"Where have you have been?" Mrs W asked, "France" I replied, "but we are in Geneva" she said. France was only a few miles down the road. I had been for a run, I had checked before I left and there were no time limits, but when I got back I had been too long! I had only done just over 9 miles around Geneva up to the French border, taking about hour and a half, not very long, but too long evidently. She had stayed in her room reading her book, tea on tap so I couldn't see the problem.
I had taken my beloved to Geneva for the weekend, flying on Easyjet from Southend. We had to take one bag of luggage between us, mine consists of running gear, Linda's several change of clothing and shoes. With speedy boarding we were first on the plane, seats 1A and 1B, plenty of room. It was a pleasant flight and only took about 90 minutes. We left Southend at 1330 and were in Geneva at 1600 (1 hour difference before you check my maths). The luggage was slightly delayed, but arrived with normal Swiss efficiency. The train ride into town is free, you get the ticket in the baggage reclaim area and takes about 12 minutes. We were staying at the Hotel Suisse, which was just opposite the train station so we were able to check in and go to our room. It is warm here and no rain, so the coats were put in the wardrobe. The hotel provides you with afree travel tickets which you can use anywhere in Geneva on the bus, trams or trains, not that we will need them, walking is on my agenda. We walked south towards the River Rhone past the expensive shops, including Hackett, Cartier, Mont-Blanc I will need to take out another mortgage if Linda wants to buy anything at these shops.
We reached the river and had a stroll along the promenade, stopping for coffee at a cafe. it was pleasant to sit outside and view the scenery drinking our cappuccino's. It is not cheap here, in fact very expensive and they use small cups. We saw the famous Jet d’Eau and David Bailey decided to take numerous photos of it from various angles. Jet d'Eau, literally meaning 'water jet', is the huge Fountain on the Geneva Lake, in the city of Geneva, Switzerland. Jet d'Eau is one of the tallest fountain in the world. Originally, in 1886 they built the fountain to control and release the excess pressure of a hydraulic plant at La Coulouvrenière. Shortly it became remarkable symbol of the city and so it was amplified and relocated to the center of the Lake.
We took the boat across to the other side, it was not rough so Linda was ok, it was a 5 minute journey. We then had a walk around the Old Ville, they even had a 'C&A' there, more my price range. After that we wandered back to the hotel, stopping on route at PrimaPasta for dinner. I wouldn't recommended it, very very slow,, although once it had arrived it tasted very nice, although we were so hungry anything would have tasted nice.
We returned to the hotel, as I had been to the gym in the morning there was no need to go for a run. On Saturday I was going to go for a run at 7am, but it was still dark and Linda had said I was not to go in the dark as I have a habit of getting lost. So I turned over and went back to sleep, the Kenyan runners say that it is better to run in the afternoon, so if it good enough for them then it suits me. We eventually got up and had breakfast, which was very nice, before we went out for the day, good news its shorts and t-shirt weather.
We then went on a nice long walk, around Geneva seeing all the sights the Protestant monument (think Calvin), the various bridges, the Saint Pierre cathedral, the Flower Clock (L'horloge fleurie), the Jardin Anglais and Starbucks. The Old Town is a Gothic maze of cobblestone streets. We did stop there for a coffee, it has the most expensive coffee in town, won't be re-visiting. Suitably refreshed we walked around the rest of town, saw the red light area, more parks and churches and ended up back at the railway station. We bought a sandwich to eat in the room. After enjoying our lunch, Linda settled into her book and I decided to go for a run, a nice long one.... In the evening we went out for dinner and then had another walk to see the river in the dark. We have walked about 6 miles today.
On Sunday I was up at 0730 and went for a little run, Linda was still asleep so she will not miss me. I ran a different way, out towards the east and down towards the promenade, watching the sun rising over the mountains. It was a small gentle jog of about 3.5 miles not very far. When I got back Linda was still asleep. When she eventually stirred we had a nice breakfast before going out for the day, good news its shorts weather again.
We walked to the United National HQ building, just a couple of miles away and took some photos, there is an enormous brown chair there with a leg missing. The giant ‘Broken Chair’, a work of art in wood, symbolises the campaign against landmines.The chair which is 12 metres high, stands on only three legs. It is the work of sculptor Daniel Berset. It was made in 1997 for the NGO Handicap International. Its message is simple: remember the victims of land mines. To illustrate this the Broken Chair stands on three legs, the fourth being splintered half way up. We wandered around the park area, finding a nice cafe (cheapest coffee in Geneva) and sat outside enjoying the warm rays, savouring our coffee and reading The Times. Our plane was not leaving till 1645 so we had plenty of time to wander through the Botanical Gardens, past the river and back to the hotel. We stopped for a final coffee in the centre, probably the best cappuccino in town at Boréal Coffee. We went back to the hotel, changed our clothes, collected our bags and caught the bus to the airport. We walked about 5 miles this morning. It was quick to check in and we were soon through security. We spent our last few Swiss francs on a snack before boarding the plane. Sarfend ere we come.
