Geneva

It hadn't been a particularly good week - two days in bed trying to get over a nasty cold - thankfully Harry managed to escape the germs. But somehow I got some energy to leave early on Friday morning to go to Geneva probably due to the excitement of seeing special friends in a country we hadn't been before. Why Switzerland when Jim and Margot had been on a canal boat ride in France? Well, when we first heard that they were coming over we thought of joining them on the boat ride, but we'd discovered we'd already booked the trip to Geneva (back in February) and Harry had no leave left. So, we looked at the map and discovered actually Geneva isn't that far away from Lyon and the rest of the story was just booking tickets. We left early Friday morning, and had a good flight, peering out the window to see the snow capped mountains and the River Rhone meander through the valleys far below us. We breezed through the airport with our limited French even found the stand where we could get free rail tickets into the city (sign in English helped). We took a while to find our way out of the station, and helped by a very pleasant local we negotiated some road works to walk the few metres to our hotel. The hotel receptionist was equally friendly letting us know where to find a nice lunch (never seen such an up market food court), giving us free public transport tickets during our stay on boat, tram, doubly bendy bus and train - a nice little perk for those staying in hotels. So, leaving our bags we went to the lake shore and walked up and down and through some of the botanical gardens before arriving back at our hotel minutes before Jim, Margot and Margot's Dad arrived on their train trip from Lyon. The lakeside reminded me a bit of Wellington harbour and a little bit of Sydney. The botanical gardens are on a little peninsula - open to the breeze with lots of trees and patches of garden. Bird life swam around - mainly swans, ducks, gulls and little moor hens so not quite the variety we saw in Australia. Like Wellington - with the mountains in the distance (some snow capped) and clouds hanging around the high peaks and the stiff offshore breeze you can get in autumn. The path around the lake similar to Wellington where we would expect to see bikers, runners, skateboarders, rollerbladers, walkers, swimmers, dragon boaters, canoeists as well as children playing ball and having fun. But it seemed quiet in Geneva on a reasonably chilly Friday afternoon. "Wait till the weekend" we thought "it will be different" but it wasn't. Now I don't want to give the impression there was no-one because in this city with a population of 186,000 there were a few people out and about. There were the hardy youngsters swimming in a designated area and a few others sunbathing in a spot designed to shelter them from the wind. There just weren't the numbers I would have expected in a busy European city. From our perspective it was quite peaceful (so too for the woman practising yoga in the breeze and the man practising what looked like Tai Chi). I had heard that a number of people live in France and travel to Switzerland to work because it is too expensive to live and wondered if it was true. So onto Google when our weekend was over and guess what I found...because the EU has provided people with more freedom to cross borders there has been an increase in the number of people commuting to work in Switzerland. But they don't just come from France but also Germany and are usually highly qualified and are teachers, managers or doctors who can now get jobs because the priority in Switzerland is not necessarily that a Swiss national has first option. The travellers are called 'cross-border commuters' and they have to go home at least once a week but some go home daily mainly to France, Italy and Germany.
In the evening we walked down to the harbour and had a fondue evening on a boat cruise where we spent most of our time eating and catching up with the holiday so far. "Adventurous" says Margot as Jim displays his mouth minus two teeth which were knocked off by a handle when opening a bridge on the canal. Ouch. Thankfully Jim could still eat as we tucked into the cheese fondue accompanied by lots of pieces of bread. Fondues were created in the 18th century the inspiration of wine and cheese makers - and promoted in the 1950's when their business was a bit slow. A person can eat 500 grams of melted cheese for one meal and it is a great way to use up those hard bits of bread that even birds shake their head at - not so good on a regular basis for those watching their weight. Tourists took the idea back to their own countries - I can remember the craze in New Zealand - but we had chocolate with marshmallows and fruit. Our fondue set was brown and orange so it sort of gives the decade away doesn't it?

The fountain in the harbour does deserve a mention. It isn't particularly attractive as fountains go but it sends a jet of water high into the air - in fact 90 metres which is pretty high. The first fountain, known as the Jet d'Eau was built in 1886 and was part of the power network - that was a bit smaller - about a third of the size of the current fountain. They say that is one of the highest in the world and this one is built in the home of a partially submerged pumping station. Every second it pumps 500 litres of water into the air and admittedly as we walked alongside we were hoping that a wind change would not occur - with water leaving the nozzle at 200 km/h and at any one point in time 7,000 litres in the air we would have got quite drenched.

When it comes to man made things we sort of split up Geneva into the old town and the new town. So, I'll start with the new which is probably the bit that interested me the most. We had a visit to the United Nations and a history lesson about Woodrow Wilson the 28th president of the US (hotel in his name and a memorial are in prominent places along the lakeside) and the League of Nations which had its first meeting in Geneva in 1920. Its aim as 'to remove the obstacles to peace' but unfortunately it was powerless to stop the Second World War. Lots of people including Franklin Roosevelt liked the idea of a international organization promoting peace and so the United Nations was born in 1945 when representatives from fifty countries met in San Francisco to ratify the Charter. In 1966 the European Office was set up in Geneva. The building has a large number of conference rooms and is the employer of a few thousand people. I liked the large wooden chair at the entrance (in memory of land mine victims). We went through security that felt tighter than at any airport (except I was allowed to keep my water bottle) before touring the marbled corridors and conference rooms.

