Adventure in Yvoire

Wanting to take a boat trip on Lake Geneva, we booked a day trip to the medieval French town of Yvoire. After an hour or so boat ride, we spent a few hours hanging out in this cute little town before heading back. Not much to do, but it was a beautiful sunny day with lots of photo opportunities.

As you can see, the place was packed! Can't imagine how crowded it would be in the middle of summer. Glad we were able to visit now.

Such a cute place! We didn't do much - walked around, had some lunch, popped in and out of a few shops. A nice relaxing day in an adorable little village.

Tales from the United Nations - Geneva

One of the highlights of our Geneva adventure was a tour of the United Nations - such an amazing and important organisation. And the tour was amazing - wish I could remember it all. If you ever have the chance, don't miss it.

There are around 20,000 people from all over the world working for/with the UN in Geneva. And you can see it as you walk around the city - it's as diverse as Dubai, with every language, type of dress and culture you can imagine. Very cool. There are currently 193 member states in the United Nations.

The room below is used for the Human Rights hearings and discussions. The ceiling, which you can see a bit of here is painted with lots of different colours and textures to represent the variety of cultures in the world. As expected, each country in the UN has a labelled chair - they are arranged alphabetically. And yes, Iran and Iraq sit next to one another, and no, it doesn't cause problems.

A closer view of the seats. After the member states come the special groups (can't remember what she called them) like the Vatican and Palestine - not voting members but invited to all discussions and can participate. Then come the observers, which could be non- government organisations like WWF or Bank Mondiale. Every seat has a microphone, translation earpiece and voting button (if appropriate).

The UN receives lots of gifts from the various countries so while this is 'just' a working office of the UN, it seems a bit more like a museum or art gallery. This was a gift from China and I can't represent it in the photos, but it's a tapestry with a changing perspective. The set of stairs you see in front stays in front no matter where you're standing to look at the tapestry.

This is where they hold discussions on weapons and conflict. Discussions on Isreal, Palestine and recently negotiations around a treaty to ban nuclear weapons take place in this very room. Pretty awesome to sit where these discussions have and are taking place.

There are hundreds of large and small conference rooms throughout the building. The amount of work and people involved is a bit overwhelming.

And of course, we had to get a good photo of the flag display. It was a sunny and very calm day so hard to see the flags themselves. No idea where the US flag is.

A weekend in Geneva

I'm a bit behind (as usual) on my vacation posting. At the end of May we spent the holiday weekend in Geneva, Switzerland. A very nice city - modern, international, home of the United Nations and some amazing food. It was also one of the most expensive cities we've visited. Here are a few highlights of the city itself.

I think the structure below was a mosque. And have a look at the trees - it's a special kind of pruning they do to ensure the trees don't get too wide and leafy. I've seen a few like this in Bristol as well.

This is the iconic Jet D'Eau (water jet) that is one of the tourist symbols for Geneva. It was originally installed as a safety value for a hydraulic system, but is now just a tourist attraction. It runs during the day all year round, except in really strong wind or frost and operates at night in the summer months.

This is a memorial to someone, but I can't remember who (I know, how's that for an attentive tourist?)

Yep, that's a segway. Scheduled another segway tour - if you follow the blog, you know how much we love those segways!

This is an ancient arsenal built in the 17th century originally as a granary and then used as a military storehouse. There are 5 cannons on display that were used throughout the 17th and 18th century. The murals on the walls depict some of the highlights of Geneva's history.

The tree above is used to announce the first day of spring in Geneva. (kind of like our Groundhog day, I guess). Each year, the city declares the start of spring when they see the first leaf on this tree.

Random park with life-sized checkers and chess.

A nod to the Calvinist and Methodist history of Geneva. We visited one church (couldn't take photos) that had been built by the Roman Catholics (gilt, pomp, ornate) and then taken over by Calvin. What an interesting contrast - huge, cathedral but no decorations at all - just a very simple alter with a bible on it.

A cut little fountain in the middle of 'old town'. Where the town used to gather to get fresh water, gossip, etc.

Random couple of days in beautiful Bristol

I know, you're probably sick of me talking about how beautiful it is here, but I'm inspired to take photos often at random times during the day and then inspired to share them with you. Part of it is the difference from Abu Dhabi and part of it is just that this climate and greenery is absolutely perfect for me. We were recently in hot, dusty Malta on vacation, and while I loved the trip, I was so happy to get 'home' to green Bristol. And so, you will just have to suffer through my numerous photos and romantic gushing about the place.

I had training on Thursday and Friday in another building so plugged the location into Google Maps and ended up on this lovely 15 minute walk through a park and some hidden alleyways to get to the building. What a treat! Usually the route is along the busy city streets, but this was not only a shortcut but beautiful as well. The weather was pretty overcast both days with pouring rain at times - luckily, I managed to miss the rain showers.

The next photo is Cabot Tower which must have some great views of the city. I was there before it opened for visitors so will need to go back some time with Brian and check it out. Hopefully on a sunny day where the photos will be even better.

Around a corner on a small alley kind of street, there is a Banksy! If you're not familiar, Banksy is an anonymous and famous street artist (he? she? they?) that started in Bristol. This one has a plastic protector to ensure it doesn't get vandalized.

For lunch, I went back through the park and found a nice spot to eat my sandwich. It was overcast and a bit chilly, but how wonderful to have lunch outside in a park!

Random brick wall and tunnel below. It's one of the things I love most about living here - the old buildings and surprises you'll find tucked away in corners. Didn't have time to explore as I had to get back to class.

By evening the sun had come out so Brian and I decided to meet up for dinner at our favourite burger and cider place on the harbour. This is near where we stayed when we first arrived so holds a special little place in our hearts . . . okay, not really, it's all about the burger and cider!

The door is always open! We have a spare room with a double-bed or lots of lodging options closer to the city centre. You can fly into the Bristol airport or into London and take the train. If you 'fancy a visit' just let us know.