DAY 17: Geneva and Bern

Wednesday, August 23rd 2010

We got up insanely early, at 6 am. Packing the tent was a bit of a nuisance because it was all wet on the outside. We tried wiping the bottom of it with paper towels (it was muddy), but that didn't help much. We didn't bother waiting til 9 for the reception to open, and just left. We figured we could do that since we paid when we got there. We took a train to Geneva. It stopped in Zurich, Bern, Lausanne and Fribourg, and the journey took about 3 hours. 

In Geneva, we left our bags in a security locker at the station. We didn't have the right amount of coins for it, but some nice locals exchanged a 2 CHF coin for two 1 CHF coins, which was very friendly of them. We wanted a map of the city, and headed for the tourist info, which was supposed to be near the railway station. It took us a while to find it, but eventually we did, and got ourselves maps, yay.

Our second mission was finding a place to eat, and we settled on a Mexican restaurant that seemed affordable. There was a couple speaking English at a table close to ours, and both of us were eavesdropping on their conversation. It seemed like they were on a date, and the guy made very bad small talk: he started talking about how once he ate so much mango he got a migraine, and then continued with how people that suffer from migraines are prone to suicide. Smooth. Very smooth. 

There hasn't been a picture of food in a while :P

There was an ad for some internet cafe in the map, and it said that you get 15 minutes of free internet if you show your map there. We did that, and it was nice to connect to the outside world for a little bit. After that break we started exploring Geneva. We walked to St Pierre's Cathedral, which was quite a long way uphill. After that we walked downhill to the University, and saw the Reformation Wall as well. Realized that neither of us really know much about the significance of it. I'd at least heard of John Calvin, Pinky hadn't. I guess it's safe to say that neither of us is a history nerd :P 

St Pierre's Cathedral, or at least the part that fit into the picture...

 Gigantic chess in the University park, and the Reformation Wall

The University

We walked through the park by the University and ended up on a street that we nicknamed "Helvetin Bulevardi". Followed that until we reached the shore, and then walked up to the Jet d'Eau - the very tall fountain in the lake. We got quite close to it, and at one point the direction of the wind changed, so we got some water on us. But not too badly. It would've been possible to walk through the jet, but neither of us dared. It wasn't a very warm day, so it would've taken too long to dry.

 Heh heh heh, easily amused? Who, me?

Jet d'Eau

We continued towards Jardin Anglais, where the flower clock is situated (it wasn't as cool as I thought it would be), and then back towards the railway station because it was starting to get late. Made a pit-stop at Starbucks, after which took a train to Bern. There, it took us a while to get our hands on a map, because there was a line at the tourist info. After that we had to figure out whether or not we could get a discount from travel tickets with our InterRail passes. Turns out we couldn't, so we just got a ticket for 6 trips and took the two buses to Camping Eichholz. While looking for the correct bus stop we saw a bus going to a place called Wankdorf, which amused us greatly :D 

Taken from the train, somewhere close to Bern

Anyways. We got to the camping site and checked in. The receptionist was very nice and helpful. He gave us another map of the city, along with an info booklet, and also explained where the nearest grocery store is. We had about 20 minutes until the store would close, so we left our bags at the reception and hurried back up the hill to the main road. Found the Coop shop and got what we needed. We even bought a couple of strange flavored beers, forgetting that we didn't have a bottle opener with us. But we managed to open them with a can opener - took like half an hour, but I felt very proud of our success.

We got back to the camping site, put up our tent for the last time, and eventually went to sleep. There was a pretty bad thunderstorm in the middle of the night. It rained heavily, and there was thunder and lightning. It was a bit scary to be in a tent in that kind of weather, but we survived.

-Brain

Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich), with a population of almost 190 000. It is situated where the Rhône river exits Lake Geneva and is surrounded by two mountain chains - the Alps and the Jura. The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital", and in 2009 it was ranked the 4th most expensive city in the world (ouch :S Although I don't know how reliable that list is, cause Moscow is 3rd and whenever I go there, I feel very rich)

In Geneva, French is the most commonly used of the official languages, unlike Zürich and Bern, where German predominates.

Geneva, like most cities in Switzerland, is a marvel of public transportation efficiency. Transports Publics Genevois provides frequent bus, tram, 'mouette' (boat), and suburban train service to within a block or two of most locations in the city and canton. Apparently, anybody staying in a Geneva hotel/hostel is entitled to a free daily travel pass for the local Transport TPG. There are trains from Bern to Geneva every hour and the trip duration is about 2 hours.

Places to see:

• Jet d'Eau: one of the largest fountains in the world. Situated at the point where Lake Geneva empties into the Rhône River, it is visible throughout the city and from the air. Five hundred liters of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140 meters, with the water leaving the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h. Shouldn't get too close, cause apparently it's easy to get soaked when the wind changes :D

Jet d'Eau

• St. Pierre Cathedral is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Inside the Cathedral, there is even a chair that he used to sit in.
  

St. Pierre Cathedral

• Palace of Nations was built between 1929 and 1936 as the headquarters of the League of Nations. It has served as the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946 when the Secretary General of the UN signed a Headquarters Agreement with the Swiss authorities, although Switzerland did not become a member of the UN until 2002. The palace is located in the Ariana Park overlooking Lake Geneva and with a clear view of the French Alps.
• The International Monument to the Reformation, more commonly known as the Reformation Wall honors many of the main individuals, events and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in sculptures and bas-reliefs. The Wall is in the grounds of the University of Geneva, (founded by John Calvin) built into the old city walls of Geneva, and the monument's location there is designed to represent the fortifications', and therefore the city of Geneva's, integral importance to the Reformation.
• The Flower Clock: Geneva's "L'horloge fleurie" was created in 1955 as a symbol of the city's clock makers and dedication to nature. It is situated at the western edge of the Jardin Anglais. Usually, around 6500 flowers and shrubs are used as decoration for this clock. The decoration is changed frequently.

The Flower Clock

• There are many parks in addition to the aforementioned Jardin Anglais: Parc des Bastions and Parc des Eaux Vives, for instance.

Places to sleep:
We won't necessarily need to spend the night in Geneva, since there's not that much to see and if it really is as expensive as Wikipedia claims, then maybe it's better to be there for the day and continue on our journey in the evening (a night train to Amsterdam, perhaps?)
But just in case, here is a couple of hostels I found: City Hostel Geneva looks REALLY nice, close to the railway station and costs about 22€/person/night. The website has a virtual tour of the rooms, how cool is that? There's also Geneva Youth Hostel.