Geneva, Switzerland

And so another weekend has passed in a different Swiss town.  Tony and I, in our quest to take more “family” trips (i.e. with our dog) drove to Geneva this weekend.  After more than two years in Switzerland, I can’t believe it has taken us this long to visit the French part of the country, but better late than never.

We rented a car and drove about 3 hours.  We saw a ton of sunflower patches along the way which was so lovely, and it was really cool once the highway signs starting being in French instead of German.

We booked one night at the Hotel Kipling, which was the best 3 star hotel we had ever stayed at.  It was cute, clean, centrally located and even allowed pets like Clark.  We paid extra for parking but it was worth it.

When we arrived Friday, we wandered around and ate a late lunch.  We walked to the train station and ate at Cafe de la Gare.  We sat outside, I enjoyed some rose wine and Tony ate a cheeseburger.  He said it tasted just like Paris.  It was fun to people watch, but Clark kept trying to go inside the restaurant to cool off.

We visited Geneva’s version of Notre Dame and then we walked to the gorgeous lake.  There is a huge spitfire of water called the Jet d’eau (jet of water) which is the tallest in Europe.  Apparently it spits out 500 liters of water per second.  We then took an hour long boat ride – Clark’s first – and enjoyed the sun, breeze and water.  It was such a lovely way to spend the first afternoon.

Notre Dame
Notre Dame

Geneva Lake

On the walk back, however, Tony and I noticed something.  Geneva is unlike any city we had ever been to in Switzerland, and I don’t mean that positively.  It was dirty.  The buildings in the more modern part of the city were nothing special and it was a bit surprising.   It was like it was almost forgotten by the rest of the country.  Maybe it was because it was surrounded by France on 3 sides?  I don’t know but we felt more like we were in France than in Switzerland.  Not that France is bad or dirty, but I wouldn’t exactly call Paris “pristine”.  Nor would I drink water from the Seine.

That night we ate a lovely dinner and took a bottle of rose to a nearby park to people watch and let Clark cool off.  This is where Tony and I made our little list of “things that would never happen in Zurich”.

  • A man walks by a bench where a family is sitting and uses the back of it to open his beer bottle
  • Said man then meets up with another man in a shady manner, probably to handle some sort of drug exchange
  • Another random man has a bandage on his head and decides to take his shirt off and just sit; he then proceeds to use it to wipe his back sweat like a towel
  • A 4th random man just sits with a forty smoking endless cigarettes
  • A little boy pees in the corner of the park
  • Someone throws trash on the ground

With each sip of rose we laughed just a liiiiittttlle bit harder.

The next morning we checked out and went to join another free walking tour held by Free Walk Zurich.  This was the first week they were trying it out in Geneva and these walks continue to be a huge success for us.

I especially liked this walk because they took us through the old town in Geneva was a much more enjoyable part of the city – much more Swiss.  My goodness, listen to me!

There was also a lot of history in the city.  One of the residents was the founder of the Red Cross, and yes, it’s flag is meant to be an inverse of the Swiss flag.  We also saw the first book store and some really cool looking cannons.  It was just a beautiful, lazy and super enjoyable day just like when we did the walk in Bern.

The final thing we saw, which Tony and I loved, was the Monument Brunswick.  According to Wikipedia:

The Brunswick Monument is a mausoleum built in 1879 in Geneva, Switzerland to commemorate the life of Charles II, Duke of Brunswick (1804 – 1873). He bequeathed his fortune to the city of Geneva in exchange for a monument to be built in his name, specifying that it be a replica of the Scaliger Tombs in Verona, Italy.

Brunswick Monument

After our walking tour, we headed back to Zurich.  It was a great trip, even with our criticisms.  We are just spoiled living in Zurich, I guess.  🙂

Until next time….

 

One response to “Geneva, Switzerland”

  1. Interesting and funny! Way to explore! Xoxo

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