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