Suisse

As you know, I visited Switzerland. And I loved it. Therefore I will submit you to my travel blog. Mwahaha! This shall be fun for me and mildly miserable for you, but you will read it anyway just to see what I have to say. Isn't blogging wonderful?

Day 1

I started my day at 2:30 AM when I couldn't sleep because I was thinking about the dog poop on my shoe. Despite the fact that I had only gone to bed an hour earlier, I got up and cleaned said poop off of said shoe. After that I slept peacefully until my alarm went of at 3:45. I grabbed all of the clothing that I had carefully laid out for myself 4 hours prior and rushed out the door. I caught the bus as planned without breaking a sweat. This was going too easily!

As I rode along I noticed that we weren't stopping at all the stations. How was I supposed to know when to push the little red button for my stop? As I mulled this over, I saw a sign for the stop just before mine flash past the window. I pushed the red button and promptly got dumped off next to a bench surrounded by dirty glass and half of a poster. The next bus came 10 minutes later, and this time it had a little computer announcing the stops. That ride was easy, but I had to chat quickly with a bus driver to figure out which direction I was supposed to go for the the third bus. Soon I was at the airport.

The flight was beautiful. The morning sun made the clouds a more golden color than they have been on my other flights. As we dropped through the clouds towards Geneva I saw patches of sunlight and cloud sliding over the rolling countryside, and then flowing out over the clear blue waters of Lake Geneva.

I was told by my friends that Swiss trains are never late, but my luck with trains proceeded me. My train from the airport to downtown Geneva was about 15 minutes late. I got off the train and headed uphill. My friend and I had agreed to meet at a particular chapel at 2:00 and even though it was only 9:00 I figured my first priority should be finding that location. I didn't find it uphill but I did find a pretty little park. I made plans to come back and rest there later, and possibly do some homework.

I turned around and went back through the station. On the other side of the tracks I quickly found the chapel, and just beyond it an office of tourism. What a find! I grabbed a map and departed, this time with much more purpose. I soon found myself on a bridge with Lake Geneva on my left and an island on my right. On the island was a sign reading "The City of Time" in French. It was a fitting title. The whole city was full of shops selling watches, clocks, and of course, Swiss army knives.

As I admired the boats running through the harbor, I suddenly realized that behind me a behemoth had implanted itself in the flow of traffic. Lo and behold, a tractor was driving into downtown Geneva with a load of hay. Two more tractors came after it. This pretty much made my morning. What kind of major city has tractors driving downtown?


The City of Time (photo by Matthew)


Geneva Harbor


Market Day?

As I was trying to get a panoramic shot of the harbor, a gigantic wall of water suddenly appeared in my viewfinder. I lowered the camera and beheld a higher jet of water than I had ever believed possible, aside from perhaps a volcano or something. I'm sure most people who visit Geneva already know about this thing, but I am not a good tourist.


The geyser

On the other side of the bridge I found the "English Garden." The famous clock of flowers (which I also had never heard about) was unfortunately all ripped up to be replanted, but I was able to admire the trees.


English Trees

I also spent a good deal of time looking out at the lake. Paris doesn't have any lakes. Not respectable ones. And I felt like, since I was the first person out of all the people I know who have spent time at Lake Geneva in Minnesota to see the REAL Lake Geneva, I should probably take the time to appreciate it.


Geneva lighthouse


Geneva guard house (you can see spray from the jet to the right)


Swans!

I was hungry, and in the station they had been passing out samples of "Ovalmatine." Surely that's a copyright infringement. But it does communicate the idea effectively. I didn't have the customary milk that is used to drink the stuff, but I did have saliva in my mouth and I figured that would do in a pinch.

Refortified and possibly under the influence of a sugar buzz, I headed towards a yellow spot on my map identified as the "vielle ville" (old city). I started climbing stairs, and about halfway up I found a beautiful protestant church.



At the top of the stairs I discovered Calvin Avenue, which lead to St. Peter's Cathedral. I spent some time inside the Cathedral and then in a park next door.



Next door was Calvin's Chapel.



Reembarking on my adventures, I stumbled upon this sign.



I never knew that Miss Evans (George Elliot) was in Geneva! She wrote Silas Marner and several other famous books under a man's name because they wouldn't have published her if they had known she was a woman.

Two blocks later I saw the oldest building in Geneva. I didn't realize at the time that it was the oldest, but it looked cool so I took a picture of it. Later I was reading through my guide (in French) and realized that I had picked my photo well. I don't remember anymore why the wall was black, but they have repainted it that way to make it look the way it originally did. The flag is the flag of Geneva, which was once an independent city-state. They still fly their own flag beside the Swiss flag and see themselves as very much international.



The street ended in a park just outside of the old city wall.



By this time I had to go to the bathroom. I wanted to keep exploring but the only bathroom I had seen all day had been in the English Garden. So I started back that direction. As I once again neared the oldest building in the city, I saw a sign saying something about a museum and the word "gratuit" (free). I jumped inside, not really caring what the museum was, because most museums have a bathroom. To my pleasant surprise, it was a museum about the formation of Geneva. I love history, so seeing old tools and clothing is always fascinating. In the basement they had a special exhibition of photographs documenting the growth of the city. The basement itself was in 3 or 4 levels that had been excavated, and parts of which dated back to the time of the Roman empire. There was a substantial display of ancient coins that I really enjoyed. Looking at a scrap from the time of Jesus makes a wheatback penny significantly less interesting.

It was nearing 2:00 so I hurried back to the chapel and met up with my friend Matthew, who had skipped out of class 15 minutes early to grab the train and meet me. Together we headed back to St. Peter's Cathedral, and this time we climbed the towers. Especially having read the Hunchback of Notre Dame (a simplified version, but in French!) I have a fascination with cathedral towers.


The towers are always more skeletal than the rest of the building. It gives them a feeling of mystery and adventure. (photo by Matthew)

One very interesting part of this tour was the old bell player's chamber. I'm not sure if they poor guy lived here or just spent his days here, but there was a regular apartment way up on top of the cathedral.


(photo by Matthew)

The South Tower looked out over the old city and also offered a great opportunity to shoot the North Tower with lake Geneva behind it.



The North Tower offered a beautiful view of the lake.



This is looking down on the cathedral and out towards the mountains. Unfortunately the clouds were low and obscured some of the view.



We passed through the old city again and visited the city hall, where we found a courtyard named "Alabama." Unfortunately we found neither Susanna nor the banjo.


Welcome to Alabama!

In a corner of the courtyard was a spiral ramp. Not a staircase, a ramp. My tourist guide said that it had been made a ramp so that important people could ride their horses up to the fourth floor. I wonder what they did with them once they got there.


This is almost the top of the ramp. As you can see, it's not quite two horses wide. No passing zone! (photo by Matthew)

I showed Matthew the museum and then we headed to Neuchâtel. All in all, a great day!

note: pretty much all the photos have levels adjusted.