Switzerland- Geneva

6-06-2011

The first thing we saw was the Jet d'Eau, a fountain that pumps 132 gallons of water from Lake Geneva into the air. Through the day we saw it from various parts of the city. It is quite an old fountain and very much a part of Geneva.

Near it is the flower clock. We saw a large group of Japanese tourists taking pictures before we saw the clock , we knew we were in the right spot. One of them took a very pretty picture for us.

Walked through the old city. After a week of German we were back to hearing French. As Switzerland was not affected a lot by the world wars, old towns are quite well preserved. The town hall, the arsenal ( cannons and pretty mosaics), St. Peter's Cathedral, the statue of General Dufour ( cofounder of Red Cross) at Place Neuve, the reformation monument, the Palais de Justice and Tour de-l'Ile ( very difficult to find due to the surrounding construction) took up the morning.

Passed the Ile Rousseau on our way to the Palais des Nations. On the promenade there was an exhibition of photos from around the world of nature, to increase awareness for recycling . There were some amazing pictures, would love to see all this things in real. Photos though do bring about a different perspective, there was one of Eucalyptus bark from Australia, I have never seen one look like they way it did in the picture.

Reached the square outside the United Nations Building. Got a bit of a shock, there were large placards asking the UN to stop India from torturing Kashmiris in India occupied Kashmir. We were in Kashmir two years ago on a holiday, I never got any such vibes from the Kashmiris there or heard about it in India. There was also a monument of a broken chair ( huge ) for people affected by land mines.

The area surrounding all the various international organizations is quite unkept and Geneva on the whole is not as clean as the rest of Switzerland we have visited, unexpected.

Stopped by the WHO building, the wordings on the wall brought back memories of Community Medicine in college , had to learn a lot of their policies. Then for our guided tour of the UN building. I was quite thrilled with the ID badge, the picture shows the excitement , grinning from ear to ear. Went through various conference rooms, learnt about the founding of the UN and the construction of the building. The building has a lot of gifts from the members including walls, floors and carpets. Liked the Spanish artwork on a ceiling , it looks different from every angle representing the different points of views. The other interesting one was a tapestry from China, the entrance to the building is always towards you ( an optical illusion).

The majority of restaurants we passed were Thai, obviously quite a popular cuisine here. Had it for lunch, as good as always.

Long day but not too tiring.




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