27 Sept Genève

We had to go and visit a supermarket before we could eat this morning and that was a bit of a trial; trying to find things when they look different and have French all over them was fun! But we got some goodies for 5 meals for half of what we paid for our small dinner last night.

A few comments about Switzerland! They like to be different: eg. the power plugs. Even the locals say how expensive it is to live here. The Funks drive an hour to the German border along with many Swiss to buy groceries. The Government has put a 300 CHF (Swiss francs) per person limit on what you can bring back though but with a family of 6 that is no problem. The costs are massively less in Germany. Drivers are required by law to use headlights at all times day or night. You get the feeling that every second person smokes. The pet dog goes everywhere... in the car and on the trains; along with bicycles on the buses and trains. There are quaint horse troughs all over the place with water running out of weird shaped spouts - not many horses; maybe bikes have replaced horses and the riders need water! We've found the people friendly though when we've needed help in the supermarket or regarding travel and buying tickets - it can be tricky when the instructions are in French, German and Italian!

The nephew of our hostess (who is not here and whom we've not met) is living here so we chatted to Arturo over breakfast. He is from Bolivia and doing his 3rd year of an Economics degree here, his family thinking it unwise in the present political environment of Bolivia for him to stay there. 

We walked down to the waterfront and bought Geneva passes which entitled us to various rides and museum entrance. So we started with the Solar Electric Mini Train Tour which took us around the southern shore of Geneva Lake, otherwise called Lac Léman. (Another new mode of transport!)

We were shown various monuments and gardens, including the Flower Clock which is composed of 6500 plants.

One of the icons of Geneva is Le Jet d'Eau - the Fountain sends 500 litres of water per second into the air to a height of 140m. It is quite spectacular.

We sat in the English Garden park on our return and ate our sandwiches.

There was just enough time to take another small train to the Old Town before going on the ferry boat. It was quite informative and also pleasing to discover that we'd actually seen most of the important things yesterday on our own. We had a 'loud' American girl keeping us from hearing the commentary at times - I think she must have thought hers was better!

Wandering back along the Rhône River which flows (amazingly fast) out of the lake and eventually reaches the Mediterranean, we arrived at the dock and awaited to board the ferry.

This was an hour long cruise around some of the lake which is the biggest lake in Western Europe. 2/3 of the lake is in Switzerland and 1/3 in France. It is 72 by 14km, has 187km of shoreline, and is up to 310m deep...a pretty big expanse of water. We saw many of the big world organization buildings so many of which are based here, like the UN and WTO. Also of course the 130 or so banks which is probably the major industry in Switzerland.

We decided to revisit the cathedral and go underneath it where there have been massive excavations carried out revealing the very early building on this site. There are about 5 different levels revealed by excavations beginning in 1976, going back to Roman times. In a terrific display of engineering, they have preserved much of the original archaeology in situ, and constructed walkways that take you to the various levels. Particularly impressive was the mosaic floor of the bishop's reception room, dating from the fourth century cathedral. Here is a sample from an area of maybe 10 metres square.

I'm sure that John Calvin had no idea of what lay beneath his feet, as he faithfully preached God's Word from the church's pulpit!

Emerging from the crypt, we proceeded next door to the Musée international de la Réforme (International Museum of the Reformation). 

There was a load of information and displays, but one can't help but observe that the central rediscovery of Luther and the other Reformers was overlooked: the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone! Not surprising, I suppose, given that the whole approach was 'history of religions' and social history of Geneva. One can imagine M. Calvin rotating rapidly in his grave, wherever that may be!

By this time, we were once again quite exhausted, and made our way back past the Parc de Bastions to our lodging on Rue de Carouge. It's an early start tomorrow, as we set off for Rome by train.