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Published: September 13th 2014
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Nikki had been working in Geneva so I thought I would ‘multi task’ by making the most of a free hotel room & checking off another new country from my list, by going to visit her…
And they say men can’t multi task.
Before I left for Geneva Nikki said
“All the signs are in English…”
“Everyone speaks English…”
“You get a free ticket from inside the airport, at baggage reclaim, that lets you travel into central Geneva, it only takes 20 minutes…”
When I arrived in Geneva guess what happened?
None of the signs were in English.
No one spoke English
The ‘free’ ticket is only valid for 30 minutes from arrival and as no signs were in English I got lost trying to find how to get out of the bloody airport to the buses and the ticket expired.
To top it all off I had no Swiss francs and the bus ticket machine only accepted cash!
Fortunately for me the bus driver took pity on me and allowed me on the bus anyway.
When I arrived at the hotel Nikki, knowing how much I love chocolate, had left me a bag containing the biggest slab of chocolate I have ever seen (slab is the only word to do its size justice).
After scoffing as much chocolate as I could before I felt sick I decided to explore.
Nikki had talked about the Jet D’eau, a huge fountain pumping water into the air, almost 500 feet high, it is not only one of Geneva’s most well-known attractions but also one of Switzerland’s.
“You can’t miss it” she said.
I looked at where it was supposed to be on the map, not too far from our hotel, but I couldn’t see it.
After a little research I found out that in high winds the fountain is turned off.
It was turned off the entire time I was in
Geneva, just my luck.
After finding the Jet D’eau wasn’t on I took a walk around Lake Geneva, the weather was amazing and the same wind that prevented me from seeing the Jet D’eau also stopped me from sweating like a pig the entire time I was in Geneva as Nikki told me it was “too cold for shorts” so I only took jeans.
Geneva is known for being a financial hub for banking, the reason why Nikki was working there.
There are countless numbers of banks and auction houses and not far from them are the even higher number of designer clothing shops. Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Dior, all within a few steps of each other. Parked outside are Ferraris, Bentleys and other ridiculously expensive cars.
As I walked along the street I lost count of the number of ‘kept wives’ I saw coming out of the expensive shops, carrying so many bags you could compare their shopping experience to a bicep workout out at the gym.
I don’t like to judge a book by its cover, but it is very rare I have anything in common with the sort of people that, in my opinion, waste money on designer clothes.
I tried not to judge Geneva by the people I continued to encounter but where ever I went I was surrounded by pretention so I thought I would find some proper culture, I went in search of the old town.
Geneva is not a very big place and the old town is a small percentage of the whole of Geneva.
I walked along the quaint streets and past old buildings, I walked up and down some very steep hills, panting every step of the way.
The first sight I saw was Reformation Wall, a concrete wall in a public park, next to the university, depicting many of the main individuals and events of the Protestant Reformation.
Luckily I got there just before two coach loads of tourists so got some pictures before lots of people stood in my way and gave
me camera rage.
On my way back to the hotel I took a slight detour so I could visit St Peter’s Cathedral. I was unaware at that point in time but at the front of the cathedral are some steps leading underneath the cathedral to an archaeological site dating back to 100BC.
Once back at the hotel I met Nikki and she had booked a table for dinner at an amazing hotel overlooking a less busy part of Lake Geneva.
First up, before the starter, an amuse bouche. Yet more pretention but this time I don’t mind pretention if it gives me more food lol.
I had lobster with quinoa to start and the most tender steak for my main.
Amuse bouche, lobster, steak…
Was Geneva turning me pretentious?
No way!
Small portions of pretention will never replace big portions of anything else.
After my amazing dinner I was still hungry so Nikki
and I went to a rooftop bar at the top of our hotel, overlooking the lake and I got a cheese burger.
Whilst I ate my cheese burger we were surrounded by numerous people and based on their accents they were bankers from other countries working there on business.
Conversations about deals worth millions and contacts they have around the world.
Yet again I was surrounded by pretention.
The next day, when Nikki left for work, as a priority over seeing the sights Geneva has to offer, I set out to find a florists to buy the biggest bunch of flowers I could, to surprise her when she finished work.
As I walked back to the hotel with the flowers I had numerous Swiss people say stuff to me in French, I’m assuming saying how lucky my wife is for me being so romantic lol.
Once they were safely back at the hotel I went back to Saint Peter’s Cathedral to explore the archaeological site beneath it.
As you step down, beneath the cathedral, the original Roman walls are mixed with ultra-modern steel girders to support the building above whilst allowing people to explore below.
There are three levels including the modern day cathedral above. The cathedral was built in the 12
th century, beneath it, the next level down, there were several stages of building during the Roman era between the 8
th and 10
th century. Beneath that there is evidence dating back to 100BC, that evidence is the skeleton on a man buried at the same depth as the walls built in that time.
The archaeological site beneath the cathedral was without a doubt the second best thing in Geneva, second behind my gorgeous wife Nikki.
Nikki and I were booked into yet another amazing restaurant, this one overlooked the park above Reformation Wall. Another amazing, romantic dinner with my wife, where had the time gone, the next morning I had to go back to London whilst Nikki stayed working in Geneva.
My trip to Geneva was a short but sweet city break,
it had history, architecture, fine dining, chocolate, romance and let’s not forget, tons of pretention!
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
Great to hear from you again...
it's been almost two years since you blogged from Peru. Geneva isn't the only pretentious Swiss city, or European city for that matter. But it's fun to visit nevertheless. Especially if your wife works there.