It's been a long week, and only another day until I'll be traveling for two straight weeks. This week we've mainly been doing work to make our lives a little bit easier when we come back. I finally have a working battery and battery board in my computer, and I may actually bring it with me to our Northern Field Trip and Dublin. We'll see.
 |
| Jet d'eau and waterfront |
Last weekend, we went to Geneva, Switzerland, which is in western Switzerland, right on the French border. We ended up leaving Friday morning because of some reservation issues. We got there around 4pm, and checked into our hotel, Hotel Capitole. It was right near the train station, and our room was actually very nice. We had a real bathtub, not to mention a minibar and tea. After we got settled in, we headed over to the United Nations Building, even though we weren't able to go inside. Its really quite inspiring, to see all of the flags of the world in front of one building, signifying their union. There is debate as to how useful the U.N. is, but its still inspiring anyway. After we walked along the waterfront, we decided to find some dinner. On the waterfront, there is a huge jet of water (Jet d'eau) that is approximately 140 meters high, but changes according to the wind. Its a really beautiful site. We found a small cafe near the cathedral that served fondue, which is pretty much the reason why we decided on that restaurant (and it wasn't 40+ swiss francs like most of them). We had cheese fondue and omelettes. They were delicious, and the fondue was amazing. I've never actually had fondue, but I suppose having Swiss fondue as my first will give me unreal expectations. It was at this restaurant that we discovered chocolat chaud suchard, which is Swiss hot chocolate. Friday night, we mainly walked around the area around the cathedral to see everything lit up at night.
 |
| Saint-Pierre Cathedral |
Saturday morning, we started the day with breakfast at our hotel. We had croissants, fruit, Swiss hot chocolate, creamy cheese with rolls, and even eggs and bacon. It was delicious. We headed over to the cathedral area early to see the museum, archeological site underneath the cathedral, and the cathedral and towers. We went into the museum first, which was all about the history of Protestantism, Calvinism, and Lutheranism. Geneva is one of the more prominent Protestant capitals of Europe. The museum was very interactive with a complimentary audioguide and talking portraits of Calvin and Luther on the wall. It was very informative, and I usually don't enjoy museums. After that, we went into the archeological site, essentially the crypt, of the cathedral. What was most fascinating about the cathedral was how many parts it had, and how it had changed so much over the centuries. In the archeological site, you can see three different plans, all different churches built in different centuries. Even the existing cathedral has a Gothic spire, Romanesque nave, and neo-Greco Roman portico on the back. It was very intriguing. You could even see the layers of earth signifying when there was human life and what was built when. There was also a pile of human bones which was a bit unnerving.
 |
| North Tower |
We went into the cathedral next, which had some pretty impressive stained glass. The cathedral in Prague is still my favorite, though. We went into both the North and South towers. We able to see the bell in the bell tower, and we were able to see the timber construction as well. On the top of the North Tower, we could see most of Geneva. It was beautiful. We could also see the Alps in the background. Unfortunately the clouds didn't clear until we were already back down on the ground, but it was still pretty awesome.
Next, we went to the Reformation Wall, which signified Swiss history in religion and in unification. The United States made the wall. The Mayflower was engraved there. It was pretty impressive. After that, we just walked around. There was some type of protest going on, though we still don't know what it was for. In Switzerland, the trees were actually fall colors and losing their leaves. Its the first time in Europe that I've really seen this, especially not in Rome. Switzerland has some nice parks, which we're not used to in Rome at all.
 |
| Playing large chess |
In the park, we found large chess boards that people were using to play chess. It reminded us of Harry Potter. It was interesting though, and we had some fun with the large chess pieces. We wandered around the area for a while and saw the opera house in Switzerland. We also wandered around the city going to several chocolate stores, and of course, we tried several types of chocolate. Swiss chocolate is amazing. Its much smoother, and its just delicious. I got some in the shape of a mouse and its cheese. Its adorable. We also went into a store dedicated to the Bible and they were selling Christmas things. I bought a German advent calendar there. Its cute and miniature. We also saw the Russian church, which is known for its gold onion domes and excessive decoration. We could even see the Jet d'eau from the church. You could see it from most of the places in Geneva. We went down to the waterfront, which was full of swans. They're not nice birds, but they're very pretty. There were all of these boats docked, and you could see the Alps from the lake as well. We didn't go all the way up to the jet, as we would have been soaked. We did go close to it, and were able to see the lake, jet, and mountains.
