December 2000 › Lisa's day in Dusseldorf, Germany › Geneva, Switzerland › Geneva, Switzerland also › Interlaken, Switzerland › Lausanne, Switzerland › UN or UB? Switzerland › Atlantic Wall - Hoek van Holland Other Months › Index page

Geneva, Switzerland Sunday, December 03, 2000; posted by Paris Last weekend Lisa and I spent 4 days visiting Switzerland. We had some really cheap tickets from EasyJet (about $75 roundtrip each). We landed in Geneva Friday morning, spent the day and evening walking through the city. Saturday we went to Interlaken and saw the most beautiful countryside on the train ride there. Sunday we toured Lausanne and Monday we visited the sites we did not have time for on Friday. Generally it was sunny and the snow-capped mountains always loomed brilliantly in the distance. The cities were preparing for the Christmas festivities, and the chocolate shops and bakeries were filled with tasty holiday treats. After Norway, this was one of the most picturesque countries I have ever visited. The beauty of the nature, the clean, cool air , and the sun (we have not seen any in the Netherlands for a few weeks) was great. If you have ever wondered why the two letters assigned to Switzerland are CH and not something like SZ, I will tell you. The official name they use is Confederatio Helvetica. French is spoken in the West and German in the center and East. There is a dialect and Italian mixed in, too. And thankfully English could be found everywhere. An interesting looking building we saw. Nothing special, otherwise. The colorful leaves looked great in the Jardin Anglais along Lake Leman. The famous clock of flowers found in the Jardin Anglais. A row of trees and benches in the peaceful Jardin Botanique near the UN. A view of Lake Leman from Geneva. A view of the mountains surrounding Geneva. A small carnival tucked in a little plaza. The headquarters of the Red Cross, across from the UN.