Blog /Rtw Day 15: Leaving Geneva

September 25, 2007 23:39 +0000  |  'Round-the-World Switzerland Travel 3

I'm just about to pack up my stuff and go to bed so I can be on an 11am train to Milan tomorrow. Geneva isn't really worth a longer stay and I certainly can't afford it anyway.

The thing you have to remember about Switzerland is that they're intentionally independent. Surrounded on all sides by countries united around a common currency and a common international political position, and Switzerland is perfectly happy to just be Switzerland.

The United Nations

As a result, this is the only leg of my trip where I have to worry about currency differences. Where everyone else uses the Euro (1€ = $1.42CAD), the Swiss use the Swiss Franc ($1CHF = $1.16CAD). So basically what prices you see, is what you pay... but what you see is a lot higher than usual. My less-than-impressive hotel has cost about $220CHF/night... not fun.

For the most part, Geneva is pretty ugly. As I mentioned earlier, it's loud, dirty and car-ridden. The cycling infrastructure is shit, but still better than what you might find in Canada (how sad is that?) and the transit system is kinda neat (though the doors are mean... I got caught in them twice in one trip).

It's not all bad though. I had some fabulous icecream from a local vendor and their chocolate is pretty good as well. Though stay away from the chocolate yogurt, that stuff is nasty.

The reason I came out to this place though was the UN. In nearly every sci-fi story out there, for some reason, the world courts and/or governments always seem to be hosted here, in this tiny Swiss town... I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

I took the guided UN tour and sat in the very room we see on TV where our world leaders speak. I walked the same halls walked by peace makers and peace keepers from dozens of generations. I saw where the League of Nations rose and fell and rose again as the United Nations. It's a hell of a thing, and well worth the shiny coins and coloured paper it cost me to come here.

As an aside, I should mention that all my pictures taken to date are now in my imager. You can follow the links from here to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Berlin, Nuremberg, and Geneva or just go to the imager and look around.

Comments

Melanie Cassidy
27 Sep 2007, 1:31 a.m.  | 

is it wrong that I looked at that image and the first thing I thought of was the United Federation of Planets?

Theresa
27 Sep 2007, 2:43 a.m.  | 

The most evil sunway doors are the ones on the tube...i swear they would crush you to death, i got some serious bruises from them once!!! Hope the trip is going good...

Pavel Zaitsev
29 Sep 2007, 7:48 p.m.  | 

I'd love to go to Zurich, thats a banking city, so it should be more cleaned and orderly, and thats where key opening events happen, from the Bourne Series books. I'm sure you will enjoy Milan too. All the Italian food! from Rick, I'd stick to these places where you can pick and choose stuff, they are cafeterias in deli style, where you point at what you want to eat, but they don't have deli stuff, like cheeses and spreads. Don't forget if you want to grab some fashion stuff, Milan is where people go to dress up. People fly from all over the world there, so if you care to get a few things, they'll be there alot cheaper and available.
Cheers and have a great choo choo

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