 |
| Waterfront at sunset |
After buying some more chocolate and souvenirs, we went to dinner right by our hotel. We had more fondue (of course), this time with bacon in it. We also had white wine with it, which was a very good choice. For dessert, I had sorbet framboise (raspberry sorbet) even though I was really much too full to be eating more food. Our waiter was really sweet, and even offered to take our picture. Clarissa and I were doing pretty well with speaking French, at least when it came to ordering most things. Swiss French is different, but its close enough to be able to get by with some knowledge. The food in Switzerland is so good, and I believe its because they produce very good milk. Probably the reason why Swiss chocolate is so creamy and sweet.
 |
| United Nations building |
Before our train on Sunday morning, we headed out to the United Nations building again to see it in daylight. It feels pretty cool standing there in front of the sign and in front of all of those flags. You don't realize how many countries are a part of the U.N. until you see all of those flags. We also walked around and saw a lot of cool modern architecture. Most of the buildings in Switzerland seem to be very clean and modern looking. There isn't the variety there is in Rome. We also saw an architectural district called the "Smurf" houses (pictured below) that were really quite eccentric. They all had crazy colors and designs. They had very irregular details, like curtains and railings, and odd-shaped windows and walls. They were really intriguing to look at, and I can see where they get their name from. I'd love to live there, so I get the feeling they're expensive despite the fact that they look so odd.
 |
| "Smurf" houses |
They all had little porches and eclectic little cubbyholes. Whoever designed these complexes must have designed every little detail down to the windowsills. Its pretty incredible, really. We never get to that level of development in our projects.
We essentially had to leave Switzerland after looking at the Smurf houses. We did spent the rest of our Swiss francs on chocolate and wine at a grocery store in the train station, though. Good spend if you ask me. Swiss currency is very pretty looking. Its colorful, not to mention the 10 franc note has Le Corbusier on it. Us architecture nerds thought that was cool, and each of us kept one. On the train back, we actually witnessed someone's bag getting stolen. It was frightening. There was a man who got on the train (they don't check your ticket until you're already moving usually) with no bags, who seemed to be checking everyone out by our observations. Then we hear the woman behind us screaming "My bag! My bag!" and see her running out of the train. I saw a guy running, that she seemed to be chasing. Apparently he just took her bag from right under her chair when she wasn't watching. I don't think she did give it back; I don't think there was anything the people at the train station could do. It truly was frightening though; I didn't really believe that could happen until I saw that. Other than that, our train ride home was long and a bit delayed. We got home and essentially had to work on homework.
Back in Rome, we've been doing a lot of work for both studio and analysis to prepare for our upcoming travels. Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has been booted out thanks to the European Union threatening to remove both Italy and Greece from the Union. Currently Italy has no formal government and has about twelve political parties all vying for a majority. Just today we saw a huge protest on Via del Corso and right outside of where Berlusconi lives (which I'd like to add is right next to our studio, real safe, I know). Italians really hate him. I'm not even really sure what type of government Italy is formally considered. They still have Fascist and Communist parties here (though not formally called that). It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next month that we're here.
Well, we have basically a month left here in Europe. As of Monday, we'll be in Florence, Verona, and Venice. As of Saturday, I will be flying to Dublin for a week, with a day and a half in London. I'm very excited. It'll be nice to be back home too, especially with everything thats currently happening at Penn State. I kinda wish I was there right now, especially for the candlelit vigil for the Sandusky victims and to be able to see Joe Paterno on his last days as head coach.
We also have a mold infestation on the first floor of our complex. There's a ton of black mold in all of the bathrooms, and no one realized what it was until everyone started getting sick. We have a bit on our floor too, but its nothing compared to what they have. Hopefully they'll take it out soon, or it will at least be safe by the time everyone returns from traveling. We also had no water at all on Wednesday until later at night because of a pipe problem in Trastevere. Talk about a bad day all around.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully a lot of blogging to come. Ciao for new, a presto. Traveling, here I come.
No comments:
Post a Comment