Day 4
Day 4, in which we get lost in Switzerland and encounter surly Swiss army men.
Oh, it was an early morning today - up at 5am, left the hotel at 6, and our train departed at 7:10. We had a close call at the train station when, I swear I'm not exaggerating, a giant pigeon did a fly-by of my head, a la Maverick from Top Gun. Luckily it missed and we made it to the train without incident.
Ready to go:
Boy was that first class rail ticket worth it. I love traveling by train and the large reclining seats were perfect for relaxing and enjoying the view. We got to the train station early enough that we even had time to get pastries and coffee, so we sat back, ate, drank, and watched the countryside roll by bliss!
In front of and behind us were three American businessmen and a French man who was accompanying them. At first I really enjoyed listening to the French man speak to the others, but 3 hours later I was a bit worn out by hearing about his perfect family. I swear, he barely drew breath! Not to mention that by the end of the trip, he had reduced "Mrs. Gore" (known as Tipper Gore to the rest of us) to a pretty face and a pair of nice legs - nicer than Mrs. Clinton's, in fact. *rolls eyes*
The ride to Geneva was interesting. Much of the countryside looked a bit like North Carolina - green tree lines, fairly flat, etc. But instead of American looking barns and farmhouses, you saw old stone houses and villages periodically. Lots of cows (almost all white) and sheep - baaa! Thank god I hadn't eaten any of them lately! There were many sunflower fields but we were too late to see them in bloom - it seemed the flowers were being left so they would go to seed. I can't even imagine what it looked like with the countryside dotted with fields of giant yellow flowers.
About two hours into the trip, we started seeing small mountains - the beginnings of the Alps if our leg-loving French co-passenger is to be believed. We also started seeing the Rhone. Here are a few pics we took from the train:
Geneva was not quite what we were expecting. It seemed a lot newer than we thought it would be. We later learned that a fire in 1865 wiped out most of the town. My research last night had uncovered the address of the villa where Byron, Percy Byshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley had their infamous story contest that resulted in Frankenstein. We were dismayed to find that the address was not on any of the maps we bought at the train depot. Thinking our maps were just not detailed enough, we found the tourism information office and asked there for the street. Turns out if was off the map. And in a nearby town called Cologny.
The woman told us it was about a 40 minute walk. It was in the same direction as some other sights we wanted to see, so we decided to go for it. The whole reason I wanted to go to Geneva was because of its Frankenstein connections and this Villa had been the only location I had been able to find in my search last night.
Some of the stuff we saw along the way:
The town along Lake Leman (not Lake Geneva) and the The Jet D'Eau - a side effect of some pumping station:
The Jardin Anglais with its infamous flower clock:
So we see all of this stuff on the way and keep walking along the river. And walking. And walking. To be fair, it hasn't been 40 minutes yet, especially given all of the detours we've taken to see the gardens and also take pics of these cows that were all over the city:
Eventually, we get to the end of our map. At this point, we stop two passing businessmen and ask them. We are still on the right track. There are two ways we can get there - the pretty way and the direct way. So we opt for the pretty way.
Round about this time I notice that the map kind of nods toward the fact that a Villa of Lord Byron's is just slightly off the map. We decide that maybe this is the same place we are looking for and gosh, wouldn't it be convenient if it were on the main street along the river? So we find this house that looks like a Villa to us. We dodge across the street and take a few pictures of it but can't find an address or any kind of placard announcing the historical significance of the location. Around the side of the grounds is a path marked "To Cologny" so we decide to take it. What that woman failed to mention was that Cologny is on top of a big ass hill. So we are hoofing it up the hill around the side of the property. We get to the back and the number is the same as the number on the Byron Villa. We get very excited and take a bunch of pictures but still can't find the street address and I refuse to just pretend that I think this is the house.
Could this be it????
So we continue on the path to Cologny and see a man up ahead in the road. Kim: Is that an armed guard? Cris: I don't know. Why would there be a guard up here. Kim: He definitely has a big gun.
Okay, so we'll ask him what street this is. But he turns and starts walking away from us. We continue walking down the street and we eventually get to this gate with not one, but two armed guards. We stop and ask the name of the streets but we are gestured at. So we back up. We are gestured at even more. We eventually figure out that we are supposed to go away and not talk to them. We notice some kind of royal seal on the gates. Obviously they didn't think we were a real threat because otherwise, those guns would have been pointed at us. Cris wanted to take their picture but I wouldn't let him. Somehow I thought that would not be appreciated. Although we asked about it later, we never did find out just what they were guarding.
