Facts and Fallacies

Had a week of shopping and looking after kids this week but I managed to have Friday off. Both Angela and Lorraine (mother of Alice) decided to ditch school on Friday and as Ava usually goes to Crache on Friday's I didn't have to look after any kids. So I headed down into Geneva itself for another look see and decided to go tackle an Agency des Voyages (travel agency). On Sunday we (Paul, Angela, the kids and I) did a cruise around Lake Geneva.

This is me on the boat.

So, THINGS I KNEW BEFORE I CAME TO GENEVA.

• The United Nations is Located here

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is Located here

• Henry Dunant, the guy who founded the Red Cross lived here.

This was his house.

• Geneva is Located on a Lake also known as Lake Leman and is very old. This is a picky of the lakeside taken from the boat.

THINGS I KNEW BUT FORGOT I KNEW

• Byron lived in Geneva for a spell at the same time that Shelley and his wife (who wrote Frankenstein) also lived here. She in fact wrote Frankenstein whilst in Geneva. They lived somewhere on this hillside in 2 of the houses.

THINGS I DIDN'T KNOW BEFORE COMING TO GENEVA.

• Amsterdam isn't the only city to be famous for it's Little Mermaid. Whilst that one was erected to commemorate Hans Christian Anderson, Geneva has a Little Mermaid crafted by Natacha de Senger of Russian origin and one of the wives of the publisher Francois de Senger. It serves no purpose other than to be a photo opportunity for people on boat cruise.... hehe

• Lenin stayed in this house whilst preparing for the Russian Revolution in 1914.

• This is Saussure's House. It was built in 1723 by Francoix Blondel the French architect and inhabited by the famous Genevan physicist and naturalist from 1765 Horace Benedict de Saussure. He reached te summit of Mont-Blanc on 3 August 1787 accompanied by 18 guides carrying the many instruments he needed for his scientific observations. The house was also the residence of the President of the United States, Dwight Eisenhower - descendant of a Swiss family (Eisenhoffer) - during the 1955 "Big Four" conference in Geneva and of Ronald Reagan in 1985 during the disarmament conference held in Geneva with Michael Gorbachev in 1985.
  

• Geneva (as well as Canberra) has a man made geyser (Jet D'Eau) which rises to 459 feet and draws its water from the lake and discharges it at a rate of 110 gals per sec and at a speed of 124 mph. The column of water, which weighs 8 tons, is provided by 1360 hp pumps. It operates only when the wind is less than 12 mph. It was working today.
  
  

  
  
  FALLACIES ABOUT GENEVA
• It's just like Canberra. It is nothing like Canberra. Geneva has a sense of history and heritage that is amazing. You can feel the ghosts of history makers everywhere. Public Transport gets you everywhere and is amazingly on time all the time.
• Everything is expensive (well most things are but the transport and fruit is cheap)
• All French speaking people are rude. Quite the contrary. I have realised that whilst I can understand written french and know how to ask for a baguette and cafe avec lait and un verre de l'oh (glass of water) I haven't got a rats arse clue what anybody says to me in return. But that's ok. If you have a go the people here are more than courteous to you and will correct your pronunciation and try to answer you in english. Between their bad english and my worse french communication is fabulous!!
• It's a city of public servants. Now I have no doubt that this is true but you occasionally see a fabulously chic older woman wearing a very "Audrey Hepburn" blouse that has puffy sleeves with high waisted trousers and flat shoes, smoking like a chimney and looking so amazingly caricaturish that I want to hug them.

In short, I am loving Geneva and it's history and it's people.

I have spent this week also organising a scenic train trip over a weekend and a night in Jungfrau, a week in Paris travelling on the TGV (very fast train) and a week in Venice flying with an airline called Flybaboo (that's a bit of a worry). I don't know if I am going to be able to make Oktoberfest and if I don't that's ok too.

Loving life at the moment and hope you all are too. Cheers

The Weekend

I had an emotional day yesterday. This was my first weekend here and on my first Saturday I thought I would take advantage of it and grab an all day bus pass for only 7 francs (about 7 bucks) and go sight seeing. The weather was pretty crappy. Amazingly windy but surprisingly not that cold. The force of the wind was incredible though. I had never experienced anything like it but nothing is blowing over! Except me, almost! Odd. Anyway, I went to the United Nations building but they don’t do tours anymore so that was a bit of a bugger but I went to the Musee de Croix Rouge (or the Red Cross Museum) and cried for 2 hours.

At the front of the museum are 10 blindfolded statues. They are there to show that the Red Cross has a particular responsibility to prisoners and persons held captive. It is very stark and very confronting as they are life sized.

I didn’t manage to take any pictures inside the museum because it was more a light and film show. It’s quite spectacular and very “in your face” and continually showed “mans inhumanity to man” and, as I said, I cried through the whole thing.

After that, I then got on a bus and have no idea where I ended up. The public transport in Switzerland really runs, well, like swiss timing! The buses are always on time or a tad early and will wait at the bus stop until the time is correct. They are a cross between a bus and a tram actually and beautifully clean. Hard to find a seat though but that's ok. So I got off the bus when I saw another fabulous little set of shops and went browsing.

