I mainly went to Geneva to see one of my old uni friends, Cameron. We'd done one year of German together and coincidentally ended up in the same German city on exchange after he'd changed to a different uni.
I'd been to Geneva before but only very briefly for about one hour when my penpal took me around Switzerland over one weekend! That was in the summer of 2001. My memories of Geneva from that time are of people crowding around the edge of the lake sunbathing. Unfortunately it wasn't to be anywhere near that warm this time round!
Firstly, Cameron took me to the Geneva Cathedral where we climbed the tower for views over Geneva's old town and Lake Geneva (called Lac Leman in French). I joked that I thought the "get fit regime" was over when I left Leysin. It seemed that my climbing/hiking days were still not over.
After we came out of the museum, we were deciding where to go next. Cameron got out his Lonely Planet and I saw that there was a museum nearby that had artefacts from overseas. It reminded me of the Überseemuseum in Bremen in Germany, which was very good, so off we went.
When I went to the ticket counter and asked for "deux etudiantes" it was the first time I had spoken French to someone and they had answered me in French using words I'd understood. Usually I will get answers in English or in rapid French that go over the top of my head.
The exhibition wasn't that great and certainly not worth the 5 Franc entry fee. It was tiny compared to Bremen and nearly all the displays were only from Papua New Guinea.
We walked a bit more around Geneva and came across this giant chessboard in Parc des Bastions, which I thought was quite funny. I'd often seen them on TV but never in real life.
Further along in the park I saw the Reformation Monument. I had seen them on the postcards I'd bought in Switzerland in 2001 and kept wondering where they were. It has happened to me several times that I've got back to a place a second time and solved a mystery from the first time.
After that we were pretty much frozen and were ready to go home. I couldn't believe how incredibly cold it was. It certainly felt colder than Leysin. I was a bit like a zombie just thinking of warmth and pining away to get somewhere warmer. Even hopping on the crowded tram for a few stops was like heaven and allowed me to thaw out a little bit.
The next day our plans were for the United Nations and the Red Cross Museum. The front of the United Nations building was adorned with a very impressive-looking three-legged chair. It was a sculpture dedicated to landmine victims and to advocate a ban on landmines. Since the book I had brought with me to read on the trip was about a girl from Cambodia, I thought it was a very apt theme.
Unfortunately we couldn't go into the United Nations building for their tour because they were closed for the holidays. We then went over the to the nearby Red Cross Museum. What I learnt immediately is that it is called the Red Crescent in Islamic countries because of the obvious connotations of "cross" with Christianity.
What the museum really made me realise was the precariousness of humanity. I mean, sure I knew about wars, famines, natural disasters, etc. but when I saw the shelves containing card catalogues to find missing persons after WWI I was quite shocked.
I realised that without telephone numbers and telephone lines, intact streets with addresses and intact houses with numbers, you're pretty much at the mercy of the world. The fact that you could lose somebody so easily and not find them again really affected me. But I couldn't help but note with a little irony that the internet could have made the searching process a whole lot easier : )
There was also a free temporary exhibtion about major disaster which was in another wing of the museum. To get past it we had to walk through the cafeteria. Cameron had said there was a technical school nearby where we could eat relatively cheaply but it just seemed too convenient to eat at the museum. This might not have been the best decision because the food was greatly overpriced and wasn't even sufficient for little old me to become full. I have to say that one of the worst things about Switzerland is the high cost of eating out and paying high prices for poor quality food.
This cost me a whole 12.50 francs! (AU$12.50, the exchange rate was fortunately 1:1). Later in Taiwan the food was so good and cheap that I realised I could have bought three trays of scrumptious food there for that price!
After seeing the special exhibition, we walked over to Cameron's school, which was a little old wooden building that I said reminded me of my primary school. Apparently they'd wanted to build a super new fangdangle building to be shared with the United Nations but Switzerland, being so democratic, let the local residents vote on it. They were against it because the piece of land to be used for the structure was the only place the residents could take their doggies to do their business! So because of some stupid people's dogs they'll never be able to build that building!!
Anyway, I had told Cameron about my misfortunate at the Fromagerie in Leysin and he suggested we go out for fondue for dinner. However, it wasn't anywhere near dinner time and we were going to go home first. I admitted that once home he probably wouldn't be able to get me out into the cold again.
On the way home, he wanted to show me the lake and the rest of the campus of his school, and walking along the lake was one the most chilling experiences I'd ever had! The wind was coming clear across the lake and it was so cold it was biting. It certainly wasn't the Lake Geneva I'd remembered from 2001!
Due to the cold, I suggested we eat dinner at home instead, but since they didn't have a fondue set in his share flat, we decided to make raclette instead (a kind of a grilled cheese thing, where you put everything on a little spade and grill it). We stopped at the supermarket on the way home where I went a bit overboard buying up big on Swiss souvenirs such a chocolate. There were so many delicious flavours to choose from!!
When we got home we started the chopping and cutting and getting everything ready. Cameron's two flatmates were joining us as well. I knew from experience that you always make too much food when it comes to raclette and we certainly had A LOT of food!
The best thing is that you can actually buy raclette Cheese in Switzerland, which is not available in Australia. We have a raclette set at home because I made Seb buy it at Aldi in Germany and bring it to me when he came to Australia last year.
Anyway, the most hilarious thing is that there was this poster hanging above the dining table. It was about refugees. But one of Cameron's flatmates had found a big bag of toys on the street for a council cleanup. In it were hundreds and hundreds of little plastic people. My first thought was 'What a waste!' Everything was still in very good condition and I'm sure there are still kids in this world still innocent enough to appreciate simple figurines. His flatmate brought the bag home and he and the other flatmate set about working to imitate the refugees poster!
The next day I left Geneva on a train at 9.30am because I had gotten a cheap ticket through "Click 'n' Rail" and it was only for that train. It was my last day in Switzerland and I was going back to Germany!
2 comments:
Is that really a Wallaby next to one of the plastic figures? (By the way they are called 'Playmobil')
Yeah, it was supposed to be a joke about my Australian friend. When they finished it they said to him "Guess which one is you?" It didn't say 'Playmobil' on their feet though, it said something else I can't remember.
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