We get to the end of the street and the name is not visible. We continue to follow the arrows to Cologny. Up more hill. By this time we are panting, sweaty, and feeling thoroughly confused. We have no idea where we are. We have deviated from the directions the tourism woman gave us and at this point we decide we are officially lost in Switzerland!
We finally found Cologny but could not find the street with the Mary Shelley address. We asked an older woman and she said she felt like an idiot because she didn't know but she would ask someone else for us. She spoke English and was very kind to wander around until she found someone who knew. She even mentioned giving us a ride in her car but we were actually quite close to the street.
We finally find the street and celebrate with a happy dance! I double check my notes and see that it is, in fact, the same house as the Byron Villa. I even had the name of the house in my notes - Villa Diadoti. I just never put "Byron's Villa Diadoti" together with the address in my head. If we had just asked for that, I bet we would have found it much more quickly!
So here are some shots of the much sought after Villa Diadoti:
The House:
The view:
Infamy:
Notice there is no mention of Ms. Shelley's inspiration for Frankenstein happening here? Figures. I took some leaves from the trees on the property to press. They were actually doing construction there and the gates were wide open. It was awfully tempting to just wander in but we had had our fill of brushes with "the man" for the day, thank you very much.
We figured out how to take the bus back to town and got there in like, 5 minutes. Faster and less sweaty - hooray!
Our next stop was a restaurant I had found online that supposedly had the best fondue in town. Unfortunately, we missed their lunch hour so we had to wing it. We found a nearby restaurant that also served fondue (and beer - the other requisite after all of that walking around in the humid weather!). The Clintons were a theme in the day because when you went to use the bathroom, you encountered a giant photo collage of Bill and Hillary at the restaurant in 1994. After seeing that, we noticed that the outside wall also had a letter posted from Bill. Cool.
Pics of the restaurant:
Bill Clinton Letter:
Courtyard behind our table with mosaic murals from 48 B.C.
The pigeon that tormented me all through lunch and even swooped in for bread! I'm beginning to feel a bit like Tipi Hedren.
And the most important part:
We were walking along one of the main shopping streets (minor digression here: The Swiss also love their haute couture in addition to their chocolates, clocks, and army knives!) All of a sudden, we heard shouting and police sirens. Not the smartest move but we decided to see what the heck was going on - a socialist demonstration? Unruly teens? What could it be? We walked up to a crowd on the sidewalk just in time to see the end of what seemed to be a bunch of angry young men in black suits shouting (singing? They had a conductor. Honestly, it sounded more like male cheering or something). Greatly intrigued we discussed the possibilities - a fraternity? A soccer club?
All of a sudden they stopped and started walking single file down the street. We had no choice but to follow them. Soon they stopped again and did another performance. We couldn't understand everything but we did pick up that they did a "song" about the United States that consisted of "Oh! Say can you See! Oh! Say can you see!- Bombs now, Bombs later, bombs!" being shouted for a while.
So we got some info on them from a flyer and they are the "men's choir shouters" from Finland. Very interesting. From their website: "When the choir find a song that pleases their temperament and warped sense of humour, the conductor starts dismantling it: the melody goes first and usually the text is also heavily trimmed. The remains are then cast into a completely new form; the complex rhytmic structure emphasises the essence of the text, or simply reflects the voices inside the human brain provoked by the language itself, music, urban or rural noise, or the blood circulation system." More info here: http://www.huutajat.org/
Here are a few pics of them:
That was pretty much it for the major excitement of the day. We wandered and window-shopped. I wanted to buy a cuckoo clock but all of the ones within my price range were cheesy and all of the ones I like were upwards of several hundred Swiss Francs. Less than buying with Euros, but still more than the dollar.
Although Geneva was not quite what we had expected - much newer and much more flat, it was still a nice outing. We had plenty of time to take a leisurely walk to the train station and were back in Paris by 10:45pm.
We are thinking of renting a car tomorrow and going to Giverny and Rouen. Or we might stay in town. Guess we'll see when we finally drag ourselves out of bed!
