כמו שאמרתי אתמול  – אני מעדיפה לא להגיע אליהם עם הילדים ולהרוס להם את הבית היפה שלהם... אפשר להיפגש במסעדה בעיר בלי הילדים בערב של חמישי

Information from my friend Wolf about possible meeting in town or at his house. Whatever you prefer is fine with me.

H

Dear Howard,

Regarding coming to our house, I was just thinking that this would be an easy, informal setting that would permit us all to meet without the children having to behave in a public restaurant or other place.  So your kids (I forget – you already have one, or two? What ages are they again?) could play with ours (probably wrecking the children's bedrooms upstairs….) and we could chat and have some coffee/wine/light food for an hour or two, if you like.

You could come (maybe around 17h00?)

·         either by taxi (ca. 20-30CHF) - our place is an 8.2km road trip from your hotel and that is a 16 minute drive (see Google Maps here),

·         or by tram (3.50CHF per adult – take line 14 which departs every 5-10 minutes from Geneva train station next to your hotel to the terminus "Meyrin-Gravière", from where we could pick you up – it's 3 min from our house. The ride from Geneva train station to Meyrin-Gravière takes 18 minutes and may be the preferred option if you do go around 17h00 – as that is as close as Geneva comes to rush hour)

I could drive you back to your hotel (or the tram stop) afterwards.  It would be very easy and informal (as it always is with children running around) and not difficult to go back and forth – you could even be back at your hotel for dinner, if you preferred a short visit. This is really just a suggestion and we would be very happy to welcome you – but I can understand the hesitations one might have to take your family to someone's house who you don't know. We are easy either way.

If you were to come to our house, this would be better on Wednesday afternoon - on Thursday our kids have swimming lessons after school and are then usually totally exhausted. But we (or I ) could still come out for dinner on Thursday, if Wednesday is not convenient for you.  

Regarding car rental, I find most of the big companies have very similar rates – Avis and Sixt (www.sixt.ch) have a rental station in Geneva centre in walking distance from your hotel (many companies are only at the airport). That may be a plus. If it's too expensive/complicated I could also lend you one of our cars for a day (BMW stick-shift) to go to Chamonix.

Hope your planning goes well – your days in Geneva sound well filled already.

Regards,

Wolf

Hi,

Let's tentatively try to arrange to meet on Thursday, the 18^th. On Monday we arrive and doubtful that I will attend the Independence day reception at the consulate. On Tuesday you will be out of Geneva, and if we make the side trip to Chamonix it will likely be on Wednesday. Hence that leaves Thursday as the best option.   approximately how long would it take us to get to your house by taxi and approximately how much would the fare be?

As for the trip to Chamonix, do you have any recommendations for car rental agencies? Or is an internet search likely to show me the most competitive rates?

Howard

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