You can see some photos here
Relaxing at La Manga Club, enjoying the warm sunny weather without ‘Er Indoors’, heaven. A few days break away from wet England to do some running and reading. The La Manga club is one of my favourite places to go, it's has everything I need a café, gym and running routes. The weather is a bonus. It is warm enough to sit on the balcony and do some theological studying and there is wi-fi so I can still Google for answers to questions or background information. We are working through the Jesus’ seven signs in John at present and we are on sign seven, which is the resurrection of Lazarus. Over the last couple of days I have written a mini series for the next three preaching dates based on John 11. It's is one one of my specialist subjects, dead bodies, how they look, feel and smell! It will be a challenge linking in the third part with Christmas but I have a few ideas.
Interesting that the Spanish word for without is ‘sin’, so if I want a cappuccino then I need to order it ‘sin chocolate’, but when you think about it from a theological viewpoint sin is some thing we can do without. The apartment is fine, it has a bed, kitchen, bathroom and a balcony. I can sit outside and type my sermons straight onto the Ipad.
I got up at about 0230 on Monday morning, I would like to say my beloved wife got up to see me off, but she didn’t, she and my dogs both slept through me getting up and leaving. I suppose Linda is used to me coming and going at all hours, so it's normal to sleep through it. I left just after 0300 and drove to Gatwick, it was pouring with rain and the roads were soaked, slightly flooded in places, but good news the bridge is free at that time of the morning. I had booked parking, but had to run from the car to the admin centre to book in, then back to the car, then to the bus to the airport, trying not to get too wet. I was going business so I could check in quickly and then go to the lounge to dry out. The BA lounge has gone all healthy as there were no bacon rolls, just fruit and toast. The plane was due to leave at 0640 and I got slightly wet when boarding, but was in seat 1D all on my own. It takes about 2 hours 10 minutes to get to Alicante. There was more food on board, I had the continental option rather than the full English, how times have changed.
Once we landed there was a long wait for the suitcase, about 30 minutes, although it was out first. After this I joined the next queue at Avis for the car hire, they were even slower and it took an hour to get to the front and sort the paperwork out. I then had to get the car, more queuing and finally got the vehicle, a Nissan Juke. As I have been here several times before I know the way, so was soon on the motorway towards La Manga. I stopped on route at San Javier for a coffee and found a Decathlon store which had a sale in the running department. I bought a nice top. There was a shopping centre so I managed to get some food and credit for my mobile phone so I can use Google Maps. The next stop was La Manga Club, arriving just after 1500. The room had two wardrobes which is good, one for my running gear and the other normal clothes. I then made a coffee and sat on the balcony enjoying the warm sun and the view. I did IMessage Linda the good news about the weather!
I decided to go for a small run over to the other side, I needed to do some food shopping and there is also a nice coffee shop with good views towards the sea. I could have taken the car, but it was better to exercise. It also meant I could not buy too much as I would have to carry it back, it is only 1.5 miles there so not even a run, more a slight jog. The apartment is on top of the hill, which is good news going out, but bad news coming back. I was out for a couple of hours. In the evening I did some reading before going to the gym for an hour, to workout my abs and upper body, all necessary for runners. As I was tired I had an early night.
On Tuesday I got up and it was raining. This was not very helpful as it meant I could not go running so I went out for a drive and found another Decathlon with different items in the sale, plenty of time to wander around. There was also a Carrefour there so I was able to buy some food including salad and fruit for my dinner. After this I came back to the complex and had some dinner at the café, a nice jacket potato with tuna mayonnaise. About 3.30pm the weather looked good so I decided to go for a run, two miles into the run, the weather looked bad, the sky was black, the wind had increased and I was in the middle of the country with nowhere to run to hide. This had happened to me last Saturday but Linda had texted me to say it was stormy and so I had managed to run home quickly before the rains started (made it by about a minute). However, I did not have that option now, then the storm started, I tired to think whether it was better to be out in the open or hide behind a tree from the lightening, although initially there was a distinct lack of trees. I was also running on dirt tracks, which when the rain started quickly became very muddy. I decided the best option was to run back to the apartment in the rain, I did hide behind a wall for several minutes for some respite from the driving rain. I eventually made it back to the apartment, looking like a drenched rat, I was soaked. I had covered seven miles. I had a shower before sitting down to read my book ‘How Google Works’ a bit of light reading. I was so engrossed in the book, I nearly forgot to go the gym, but I made it before closing time.
The weather on Wednesday was improved – warm and sunny. They were doing some work outside the apartment which meant I had no water all day. Of course they don’t tell you this so you could fill a kettle to make a coffee. I went out for a nice long run just before lunch, I ran down to the seaside, a place called Los Neitos which was about 4.5 miles away. It was an easy run, downhill all the way. I had a walk along the promenade, but most of it was closed up. I found a coffee shop for a small cappuccino before I decided to run back a different way, this was 6 miles in distance. It was not the best weather for running in as it was slightly hot and humid. However, I made it back and there was still no water. I then had to go to the spa to use the showers and change into my clean clothes. I then went for a little drive out to the shopping centre, where I stopped for a snack to eat and did some shopping. The weather is still warm so I am wearing my shorts, the sun is out so I need my shades on.
