Valentine’s Visitors
On Tuesday and Wednesday I had the privilege to host Maggie, who I think I’ve known since before kindergarten, who was passing through Geneva on her way home from visiting her boyfriend in Senegal (via France) and her friend Tess, who is from Cincinnati but went to school in Colorado and met Maggie when they were both living in France.
It was nice to have a connection to home and their stay afforded me the opportunity to revist some of the sites and landmarks I now take for granted.
They drove in Tuesday evening and I proved that although I can get around on foot or by public transport, I’m a pretty poor navigator in a car. Eventually we found our way and had fondue on the lake at the Bains des Paquis which I understand to be some sort of government subsidized project. It’s basically a pier that has spa and sauna facilities and where people go during the summer to get some sun or have a drink overlooking the water. There is also a restaurant (Buvette) known for their tasty and reasonably-priced fondue. It was a very good meal—I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much bread and cheese—and good company.
The lovely ladies
Maggie and myself
After dinner and dropping the girls’ things at my apartment, we walked through Parc de Bastions (reasonably close to my house) which includes giant chess sets and the Reformers’ Monument. Here’s me pretending to ride the knight. I swear, I only had one beer before this.
We walked through part of the Old Town as well, passing by the cathedral which looked quite nice at night.
I took the girls to AMR, the jazz club I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, since Tuesday is their open jam session night. Unfortunately they now charge a cover, but it’s still pretty cheap by Geneva standards and was worth it to have some lite entertainment.
I took Wednesday off of work so I could show Maggie around. Tess had to head back to Albertville (where she’s currently living) for a class, so after bidding her adieu Maggie and I began a day of Genevois sight-seeing. The weather was pretty crappy—rain and temps just cold enough to make that annoying—but we still managed to see quite a bit.
We went by the UN, which I haven’t posted any pictures of yet, so here’s my best Gene Kelly.
We walked up towards the Red Cross Museum (which we didn’t tour, but I went to a few months back and generally enjoyed), and then headed back to my office to say hi to everyone. We grabbed lunch at Manor, the giant grocery/department store downtown, and then headed over by the lake. Fortunately it was warm enough for the city to have the Jet d’Eau on, so we got to see that. After about 10 attempts, this is the best picture we could come up with. (the only photoshopping I did was lightening our faces, but we actually are in front of the fountain and not pasted on)
Other sites: the floral clock at Jardin Anglais, the statue commemorating Geneva (left) becoming part of Switzerland (right), and a fountain within the garden, among some other things.
After walked around Rive, the main shopping area, for a bit, we headed back towards home and bought some pizzas to have for dinner that night.
We hung out and watched the Grammy Awards which I’d downloaded and had a nice meal as well as dessert with Farhad and Nicki.
Maggie headed out yesterday (Thurs) morning, just in time for the sun to actually make an appearance in the city, and hopefully has made it home safely, though with the weather there and her flight connecting in New York I’m not sure.
Anyway, it was a good couple days and I hope to have more visitors in the future (this means you).
It was nice to have a connection to home and their stay afforded me the opportunity to revist some of the sites and landmarks I now take for granted.
They drove in Tuesday evening and I proved that although I can get around on foot or by public transport, I’m a pretty poor navigator in a car. Eventually we found our way and had fondue on the lake at the Bains des Paquis which I understand to be some sort of government subsidized project. It’s basically a pier that has spa and sauna facilities and where people go during the summer to get some sun or have a drink overlooking the water. There is also a restaurant (Buvette) known for their tasty and reasonably-priced fondue. It was a very good meal—I don’t think there’s any such thing as too much bread and cheese—and good company.
The lovely ladies
Maggie and myself
After dinner and dropping the girls’ things at my apartment, we walked through Parc de Bastions (reasonably close to my house) which includes giant chess sets and the Reformers’ Monument. Here’s me pretending to ride the knight. I swear, I only had one beer before this.
We walked through part of the Old Town as well, passing by the cathedral which looked quite nice at night.
I took the girls to AMR, the jazz club I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, since Tuesday is their open jam session night. Unfortunately they now charge a cover, but it’s still pretty cheap by Geneva standards and was worth it to have some lite entertainment.
I took Wednesday off of work so I could show Maggie around. Tess had to head back to Albertville (where she’s currently living) for a class, so after bidding her adieu Maggie and I began a day of Genevois sight-seeing. The weather was pretty crappy—rain and temps just cold enough to make that annoying—but we still managed to see quite a bit.
We went by the UN, which I haven’t posted any pictures of yet, so here’s my best Gene Kelly.
We walked up towards the Red Cross Museum (which we didn’t tour, but I went to a few months back and generally enjoyed), and then headed back to my office to say hi to everyone. We grabbed lunch at Manor, the giant grocery/department store downtown, and then headed over by the lake. Fortunately it was warm enough for the city to have the Jet d’Eau on, so we got to see that. After about 10 attempts, this is the best picture we could come up with. (the only photoshopping I did was lightening our faces, but we actually are in front of the fountain and not pasted on)
Other sites: the floral clock at Jardin Anglais, the statue commemorating Geneva (left) becoming part of Switzerland (right), and a fountain within the garden, among some other things.
After walked around Rive, the main shopping area, for a bit, we headed back towards home and bought some pizzas to have for dinner that night.
We hung out and watched the Grammy Awards which I’d downloaded and had a nice meal as well as dessert with Farhad and Nicki.
Maggie headed out yesterday (Thurs) morning, just in time for the sun to actually make an appearance in the city, and hopefully has made it home safely, though with the weather there and her flight connecting in New York I’m not sure.
Anyway, it was a good couple days and I hope to have more visitors in the future (this means you).
Labels: friends
posted by Aaron at 9:23 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home