Sept 5th - Geneva

So I woke up at the crack of 5:30 (thank you jet lag) and spent a few hours reading about the day ahead of me, taking a shower and waiting for things to open up/get going.

About 7:30 I strolled out back towards the train station. The immediate first thing I noticed, and this would turn into a theme throughout the day, was the abudance (read: saturation) of important men, in important suits, with important hair, talking on important cell phones, and smoking important tobacco. These guys looked like business, pure and simple - here was the efficient Swiss machine at work and it took the image of a slick-haired, well manicured French business man.

At the train station I found the ticket office in order to get my rail pass sorted out. Luckily, that was quick, painless and in English and I was quickly on my way.

It hadn't quite set in that I was in Europe. Geneva seemed like any other bustling European or American metropolis. People running to work, locals peddling their goods and fancy cars racing in between pedestrians. It wasn't until I hit the waterfront that it finally hit.

I don't want to use the word giddy, but I think it is the only one that truly describes how I felt when I saw Lake Geneva. I practically skipped along the foot bridge to the touristy side of the lake.

The Jet d'Eau, along with what seemed like everything else, didn't start working until later in the day (9am) and the famous flower clock in the Jardin Americain was under repair so, a touch dissapointed in the "big hits", I made my way further south into the Old Town.

Raised on a hilltop just South of downtown Geneva, the Old Town was an absolutely gorgeous modernized relic. Reminding me very much of Prague, the store facades belied their modernity and St. Pierre's Cathedral was absolutely breath-taking (from the outside, at least). I made it just as it opened up so was fortunately alone when I experienced it but, unfortuntely, it was nothing special as far as gothic cathedrals go.

I spent the rest of my morning wandering around the old city. I stopped in to visit the birthplace of famous Genevan philsopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau - his home was just on the corner of the main street in the old city. His birthplace was organized into a modern museum detailing his philosphy and his life, all in all I thought it to be very well done.

From there - I went to visit the University of Geneva and the surrounding park, including the world's longest bench (it's pretty long) and a monument to the leaders of the Christian reform movement, which is beautifully done. Wandering around I also stumbled upon the old Jewish Synagogue of Geneva. It's strange - I would have expected to see more synagogues in a city, not to mention a country, full of bankers.

I meandered into the bi-weekly flea market that was held nearby for the experience and was surprised to see the circus, quite litteraly, was in town, dancing around and making a scene throughout the market.

Following a late lunch and a little break - I began the long walk to the United Nations building, roughly five miles across town. Originally built to house the ill-fated League of Nations, the former LoN temple and the new UN building were interesting to see. The added fun of going through a million layers of security and getting a custom ID pass just to be allowed to be put on a tour (which had a head count done at every checkpoint, of which there were many) added to the seeming importance of the location. The new UN building and everything inside was ramshackled and worn down at best, but the former League temple from the 1930's was as beatiful as ever. Done in the same architectural style as DC (Wilson's doing, I'm sure) it was a welcome little bit of the States in the middle of Geneva.

Finally, I dragged myself home, took a long shower and am currently counting the minutes until I can hit the sack.

Tommorow morning, bright and early, I'll be heading off to Lausanne and then further around the lake to Montreux, where I will likely spend the night.


Until then, I'm going to go and ignore all the whining my legs are doing after 10+ miles today and go see what's for dinner.


-Mark Kogan