Geneva - International HQ of the world

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Today we’re in Switzerland!
Which must mean Leah and I managed to catch our train from Lyon, just.

We had a scenic train journey through low mountain ranges, dotted with villages and followed the River Rhône through into Geneva.
The customs arriving into Switzerland was like walking through an empty hallway, arriving in the country with no fuss and no stamp in our passports.

We soon found out that Switzerland still uses Swiss Franks, and not the Euro! - and we only had Euros! … what was the saying about “assuming”??

We dumped our bags at our hostel and hit the streets of Geneva, heading straight for the lake… err via the Swiss chocolate shop of course!

On our way we looked at the ‘Brunswick monument’ that contains the tomb of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick, who amongst other things, left his considerable wealth to the city of Geneva after pretty much being kicked out of power by his own brother.

We got to Lake Geneva to see the city’s famous icon, the Jet d’Eau, the fountain in the middle of the lake. The jet shoots up water at a whopping 200km/hr, to create a 140m high plume - very impressive!
You could stare at it for ages… and we did!

Leah and I headed straight towards the old town to get a feel of the history in this place. We got to walk through some of the old squares, including Place du Bourg-de-Four, Geneva’s oldest square and the site of the Roman forums in the heart of the old town.

Next we went to the Cathēdrale de St Pierre, sitting high on the hill above Geneva. We started at the archaeological site that lies beneath the present day cathedral, which was built during the 11th Century. Archaeologists have unearthed remains of various churches on the same site dating back to the 4th Century, including the body of a chieftain estimated to date back to ~150 BC, whose head had been dug up and stolen over the course of time. It was very fascinating to see the all this long history of Geneva and its churches.

We went upstairs to look inside the sizable Cathēdrale de St Pierre. We walked up the 157 steps and clambered through the bell tower and church rafters like a hunchback to get sweeping views across Geneva and its waterfront.

We had a look through Maison TAVEL, Geneva’s oldest home from the 14th Century. In the attic there is a 35m2 model of Geneva made in 1850 to remind future generations how beautiful Geneva is and how it should be preserved, ie with copper and zinc. The rest of the house boasts artefacts from life in Geneva between the 14th and 19th Century, including a used guillotine!

The day was hot, so it was ice-cream time. We walked along the waterfront and out onto the pier to have a closer look right under the Jet d’Eau - even getting a little wet!

For dinner, we found a pizza takeaway place and took it down to the park on the north side of the river to eat it on a park bench over looking the Geneva’s evening lights and the Jet d’Eau. It was all very pleasant and beautiful until Leah noticed a large mouse, like the size of a fist, run out from under the bush beside us! Ekkkk!!
Lifting our feet off the ground was our instant reaction, but that didn’t feel safe enough, so at the count of three, we ran over and up on to the sea wall in a fit of panic, away from any bushes or trees, so we could finish our pizza in peace!


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