Across the road from the UN high on the hill stands the museum for the Red Cross. It was a sobering visit and again made me appreciate the life I have been given. The museum focused on the role that the Red Cross has played in many natural and man made disasters in the world. On arrival we took a circular walk around the 'hall of remembrance' where every year had events listed that involved the Red Cross (the only mention in New Zealand was the eruption of Mount Tarawera and the buried village). So, we found out about the history of the Red Cross established by Henry Dunant. He went on a business trip to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III to discuss his business in Algeria. He didn't plan his trip particularly well (or you could argue it was perfect timing) as he arrived in the little town of Solferino just as the Battle of Solferino began. In one day he witnessed about 40,000 soldiers dying or left wounded on the field. It goes without saying most people would be highly upset by that sight and Henry Dunant was no exception as he saw the lack of medical care for the wounded. So, giving up any thought of business he tried to help those he could (I remember seeing a tv news article of tourists lying in the sun by the pool after the Indonesian tsunami and wondering how people could be so insensitive when there was so much one could do to help if you were there). Henry's managerial skills came to the fore and he organised relief assistance by motivating the local population to help the wounded no matter what the colour of their uniform. Back in Geneva, in the peaceful surroundings of the lake he wrote a book "A Memory of Solferino" which he published three years later - it was about his experiences and suggested a national voluntary relief organisation and international treaties to ensure the neutrality of those helping the wounded as well as the wounded themselves. The Red Cross was the answer to his suggestions which has the following aims

• The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;
• Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;
• The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;
• The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties; and
• The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.

Its a bit sad really because in 1867, Henry Dunant was declared bankrupt - his business in Algeria (the reason why he first went to Italy) had failed. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. He left Geneva under a cloud and never returned even when he was given the first Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Frédéric Passy. Even though the prize was important I think the official recognition for his work and the personal price he paid was important to him. At the museum there was also a photo exhibition of muslim woman - it showed how there is still so much work that needs to be done to make our world a good place to live for everyone.

And now onto the old part of the city where narrow cobbled lanes wind their way up the hill and through little village squares, past fountains, churches and shops. We wandered past:

• the Place du Bourg-de-Four - a little square surrounded by 16th and 17th century buildings and overlooked by the cathedral. It was a coolish day so not many sat outside to enjoy the atmosphere over a coffee or a beer but it still had atmosphere as I looked at the windows with sunflowers, little fountain and boxed gardens.
• the Grand-Théâtre (opera), the Conservatory of Music and the Rath Museum.
• St. Peter Cathedral where many a Swiss came to listen to John Calvin during the mid-16th century. It is an usual looking cathedral with its facade (Neoclassical) that looks more like an entrance to a museum and its gothic looking spire spying over the square. In the basement there are excavations of two 4th-century Christian sanctuaries, mosaic floors from the late Roman Empire, portions of three early churches, and an 11th-century crypt beneath the present cathedral. But we were far more interested in going up than down. We climbed the 150 steps to the first tower, then down some, and up more to the second tower. A fascinating 30 minutes was spent listening to the bells, reading the history (photos of the towers being built with workers waving to the camera standing up high with no safety equipment), looking at the view and the woodwork inside the towers. It must have been a unique site back before the mid 1500's before Calvin stripped it of its altars, statues, paintings and furniture. Only the stained glass windows of that period now remain.

What happened on 12 December 1602? There are memorials in many parts of the town - but unfortunately we couldn't understand the inscriptions and felt none the wiser till we got back to Bristol. Thanks to Google, I found out that on that day the Geneva townsfolks defeated a surprise attack from troops sent by Charles Emmanuel I, the then Duke of Savoy. There is an annual celebration to remember this achievement and many of the memorials were erected on the 300th anniversary of that day. The surprise attack sprung from that old emotion jealousy and covetness (I have heard the argument that if we took away borders and equality there would be no wars and I think there is some basis to that). The Duke coveted the wealth of Geneva which was not a member of the Swiss Confederation - he wanted to make Geneva his capital north of the Alps and crush Protestantism. On that night - which is the longest night of the year in the Northern hemisphere, the troops assembled outside the walls of Geneva. The original plan was to send in a group of commandos to open the gate door and let the other troops in. However, the Geneva citizens stopped this attack and rung the church bells to warn everyone. They obviously fought with a courage of those that are threatened and won. There are stories of heroes and heroines such as the mother who poured a cauldron of hot soup over the head of a Savoyard attacker (why was the soup hot at 2.00 in the morning I wondered). After the defeat the Duke of Savoy agreed to peace (rather humbly I imagine) and this was formalised in the Treaty of St. Julien of July 12, 1603.
So, we said goodbye to Margot, Jim and John after riding on the boats across the harbour on Sunday morning and having a Swissmeal at a Swiss hamburger place (right next door to a McDonalds) before making our way to Bristol. By now they will nearly be winging their way back to New Zealand and we are back in work in Bristol.

Some other little titbits for the week:

• we've seen another NZ programme on tv. This time about Paul Jeffreys aka as the Fat Man and author of "Diary of a Fat Man" and "Fat Man Cooks" - he lost 64kg in a year by living in his holiday home up north through dieting and exercise. Interesting documentary and I wondered how inspiring would he be to those suffering from obesity. Intermingled through out the programme were advertisements showing the Southern Alps and suggesting now is the time to book your flight down under.
  
• I had a packet of chippies (crisps) the other day and on the back of the pack was written "No matter how much the spuds chosen for this bag loved the sharp, vinegary aroma of fish and chips, they knew they'd rather be destined for a bag of Walkers than yesterday's newspaper. So we though we'd give them the best of both worlds by picking for our legendary classic, tangy salt and vinegar flavour". Good marketing if you can be bothered reading the back of the pack - or do only a few sad people do that.
  

And a couple of questions that sprang to mind this week

1. Could someone invent a tissue that doesn't disintegrate when it is washed? Or is that what is called a handkerchief?
2. How do you resist the temptation to eat all the cream with the apple crumble? Simply buy the smallest punnet you can find and then pack it on the top of the groceries and let it fall out in the middle of the carpark. By the time you've picked it up you only have half the cream left.