Advertisement
Published: October 23rd 2007
Edit Blog Post
So I'm not in Geneva right now but I think it appropriate to address this entry from there since it is the subject of the photos and stories. On Saturday morning, I woke up really early: 6h30 (but, of course, this was 30 minutes latter than planned). I was a bit late for my rendez vous with my friends at the train station (at 7h), but still in plenty of time for our scheduled departure at 7h39. Unfortunately, our train never showed up on the big schedule board in the station. We were quite confused but as we listened and watched, we realized that many trains were either late or canceled. This was on account of the ongoing "greve" (strike) by the transit unions in France. I guess that now that I have seen both a "manifestation d'étudiant" (student protest) and a greve, I have truly experienced the French way of life.
Back on the subject of this story, we eventually got going but it was 9h39 and we didn't arrive in Geneva until 11h. The first thing I noticed about Geneva - and this stuck with us all day - was that it is a windy place. Really windy.
And cold. My friends, Gustavo from Venezeula and Andrea from Costa Rica, have a hard enough time with the weather in Lyon, so it was hard for them (to be fair, it has rather quickly turned to fall here; today the high/low is 10°/1°). It also struck me that Geneva is a lot smaller than I thought it was (my travel guide says ~150 000).
After arriving, we walked over to the United Nations building. As you can see from the photo, there is a giant, 3 legged chair in the square in front of the building. I'm not sure if this is meant to be symbolic of something and if so of what. At the UN building, we were going to take a tour but it seemed to be closed despite the sign that said it was open. Instead, we walked past the HQ of the Red Cross and stopped in at the Ceramics and Glass Mueseum; we stopped there for 2 reasons: it was warm and it was free. After, we ate a gourmet meal of sandwhiches from the Shell station (I had a "Winnipeg"; the sandwhiches were named after world cities but still have no idea
how Winnipeg made the list). Then we walked down to Lake Geneva. The wind was howling and whipping up some substatial waves. (I love the action shots I got of the waves crashing on the seawall.) On the bridges wich faced onto the lake the wind was unbelievable. It felt like you were going to be carried off.
After stopping for a quick café - I love the café here - we visited the cathedral. Geneva, it turns out, was a centre of the Reformation (Calvin preached there). I find it quite odd that there is such a stark religious divide in the short distance between Lyon and Geneva. Anyways, we paid to climb the tower; it was worth it. Gustavo was a bit scared though; he's scared of heights and the wind didn't help. It was an amazing view though.
After, we saw the municipal park (including the chess matches), then started to wander back to the train station (I walk a lot here; I looked at my shoes this morning and I'm starting to wear through the soles). For dinner we had a veritiable feast: a baggette, some cheese, some meat, and cookies. We ate on
the floor in the train station where it was warmer. It was a lot of fun.
The train ride home was uneventful - we were happy that the train was not unexpectedly "suprimer" (cancelled). In fact the train was nicer than the one in the morning. When we arrived in Lyon, Gustavo and I found a bar to watch the second half of the Coupe de Monde de Rugby. We both went home right after and hit the hay. It was an awesome day; despite the canceled train, despite the wind, despite the cold, despite missing the UN tour, despite not eating gourmet, despite the fact that I like Lyon more than Geneva. It was one of those days that of traveling at its best.
I promise that the next entry will include more details on my classmates and my French family. For now, suffice it to say that my class is full of espanophones and at chez moi there are 5 surnames cohabitating under 1 roof.
A la prochain (Until next time),
Stefan
Advertisement
Tot: 0.061s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0363s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb