Bonjour! Ciao! Guten Tag!

We are in the land of diverse languages, chocolate, watches, and coffee. Switzerland! Of course there is much more about Switzerland, much of which I've learned today. I have officially been awake for about 24 hours and am exhausted, but not too tired to write to you all! We've had quite an exciting day, which is funny because in Minnesota it's really only 9:30 in the morning or so. Here it is 4:30 pm. We arrived in Geneva at 8:30 am (1:30 am MN time) after a 7-hour flight in which I slept about 3 or 4 hours. Luckily, for both flights yesterday we were seated alphabetically and guess who was in the last row every time? But for some reason, no one had bought the seats next to me so for the first flight I had one open seat and in the second I had a my own row of three seats to lounge on! Until Katie joined me and then I had two. Anyway, we arrived were immediately put on a bus to tour the city. Our tour guide was upbeat and very funny (and had a Yankee/French accent, very interesting). One of the first things she told us was that we had actually landed in France and part of the airport was right on the border between the two countries. She took us to new Geneva and Old Geneva, pointing out how the buildings, which have been built "up" over the centuries, show in their architecture the different periods of time. In one reformed church we could see three different time periods all at once! We also visited an auditorium that John Calvin had taught at and learned about the Reformation. Lake Geneva is BEAUTIFUL, and the mountains around it are gorgeous--we can see the Jura mountain range on the French side and in the opposite direction are the Alps, including Mont Blanc. They were hidden by clouds though because today is partly cloudy and rainy. In the middle of Lake Geneva is the tallest fountain in the world. We saw many other things, but after our tour we were taken to the countryside to view the vineyards (Switzerland is also the land of wine) and the beautiful chateaus. We ate lunch in the countryside and they fed us three desserts, which I couldn't resist. On the bus ride to the John Knox center we all fell asleep while the tour guide was talking...oops. But we were exhausted! Some funny pics were taken :) Now we're at the center and are all taking naps, but may head out to the town tonight to tour and get some chocolate! More updates to come! Also, pictures are not uploading well right now because of slow internet but hopefully they'll come later.