Geneva

A beautiful city geared toward the rich

By Michael Wilson

October 15^th, 2015

St Pierre Cathedral

We arrived in Geneva and had been told a good way to start a weekend involved visiting the beautiful cathedral and climbing it’s towers to get a great view of the city.

The inside of the cathedral was gorgeous only surpassed by the view from the top. It was a glorious day and we could see the sun shining on Geneva.

A walk around the lake

Lake Geneva is the largest lake in Europe and it dominates the city. We moved from the cathedral down to the lake for a walk in the sunshine.

Well before you arrive at the lake, the biggest water fountain in Europe can be seen shooting into the sky. Apparently there’s 17 tonnes of water spouting in the air when it’s going.

Bains des Pâquis

It was getting hotter by the minute and there was barely a cloud in the sky. We decided it was time for some light refreshments when we came across Bains des pâquis, a cafe/spa/sun bathing area. It felt like everyone in Geneva was making the most of the sun.

The lighthouse

Continuing down the jetty, we decided to take a rest by the lighthouse. The water looked glorious and the locals were making the most of it taking a swim.

Birdies

The weather (and mainly the crumbs from everyone’s lunch) had brought the birds out in force so we ripped up some bread and waited for them.

Jardin Botanique

Carrying on around the lake we came across Jardin Botanique. It’s full of greehouses with interesting flowers, it’s got a mini zoo and by far the best bit was the incredible carousel! It looked like a steampunk animal farm, but sadly it wasn’t open :-(

Genève-Sécheron station

We headed for the United Nations to find that, of course, you can’t get in if you don’t work there. Luckily it wasn’t a wasted trip because the station across the road looked awesome.

A little trip to france

We decided to get to the top of the huge mountain dominating the views. Mont Salève is actually in France but it’s only 15 minutes from Geneva. We crossed the border into France, boarded a cable car and headed to the top. About half way up we were enveloped by a cloud, which reduced visibility to pretty much nothing.

However, instead of giving up on a bad idea, we did what any good brits would (and many others were doing besides us), we climbed to the top to the viewing gallery even though we knew we wouldn’t be able to see anything.