Things I Visited, Saw, and Ate in Geneva

This past weekend I took a train to Geneva to visit my friend Claire O'Brien. For those of you who might not know, Claire was my roommate last year and is one of my best friends at Wake. She's studying in Geneva through the BU program.

So, to get to the gist of it. Things I saw, visited, and ate in Geneva:

Look closely in the jet d'eau for the rainbow

• Lac Leman: This is the technical name for Lake Geneva. Apparently "Lake Geneva" doesn't exist. Lac Leman has a giant fountain near one bank called the "jet d'eau." I have not yet heard why it's there, I'm pretty sure it's just to add to the scenery, but I hope whoever in the city government/tourism bureau came up with that idea got a hefty bonus - it's really cool. It shoots water 450 feet into the air and when the sun is shining you can see huge rainbows. I had to wait until Saturday to see one, but it was totally worth it.

• Parks! Geneva has lots of parks and they're all spacious and flower-filled. Three of the big ones we visited are Jardin Anglais, which has the famous flower-clock in it. It's just a clock inside a flower bed, which celebrates how Geneva is known for its clocks and watches. Another park was Parc des Bastions which contains the Reformation Wall - a huge wall with statues of all of the leaders of the Reformation. It's probably less known for its giant, over-sized chess and checkers sets, but I thought those were pretty cool. Friday afternoon Claire and I took a Frisbee there and threw for a little while. It was great! I haven't had someone to throw a Frisbee with me in a long time! My favorite park of all though was La Grange, where we went for lunch on Saturday. It's a huge park with an 18th century mansion in the center on a hill and a long sprawling lawn in front of it, overlooking Lac Leman. It also has two rose gardens. Claire and I took a small loaf of bread, some gruyère cheese (my new favorite), and some cookies and soaked in the peace and tranquility. This is Claire with our picnic lunch in La Grange.

• Old Town: The name is self-explanatory. On Friday we explored the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre. Claire likes cathedrals and so she enjoyed it, but I particularly liked it because (thanks to French civilization course I am taking with Dr. Barbour) I could identify lots of architectural elements and even identified that the cathedral had originally been done in the roman style, then gothic elements were added later, then Renaissance elements even later. I thought this one was particularly interesting because the front has Greco-Roman columns and a Pantheon-esque dome on the top. *This is the decidedly "un-cathedral-like" exterior of Cathedrale St. Pierre.* It was re-done in the 18th century, after it became a Protestant house of worship. Someone told us that night that you can go all the way to the top of the towers, so we went back on Saturday afternoon and climbed all 157 stairs to the top. The view was unbelievable. We also checked out the Hotel de Ville (historically the town hall, built in the 15th century, now houses Geneva's Parliament) and the arsenal (they had 5 cannons from the 17th-18th centuries and three big mosaics with scenes from Geneva's history).
  

• Fondue and raclette: on Friday night Claire and I went out to a Swiss restaurant to try these two traditional Swiss dishes. To make fondue, Emmental and Gruyere are melted together with white wine and served in a large pot, along with bread. You dip the bread cubes in the cheese and swirl them around to make su re the cheeses and wine are completely mixed. Yum! Raclette is a mild melted cheese served on a plate, along with bowls of boiled potatoes, pickles, and pearl onions, which you're supposed to dip into the cheese (they put a small amount on your plate and keep refilling it). Claire and I also tried Paien Dumoulin, an aperatif wine. It was very sweet and very light. We both prefered the fondue to the raclette.
  

• Palais de Nations (U.N. Building): on Saturday morning Claire and I took a bus out to check out the art-deco building of the U.N. headquarters in Europe. More intriguing is the giant chair outside the gate, which is missing one leg (this is in support for amputees). Next time I'll take the tour, but we skipped it this time around.

• Patek Philippe Museum: Wow. Ignorant-old me had never even heard of Patek Philippe before this weekend, but Patek Philippe & Co. is a serious name in the world of luxury watches. But since I was in Geneva, I thought a museum all about time pieces would be a good idea. And it definitely was: think diamond and pearl encrusted watches, intricate gold and silver watches, and downright snazzy watches. The museum had two main levels: the first with the Patek Philippe collection (1839-1989) and th e second which held antique watches (1500-1850). There were also music boxes, snuff boxes, telescopes, vases, bird cages, and guns which were expressely created and decorated to house or display a Patek Philippe clock. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures. But if you ever go to Geneva, I recommend you check it out.

• Place Neuve: this is the square with the entrance to Parc des Bastions. There's also the Grand Théâtre the(Geneva's opera house), the Geneva Music Conservatory, and a light pole with a giant "Do Not Disturb" sign, like the ones they have for hotel room doors. I have no idea why, but I took a picture.
  

• Gelato Mania: Saturday night I had the best gelato I've ever had in my entire life. No joke. And I've had a lot of gelato. In Italy, in France, in the U.S. This took the cake. Claire took me to this little hole-in-the-wall place because not only is the gelato delicious, but they serve up "American-sized scoops" (her words, not theirs) for only 3.50 CHF. I got the chocolate and boy did I make the right choice. Bear with me here, but it tasted just like a hot, gooey brownie fresh out of the oven. Now how does gelato taste like a hot brownie, you might ask. Well the reason I use the hot brownie analogy is that this particular chocolate flavor was so smooth and so consistently tasty that it reminded me of homogenous sweetness of a hot chocolate dessert. Sometimes it seems only by apply heat can you make the ingredients blend together perfectly. Well, this was that harmony of ingredients. I'm just disappointed Claire didn't take me sooner, so we couldn't go again before I left. I want to go back just for the gelato. Oh, and the place is called "Gelato Mania."
  

• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum: the guidebook authors warned us that it would be depressing, and we should have taken their word for it. They call it, "a compelling multimedia trawl through atrocities perpetuated by humanity in recent history," I call it, "a museum not to see on your last day." They exhibits were all on one floor, in a very dark, utilitarian building. As you approach the museum entrance you're greeted by a cluster of hooded figures cast in stone which represent "the violated and the abused" or something of that sort. Dementors as the welcome team, nice. But in all seriousness, the reason the Red Cross museum is there is because the organization was started in Geneva by Henry Dunant in 1863. The exhibits were informative, if a little heavy. It is now called the International Red Cross and Red Cresent Movement. In Muslim countries, the "Red Cross" logo is a red cresent on a white armband.

• Kebab: I had the best kebab I have had so far in the nicest kebab joint I have seen so far. I know, it seems kind of odd to go to Switzerland and eat a kebab, but this place was close to train station (we grabbed lunch before my train left at 1pm today) and not many places are open on Sunday. Not only did this place have nice seating, but you could add as much or as little "white sauce" (like tzatziki sauce) to your kebab as you wanted. So classy!
  

• Lots of dogs, lots of babies

• A pretty cool doorknocker. This one's just for Trey.
  
  

• Starbucks and McDonald's - always together! This part was a little weird. I saw at least three Starbucks stores and McDonald's restaurants and I always saw them together, on the same corner or place. The Starbucks buildings were huge and were usually very busy. Claire told me that a grande drink costs about 8 CHF (Swiss francs, which are approximately equal to the US$). Yikes! I am pleased there are no Starbucks in Dijon. There is a McDonald's, Subway, and Domino's. When I walk by Subway and get a whiff of that super-yeasty smell, it makes me think of Wake.

Tomorrow morning we're leaving for a week in the Loire Valley and then the next week in Paris!