you to do things you've already tried.  Particularly with only 15 minutes left in a train ride.  That good deed surely lasted her a week rather than just for the day.  (Please note extreme sarcasm font for the last 7 sentences).

We spent the afternoon at Chateau McClain unpacking, reminscing and just generally relaxing.  Melanie arranged a sitter for the evening so that we could have our last supper while Jake enjoyed being back in the comfort of his own house - finally!  As soon as the sitter arrived we set out to grab a pre-dinner cocktail.  We stopped at a cool outdoor place where lost of people were grabbing post-work beverages. 

Our view walking to drinks.  Man I miss those mountains! 

Last McMartin toast.  Thankfully this time there were no pink beers.

Mama Mel.  *sigh* I miss her too!  (More than the mountains, for the record).

After a round of drinks it was time to head to din din.  Melanie made reservations at a Thai place Jonathan recommended called the Wooden Hut for the Last Supper.  Jonathan's co-worker, Jean-Marc, and his girlfriend, Meredith, joined us.  The food was delcious and it was really awesome to meet Jean-Marc & Meredith.  They were fabulous and it's nice to know that the dear McClains are in good friend-hands in Geneva. 

The best Inglesias-speakers I know.

Me & my more moutard-y half.

Once we finished dinner we decided to grab a few post-dinner drinks and continue the conversation.  Meredith mentioned castles and some research she had done on how expensive some of them were.  Who am I to turn down an opportunity to wax philosophic over fictional chateau investments?  The locals chose a place called Riverside Cafe.  I'm sure you are shocked to find out that it is right on a river. 

It wound up being the perfect place to end our trip.  Fabulous company, picturesque setting and lots of laughs and conversation.  It was most definitely a summation of our entire trip in an hour or so. 

The view.

Jean-Marc, Meredith, Mel, Ryan, Me & Jonathan. 

And THAT, my friends is a wrap for McMartin family vacation.  You never thought this day would come, did you?  As I'm sure the multitude of words and posts prior to this demonstrate, this was most assuredly one of the best vacations of my life.  I can not thank Melanie, Jonathan & Jake enough for sharing their home, lives and way too many travel adventures with us.  Thank you also to my parents for watching our whiskery child so that we could do this.   And thank YOU, readers, for all of your kind comments, texts and sweet sentiments.  It makes writing this all down worthwhile. 

You can look forward to tales of a birthday, a wedding and some house updates this side of the pond once my wrists stop cramping.