2013-09-14 Kempinski

We presented Simon Coombs
with the canvas of his
great catch

We all got ready for our great night out. Daniel and Monica came to babysit. We drove down to the centre of Geneva in the Fiat and encountered an enormous amount of traffic. Eventually we arrived at Cornavin (near the station) where we parked the car. A fairly brisk walk carrying the canvas print of e gat catch saw us arrive at The Grand Hotel Kempinski at 8pm. We walked through reception and caught the lift to floor 1 where we entered Le Grill. We were shown to our reserved table overlooking the lakeside.

Our night out at Kempinski

We were presented with a bottle of champagne and I proposed a toast, not knowing quite what we should toast. Then the news came out that Matthew would be having a brother or sister next May. Wat a climax to a wonderful stay. I was the only one to have a starter and then we all tucked into our main courses. I had sirloin steak, Margaret had veal, Andrew had lamb and Becky had duck.

Chocolate Fondant,
Kempinski style

Becky was quite tired with all the activity of the day but we talked long into the evening. We ordered sweets. Margaret had chocolate and apricot mouse while the rest of us had chocolate fondant as seen in the picture. How they managed to get the Kempinski name on the top was amazing. However, due to a mix up in the kitchen we waited around an hour for them.

The Grand Hotel
Kempinski Geneva

Wen we finished the meal, we went over to Simon and met his family. His wife, Elizabeth, took the group photo for us and we talked at length. He was so appreciative and his wife was so nice to speak to. Se was trained as a midwife and worked in London. Simon told us that at the start of a meeting in Vienna, he showed the video of him catching the fish. He was so proud of it and we felt that we had done him a great service. The canvas shows him looking up to heaven having caught the fish. He said it looks like he was thanking God for the catch.

During the evening we saw a cavalcade of police outriders followed by several cars go past the hotel. We can only assume it was John Kerry and his Russian counterpart making their way to the UN. As we left the hotel we looked at the cars parked outside including a Maybach.

Click here for the hotel's web site.

 

© Roger G Johnson 2013