May 13 - Geneva

Checking in from a pretty sweet internet cafe in Geneva. It has a bar, pool tables and internet, so I may be here a while...and it's called 'America's' - I wonder if I can move in.

After I left you, my awesome cousin James and I.....well, to be honest, I didn't do jack....James cooked a nice dinner and we had a couple drinks. After that, we hit the town to experience the Edinburgh nightlife. We made it to a bar to meet one of his buddies, and then we went to a club. Very cool spot with some very danceable music. Unfortunately, I didn't have my requisite 10+ pre-dancing cocktails in order to get the cojones to hit the dance floor, so I did my best Night at the Roxbury impression on the sidelines. There were a handful of decent dancers but many more with less rhythm than Elaine Benes (including me but not James), one shitfaced guy dressed up in a 3 piece white suit with gold shoes doing his best impression of Travolta in Saturday Night Fever (yet failing more miserably than me in Latin 101 at Dickinson) and overall a good time. The next morning was set perfectly, as we walked up Arthur's Seat and exercised the booze right out. After a nice hike, it was nice to chill and take in the beautiful views of Edinburgh - very peaceful and serene up there. I took some nice pictures, but of course forgot the computer connection, so no pix yet. Then was walked the Royal Mile back up to the Scotch Whiskey tour, which was badass. A nice background on the making of Scotch Whiskey, then we were taken into an amazing room where a Scotch collector donated his private stash of Scotch - 3500+ bottles. And then the tasting, which was delicious, but I would have preferred a larger glass. Shocking, right??? After that, James and I headed back to his place, as I had an early flight out of Edinburgh to Geneva, where I am visiting my Aunt and Uncle. Edinburgh is sick. Such magnificent buildings, churches, and incredibly walkable. I had a blast.

Fast forward a couple hours, and I'm in Geneva. After a nice tour of my Uncle's office - he works in Geneva at the Ecumenical Institute for the World Council of Churches (yeah, we are all surprised we share the same blood), I headed into downtown Geneva for some sightseeing. It is truly a beautiful city, with Lake Geneva and the Rhone River running through the center providing a beautiful downtown area. I wandered around the Jardin Anglais (translation - beats me) and took some pix of the Jet d'Eau (ibid) and got a little lost, which I enjoyed. Headed back to my Aunt and Uncle's house, which is awesome. They live across the border in France in Versonnex, but it is just 20 minutes to Geneva, so it's very easy to get into the city. Their house is awesome - almost a rural setting, with a horse farm behind their house, beautiful flower gardens line the driveway and backyard, a beautifl backyard with a stream on one border of the property, woods behind, and the interior is sweet as well. That night I mapped out my itinerary for the next 3 weeks, but I'm not telling you what it is. That wouldn't be much fun, would it?? Topping it off, one side of the house faces the Juras Mountains - including my bedroom. So I wake up and when I look out the windows I see mountains. Great way to start the day.

Yesterday was a great day. I headed into the city and hit a couple museums. The first was Maison Tavel, hich is the oldest private residence in Geneva, originally built in the 12th century and was rebuilt in 1334 after a huge fire in Geneva destroyed much of the city. The attic was my favorite room, with a 24x18 (fet) replica of Geneva circa 1850. Other cool tidbits were 2 columns from the riginal Library of the Academy, now known as the University of Geneva, which was founded by the Protestant Reformation leader John Calvin. Afer that, I took a tour of the Museum of the Reformation, which was packed with info, and a bit overwhelming. One small detractor about that musuem was, although I had an audio guide, a lot of the exhibits had plackards describing what they were - in French. No English. So I basically walked up to them, gave an approving nod as if I knew what they said, and walked to the next one. They all could have said "Chris, you're an idiot" and I would have given it an approving nod. After that, I wandered some more, and then took a super touristy yet quite enjoyable boat tour of Geneva on Lake Geneva. It gave some very nice vantage points of key landmarks, of which I am brainfarting on most, but it was cool. Saw the Palais of Wilson, which was the original HQ for the League of Nations, formed after WWI and named after President Woodrow Wilson, who essentially got the ball rolling for te creation of it, although it was unsuccessful. I got some other good pix as well. Then rolled back to the house, hada great dinner with my Aunt and Uncle, and hit the hay.

I had another awesome day today. I took a tour of the United Nations building, which was sick. Saw some cool conference rooms, and although it is an official working office building, it's like a musuem as well. A lot of the decorations are donations from member countries, so there is an immense amount of culture around the building. I know that's not a landmark comment, seeing as how it is the UN after all, but it's cool. The UN building in Geneva is the 2nd largest UN building in the world, after the UN headquarters in NYC, and is focused on peacekeeping and diplomatic relations, whereas the NYC building essentially focuses on political functions. The tour was interesting and informational, and well worth the time for anyone who visits Geneva. After that, I walked right across the street to the Internation Museum of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Again, well worth the time. The Red Cross was essentially started by a man named Henry Dunant, a Geneva businessman who encountered the remnamts of the Battle of Solferino in 1859, a battle where 40,000 men were killed and wounded in one day, as the French and Piedmontese drove the Autrians out of North Italy. Arriving on the scene, Dunant was horrified to find the dead and wounded abandoned on the battlefield, and he mobilized the local population to tend to them. As much as I would love to say I wrote all of that, I can't... I pimped it from a brochure. After this, Dunant wrote "A Memory of Solferino" where he called for the nations to form some sort of international body to tend to the relief of wounded. (That was all me, baby) And so the Red Cross began. The museum was great, yet at the same time heartbreaking, as some of the Red Cross's most necessary times were in that of war, so there were a lot of pictures of Red Cross workers on a litany of battlefields. So you see how needed and imprtant the Red Cross is, yet at the same time a lot of death and suffering. Somewhat sobering considering current events. On a more uplifitng note....then I walked into more of the Old City in Geneva and took in some more sights. All in all, a great visit. Awesome seeing my Aunt and Uncle, as it's always great seeing family, especially those that you don't get to see very often. And lot of culture and great sightseeing.

I'm off to Florence tomorrow! Which will be the beginning of my train travels across Europe, which I am pumped for. If anyone has any recommendations about what to see or where to eat, please post a comment or email me to cpwhite@aol.com

Thanks for reading!! Catch you in a couple days