’22 Sep: Geneva, Switzerland – where the Heck is mom

And I’m Off

'22 Sep: Geneva, Switzerland / September 6, 2022 September 8, 2022

What I’m going to write about when a get a chance tonight, I hope – The giant new terminal at LAX, my fabulous upgrade, the best seat mate of all time, a one hour delay that was no bother to me.

Heidi Met Me At The Plane

'22 Sep: Geneva, Switzerland / September 7, 2022 September 12, 2022

Heidi is Robert’s sister (Robert of Robert and Joanna). Heidi lives in Geneva and Robert set it up for us to meet. Thank you Heidi, Thank you Robert!

This and the above are details from Heidi’s apartment.

I got settled in my hotel and then we enjoyed a lovely wine and snack at a bistro across the street from the hotel.

Across from us at the bistro, I asked them of course if I could take a picture of their beer delivery system. Never have I ever seen a thing like this! The lovely women were from Thailand, working here at the embassy.

After a couple hours of rest, me in my hotel and Heidi at her house, we had dinner in one of Heidi’s favorite places (that’s her in the middle and the women who run the café on either side)…

Here it is, a lovely café on the corner between my hotel and Heidi’s house.

After dinner I went home, tried to look at pictures but fell asleep inmediatamente and woke up 11 hours later.

A Stroll Around Geneva

'22 Sep: Geneva, Switzerland / September 8, 2022 September 11, 2022

That’s my hotel, Hotel Cristal Design, and the statue is called “L’Immigré”, The Emigrant, and reflects the ever evolving nature of this neighborhood. Within one block of here I have noticed a United Nations of restaurants. And Starbucks.

I spent the day with Heidi. We tromped around plenty and then took a little drive to enjoy a bit of the lake.

First stop for me is (almost) always the cathedral. In Geneva the largest and most important church is St. Pierre Cathedral, originally built as a Roman Catholic cathedral but during the Reformation it transformed itself into a Protestant church.

We climbed to the top of one of the towers!

Here’s one of the views from the tower including the The Jet d’Eau fountain out in the lake, installed in 1886, moved slightly in 1891 and adored through the city. There’s a walkway out there and the slightest change in the wind can drench all the spectators.

A view while crossing one of the many bridges.

Then we decided to stroll through the Art Museum, which was in a gorgeous building…

..and clocks of course. Three rooms of Swiss clocks.

Another view out one of the many beautiful windows. That’s a Henry Moore sculpture out there.

And a view of the golden domes of the Russian Orthodox Church from the entry to the Art Museum.

Then Heidi got her car and we drove to the French border and enjoyed yet another snack time at the lake.

Geneva-Montreux-Chillon Castle

'22 Sep: Geneva, Switzerland / September 9, 2022 September 11, 2022

Chillon Castle (Château de Chillon), according to wikipedia, the first written record of the castle was in 1005.

A scenic train ride to Chillon Castle. You can see how that little finger of Switzerland pokes into France.

We (Heidi and I) had a lovely day-trip taking the train to the end of Lake Geneva to visit Chillon Castle. I’ll talk about the various Swiss Travel Passes later, and the glory that is Swiss train travel.

Arriving in Montreux we took a bus on to the castle.

An example of the buildings in Montreux.

Not My Pictures!

I didn’t get this view but I wanted to share one aspect of this gorgeous area.

We climbed to the top of the tallest tower. Those mountains from the internet pictures should have been visible, but no.

These lower, closer mountains were visible though, and beautiful.

Surf’s up on Lake Geneva.