I picked up a couple of post cards and sat down at a boulangerie and had coffee and a pan a chocolat... mmmmm chocolat.... I had been so good up until that point resisting all the lovely sugary treats but it was cold and blowy and kinda miserable and I was lost so I had to do something to regain my senses and what better way than with chocolate filled pastry??

So, having regained my equilibrium, I got back on the bus heading back into the direction from whence I came. How is this for coincidence. I am sitting on the bus trying to work out where it is going by staring at a map and I noticed an english speaking couple on the bus. I went up to them to ask them where the bus went and then got chatting. It turns out that the woman I was speaking with knew Paul! It really is a small world and I would still hate to clean it.

From there I went to La Servette and had a look at some of the most fantastic jewellery ever. Of course, nothing had a price tag on it so I can only presume that if I have to ask, I can't afford it. But it was still nice doing the breakfast at Tiffany's thing and staring longingly into gorgeous windows. I then decided to get lost again and got on another bus. It was kind of going nowhere and I was about to head out of the yellow zone (the area that my ticket was good for) but the scenery on the ride was pretty but I got off and came back into town. By that stage I was rather wind blown and a bit tired so then got on the number 10 bus and headed back to Petit Saconnex and home. I was actually joyous when I got home because I had had such a good day doing it all myself and not being afraid of getting lost. I still have to thank Angela for the map though. Without it, I may not have been so brave.

I took a photo of Angela today because she wants to show everyone how pregnant she is so I thought I may as well stick it up here so you can all see my friend. She is almost 7 months pregnant and looking good. Well that's all for now. We didn't do anything today because nothing is open on Sundays so I had a laundry, reading, sleeping, cooking watching tele day. Speaking of tele we watched Miss Switzerland last night. That was very funny. Back to baby sitting duties tomorrow.

A Beautiful Day in Geneva

Well Ahoy Ahoy and Bonjour.

It's a bloody lovely day in Geneva. I can't believe the weather here. It is kind of the opposite of Sydney. It doesn't get light until later in the morning but stays light for quite a way into the night and yes, I know they have daylight savings here but even in Sydney towards the end it gets dark earlier. But it's the temperature also that's different. It starts cold here and gets really hot and muggy in the late afternoon. It doesn't cool down either. But I'm loving it. Complete T-shirt weather.

It also makes it very nice to take the girls out walking in the morning. This is Alice and Ava.

We had a lovely day today. We went for a walk to Petit Saconnex and I had a cafe latte at the boulangerie and the window was just full of the most fattening, sugar filled, artery clogging, cholesterol inflaming pastries, it was FABULOUS! HAHA

We then went to a park called Trembley. And you can see the fountain in Lake Geneva from there and we had a play and a sing. It was good fun. In one of the photos you can sort of make out the fountain. Everything is lush and green and beautiful and it's good to be alive on days like today.

My first weekend in Geneva

This is the first picture I took in Geneva. How cute is it? It really is an amalgam of every cliché you have ever seen in a movie and I am loving it.

The trip over was of mixed blessings. Claire took me to the airport and we browsed around a bit and had lunch and of course had to finish it off with Krispy Kreme before the flight. I got a bit teary at the customs bit but then embraced my adventure, held my head high and made my way through customs. The first leg of the trip is from Sydney to Kuala Lumpa. I was fortunate in that I had 3 seats to myself so could, well and truly, stretch out and try and catch up on the sleep I had so sorely not been able to achieve this last week.

We hit KL about midnight and had to hang around the airport while they cleaned the plane. The second leg was from KL to Austria (Vienna). That was not so good. Apparantly all the flights from all over Australia land in KL at midnight and then they all get on the one flight. So, needless to say it was crowded, there were children, the movies still sucked and the woman sitting next to me had the weakest bladder in the world.

We hit Vienna about 5.30am to a pretty empty airport and then I had to hang around for over an hour until the flight to Geneva. It was a turbo prop plane (which I hate) but there were no children, no movies and nothing to distract me so by that time I happily fell into an exhausted coma for the next hour and a half.

Angela and Julia met me at the airport. Can I begin to say how amazed I was at customs? I can understand why so many people try to import stuff. I saw a police officer who looked at my passport and that was it!! I then went through a barrier which said “Nothing to declare” and there was Ang!! Truly amazing. Angela lives about 5 minutes away from the airport in THE most amazing house. I was to be in the attic but am now in the dungeon… hehe The house is on 4 levels. I am in the basement which isn’t as bad as it sounds…. This is the view from my double doors.

The girls are in the attic. Speaking of which, this is them. The one on the left is Ava and the one on the right is Julia. They are the cutest little girls and have both got lovely natures.

Julia goes to school every day and for half a day on Wednesday and Ava goes to Crache (or however you spell it) on Thursday and Friday for half a day.

