The Grass is Greener in Geneva

The grass was extraordinarily green and I saw several outdoor photo exhibitions. This one was sponsored by the UN and had pictures of families from all over the world and quotes from them about their lives. The gardeners were getting ready to plant new flowers... probably some super-hybrid strain that can survive the bitter lake effect.


Trees grow funny in Geneva.


Geneva had lots of interesting public art, including this peculiar spinning fountain center-piece near the youth hostel (which, incidentally, was not bad. quite sterile and lacking in personality, but relatively clean and affordable).


The European streets are really starting to look alike... this was just a little south of Lake Geneva, near the Old Town, and home to lots of pricey shops -- well, pricier shops. Everything in Geneva was pricey.


There were numerous churches throughout the city and almost all had lovely clock-faces.


Inter-fowl conflict... call the UN!


Speaking of the UN, I took a tour of the Geneva complex -- zzzz. Security there was utterly inept, so I wasn't scared at all and stuck my hand through a thick gate to take this picture. I'm not sure if that's a sniper on the roof?


However, this building was a little more intimidating... the "Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation." Yikes. This is directly across the street from the UN complex (i.e., where I was standing when I took the picture!) and appears to have brought excellent financial success to barbed wire contractors.


This was a beautiful... building on the Rhone River, just before it meets Lake Geneva. I wish I knew if this was a museum -- it was right next to a dodgy area of Geneva that we dubbed the "warehouse district" - and stayed out in until 5:30am. There was a huge discotheque in one of the warehouses; we chose the more contemporary music area... but the drum+bass section sounded INSANE. Apparently a popular DJ from Brazil was in town for the weekend and he had a huge following.