Saket Vora

We woke up early today (around 5am) and quickly got ready and left the hostel by 6am. It was a good idea, cause the metro ride to Gare de Lyon took 35 minutes. We found the platform and eventually boarded. The tickets here were kind of screwy cause instead of the three of us being in one of the suites, we were kind of scattered. Oh well. I slept well for the first hour, then the conductor came by. I poked Sachi to wake her, and she gave him our rail pass. He saw that we were heading to Geneva and then starting saying something in French. We stared at him blankly, but the gentlemen sitting next to me quickly began to translate for us, saying that we will have to transfer trains in Bellegard, and that it would be easy. I thought the train was a direct trip, but oh well. I slept on and off for the next hour and a half, but the view of the French countryside was very nice. A thin layer of front gave everything a sheen while mist and fog shrouded the distant bocage. I was awake for the last half hour as we moved through the southeast of France, where the Alps begin to rise from the Earth. It was lovely traveling through this part of France – rugged cliffs provided a backdrop to ancient and rustic French villages, the tops were capped with mist and the sun slowly began to burn through them and reveal the mountains in the stark sunlight. Another French couple sat in the seats vacated by the original people, but they spoke English as well and helped explain what the conductor was saying. We got off at Bellegard (snow was on the ground) and walked over to another train with ‘Geneve’ taped on the window. Kind of sketchy. We learned later that the train schedules got messed up so our initial train wasn’t going to Geneva after all. Oh well. We finally made it into Geneva, and had to show our passport and go through security. You would think that because the euro is not commonly used, there would be ATMs publicly displayed. Not so fast. We couldn’t see one anywhere around the train station, so just went ahead to the hotel. The hotel thankfully is only 2 blocks from the train station, so we found it and got into our room at around 11:15 or so. We rested up a bit and put the camera’s batteries to charge. We left and walked around a few blocks finding a place to eat. First, like France, Switzerland isn’t too friendly for vegetarians, and two, it is expensive! At McDonalds, I think the Big Mac menu is more expensive than in Norway. We eventually found this place that had a falafel combo meal which was quite affordable, so we ate there. Went back to the hotel, transferred the pictures off the camera and got ready to head out. We went back to the station and after some difficulty (we had few Swiss franc coins) got our tram tickets and took the tram to the United Nations building. It was closed, so we saw it from outside then walked up to the Red Cross and Red Crescent museum. The Red Cross was started after Swiss Henry Dunant was moved by the suffering of soldiers following the battle of Solferino between the French and the Italians, so he urged them to remedy the lack of medical care for soldiers. In the mid 1860s, the Red Cross was formed. The symbol for the Red Cross, a red cross on white background, is an inversion of Switzerland’s flag, and Dunant chose this because he wanted a symbol of neutrality. But when the organization began operating in the near east, Muslim troops objected to the Red Cross symbol; they adopted instead the Red Crescent. Later, the Red Cross formally added recognition of the Red Crescent. Now, a few Israeli Jews want their own symbol. For an organization that believes in unity and universality, having two or three symbols due to perceived religious overtones is troubling, so I think a new logo is being considered. For me it’s rather shocking, because the Red Cross is so ingrained in my conception of help, first aid, emergency medicine, etc. It is a shame that this is an issue, and it goes to show how too many times mankind choses to invest so much time, energy, and attention on less important things than actually caring and helping their fellow man. The museum also had an exhibit of photographs taken by VII, a group of photojournalists who covered the Afghanistan and Iraq War. The photos were very moving. All in all, it was a nice museum for a worthy cause.

We wanted to also see what has become the symbol of Geneva – the Jet d’Eau, or just, the ‘Jet’. It is a huge fountain that sits in Lake Geneva and shoots out a plume high in the sky. But, as it turns out, it closed at 4pm cause it’s winter, and we reached the lake at 5pm. You have to realize though, the mindset that we were at. We had just come from magnificent Paris, and frankly any city would be hard pressed to match its grandeur. Also, despite seeing the sun on the way in, there were low gray clouds that covered the sky, and it was colder than it had been in any of the other cities we visited. Also, after finishing the Red Cross museum, we tried (being the honest citizens we are) to buy a tram ticket to get back into town all the way to the Altstadt (old town). However, unlike the well-run transit systems of Sweden, Denmark, and what we saw in Holland, in Switzerland you have to buy your tram tickets before boarding the vehicle. However, not all stops have a ticket machine. So first you walk to the nearest big stop. Then, having just arrived in Geneva in the past four hours, we did not have a sizeable Swiss franc coin collection. The ticket machines don’t accept bills, and exact change is required. Basically, we couldn’t buy tram tickets. So we walked back all the way to the lake. When you take into account all these factors, we were in a pretty flighty mood. My sisters and I were not unhappy by any means, in fact we were in quite a nice mood. We were simply acknowledging the fact we just didn’t get out of Geneva what one would get if they were here in June on a sunny day. Sachi was trying to defend it, and wanted to cross the bridge to see the Altstadt. It was already 5pm, and sunlight was fading. The bridge is quite far, and when I looked across I just saw hotels. Sapana and I started giving Sachi a hard time, jokingly of course, of what was really worth seeing in the Altstadt. She started reading stuff and unfairly, we were making comparisons left and right to bigger cities and places and ruled them out. Reading down the list, she said how there was this big ramp where they could bring their horses up….and we lost it. The very idea that we were reduced to a horse ramp of finding things to see was enough. Poor Geneve, this was just not your day. We strolled back up to the small shopping area in front of the main station and meandered through H&M. I bought a long sleeved shirt. After doing some window shopping of watches and Swiss Army knives, we then scouted out a place to eat (Italian, of course) then went back to the hotel. I got on the internet to check my e-mail, the weather (it’ll be snowing in Zürich), and such. I have to catch up on my journal then pack up for tomorrow’s train at 7:45am.