Geneva

We are based on the very edge of Geneva which in itself is not big ~200,000 inhabitants. The city just stops abruptly and beautiful Swiss houses and fields start , so we have the benefit of being out here but still very close to the city.

It is a little wet today so we decide to explore locally . We locate the Boulangerie 🥐🥐🥐 in Ferney-Voltaire and stock up in croissants which are good and a baguette for later which ends up bringing down their rating.

We test the baguette on some new cheeses we have purchased. The really moldy one is called Valençay and is made from unpasteurized goat milk. It was initially made by a chatelaine to commemorate Napoleons wars but so as not  to remind him of the Egypt defeats in the ” battles of the Nile”, he chopped off the top  to change the shape away from a pyramid. We will either boost our immunity and gut flora after this experiment or this may be the last blog entry.

Bolingo clearly not interested, lying  in the background, while out of camera next to me is Bwenzie showing a lot of interest and drooling.

As we are on the edge of Geneva,  the morning walk takes in the view of the mountains, Mt Blanc almost fully visible through the clouds. It is peaceful and there is no traffic but the local bus outside can take us in to the city running infrequently so good for noise levels but also once hourly to be useful.

We are definitely in Switzerland as there are a lot of white cow statues around, St, Bernard dogs as stuffed toys in windows and lots of Swiss chocolate. We are welcomed by the cow as we arrive in town.

We have purchased a Geneva pass which gives us free transport and entry into many of the museums we would like to visit.We start with St Pierre’ s Cathedral and scale both towers to check out the views. This has turned out to be Calvins seat of Calvinism dissemination, even though the architecture is from the 12th century.

One can not suffer from vertigo as you go up and up along a very narrow, spiral staircase. The view gives us a feeling of the old and new town joining.

We then  go and visit the Museum of Reformation. It is incredibly well done and we learn plus refresh a lot of the knowledge we have forgotten. One of the facts that we did not know , was that due to the Religious wars a lot of Protestants from many European countries escaped to Geneva from persecution. They doubled the city numbers in the 17th century and were the impetus for such organizations like the Red Cross, YMCA, Guide dog association and promoting education and equality for women. We thoroughly enjoy the Museum , although it does make you really wonder will we ever learn from history and take a different less violent path when we differ just a little bit from each other!

The old city is preserved and is hard to get around due to its circular streets.

We decide to visit th Patel and Phillipe watch Museum. It is 4 stories of information and jaw dropping exhibits of watch making from the origins in the 1600’s. They have some incredible masterpieces made through the ages and it explains how Switzerland has become synonymous with high quality watch making. Photography was not allowed but the complexity of the art and mechanisms in the watches was fascinating to experience.
We get back home for a long walk with Bwenzie catching a wedding and a local Church loudly ringing its bells in celebration. By  then both our feet and our stomachs are ready for a break. To commemorate the day André tries a local beer.