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.