They are very sweet little girls. Those photos were taken on one of those touristy train thingies which was good fun. Angela and Paul are on the second floor, the family, dining, kitchen and sitting room are all on the ground floor and the laundry, my bedroom, another sitting room and a store room are on the ground floor. Hey! I only have to cope with one flight of stairs. YAY!

So, where was I? Oh yes, I got to Ang’s, had a shower and a cuppa tea and then we headed into Geneva for a little look see. The architecture is amazing. Just the sense of history is extraordinary. We had lunch next to a building that was built in the 15th century!!

While we were having lunch a swiss wedding was doing the rounds. After the ceremony the happy couple have to parade themselves around town so that well wishers may bless them. They make a lot of noise but it was all good fun.

Lunch was interesting. It’s amazing exactly how much French I remember but not enough that I didn’t embarrass myself a little. I am a great believer in trying all things local so when I saw that the local delicacy was Pork (and what I thought translated as) balls…. I ordered it to be told that it contained heart, liver, tongue, and all the good stuff butchers keep out the back. A quick “oopsy” and I’ll just have the local sausage sil vous plait? That was interesting. It was served with chard which isn’t readily available in Australia, I Don’t think because I haven’t really seen it. It’s a rather boring vegetable that looks like a cross between rhubarb and celery. But then they serve it baked with a rather fabulous, artery clogging cheese and butter melt all over it that you forget just how boring the vegetable is!! HAHA The bread is on tap but Angela is very much missing her ordinary bread that you can wack in the toaster. They just don’t sell it here. Lots of that yummy crusty European roll bread that you get in the delis which I love so I am in heaven!! HAHA

I am doing this today, Sunday because everything is shut in Switzerland on Sunday. We are going to go to France today. We had a quick little journey there yesterday to check it out but by that stage I was completely knackered and didn’t really have the ability to take in what they were showing me. I also didn’t have my passport with me. I am told it should be wherever I am so now it lives in my handbag. I am feeling so much better today. The family have gone to mass and I have the house to myself for an hour or so.

3 days to go

Well, I had my last day at work today. What was I thinking that I could seriously be productive at work on the Monday and Tuesday before I traveled? I must have had rocks in my head. But despite that it was a good day.

I really do work with a great bunch of people. I spent the day handing over all the pending stuff and wishing I was anywhere but there!! HAHA sorry to any workmates reading this but I have to be honest.

And, tada!! I started packing! YAY! As you can see in the attached picky I have the essentials.... what more do I need really? Passport, wallet, travel insurance, airline ticket and French phrase book. Oh and the toiletries bag and a spare pair of jeans.

I got my new ID pass for work today. When the Sheriff was about to take the picture I asked if I could do the Marilyn Monroe pout and demonstrated it but he said no. So I laughed outloud and called him a "piker" and it was at that moment that he snapped the camera. Needless to say the photo looks like I'm insane!! HAHA probably not far from the truth at that stage of the day but it's very funny.

I can't sleep. I haven't slept in, what feels like, weeks! So that's why it's after midnight and I'm doing silly things like taking photos of my luggage and writing a web diary. I had to get up because I had this sudden burning urge to see what movies they were showing on the plane. I needn't have bothered because they suck. Ice Princess, Lords of Dogtown, Garfield, Kingdom of Heaven, A Lot Like Love, Unleashed and XXX: The Next Level.

Tomorrow I am going to go out and buy a dirty big fat silly piece of non fiction.

4 days to go

It's Monday night and I'm all aflutter because I just got off the phone from Angela. For those of you who don't know she is my best friend and I am going to Geneva to be her nanny.

It's her birthday today and she sounds so homesick. Their uplift still hasn't arrived. Well, some of it has but customs won't release that which has arrived until it all arrives. So, her poor girls have nothing familiar around them, she has basic supplies in her home and no toys in her house. She has really bad jetlag, can't speak the language and is in a state of culture shock.

She says that they do EVERYTHING differently there. They eat differently, they drive differently and they are from another planet. Her words. Not mine. :-)

But, I am still excited and can't wait to get there. The time to this point has traveled so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that I jokingly said I would nanny for her if she was serious and already I only have 4 days until my flight!

I actually made a start at packing yesterday.... And I haven't done anything more since other than sit around staring vacantly into space with a stupid grin on my face. I am sure the people at work think I am nuts. Speaking of work, I am only there in body and barely there in mind. It was really stupid of me to say I was going to work the Monday and Tuesday. What the hell was I thinking?

Well the picture attached to this post is the house where I will be living. I have been told that I will be in the attic.... no flower jokes please.... hehe It's a massive estate, so Angela tells me, and it's close to everything and about a 5 minute walk to most amenities including Ava's (Angela and Paul's youngest daughter) day care. The house is on 4 levels as there is a basement. The weather at the moment is 30 degrees Celsius but according to the weather reports it isn't going to last long. I am hoping that it at least lasts a couple of days after I get there. Despite the fact that we really didn't have much of a winter this year in Sydney I am over all the cardigans.

I'm going to live in another country. I know it is only for 3 months, but I'M GOING TO LIVE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY!!! I love saying it.

One more day of work.... oooo I like saying that too!! HAHA