"Let's go to Switzerland for the day! Sure...okay, it's only a 2 hour bus/train ride! Let's do it!" And that is exactly what we did this past Saturday… And despite the 6:20am departure from the gare, it was wonderful!

Our first stop was the United Nations Headquarters of Europe in Geneva, Switzerland. The first thing that caught my eye you ask? Well that’s easy…this giant wooden chair, called ‘The Broken Chair’, in the middle of the Place des Nations. This 39-foot chair surprisingly is not a 4-legged chair, but 3 and a quarter legs. The fourth leg is broken off leaving shards of jagged wood, yet still remains standing without tipping over. It is such a unique public statement that you can’t help but wonder what the importance, the significance of this chair is. The answer: it’s a symbol of the fight against anti-personnel land mines. It is quite the sight to see in person let me tell you!


On our way to the main entrance of the UN, Lexie, Karlee and I ran across a patch of daffodils and had to stop and take some pictures…we are such girls!


Besides the UN, do you know what else originated in this city? The Red Cross! Right across the street from the UN actually, they have the International Red Cross Museum. We did not get to tour there, but it definitely is on my list of things to do if I ever go back.

It was finally time for our tour of the UN. Our tour was actually in English because the French tour wasn’t until the mid-afternoon, but to be honest, I am glad it was in English because I learned so many new facts about the UN that I found fascinating! (Don’t worry, I will not bore you with all the details). For starters though, can you name the 6 official languages of the UN? And even more interesting, what are the top 2 languages used? I always thought that out of the 192 countries that are part of the UN, that they each had their own translator to translate speeches, etc. into their countries language, but that is not true! The translator will only translate whatever is being spoken into one of the official languages, which are: English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Arabic (English and French being the top two- yeah French!) So whoever the countries representative is must know one of these languages.


The tour lasted about an hour or so where we were able to see a UN conference room, the General Assembly room, the Peace room and the Salle des Droites de l'Homme et de l'Alliance des Civilisations as well as the gardens (well from the window- they don’t allow tourists to go outside because the property is so large and it would create security risks).


My favorite room was the human rights conference room. This room was by the far the most unique of them all, with the speckled ceiling of colors and the meaning behind this piece of art is also quite intriguing. At first this ceiling was very controversial because it was so bright and colorful and not what people wanted. But as the artist explained the reason behind his masterpiece, it started to grow on everyone. There are so many colors and different shapes and objects because when people think and even discuss human rights, we all have our own opinion and views- we see issues from many different angles. This assembly must come together and think what the best option is for the country, but they have to remember that everyone has different opinions and they do not know what the other person is thinking or feeling on a topic. The colors and shapes represent this because from one angle you see one color, but from another angle, there are different colors and shapes but unless a person sees the ceiling from those different angles, they have no idea it’s there. Something to think about for sure…

After our wonderful tour, we headed to the town for some lunch right on Lake Geneva, with a fabulous view of the jet d’eau (water jet in English). This originally was made to relieve water pressure from old pipes in the old town, but now, it not only does that, but it also was made into a tourist attraction.


We also walked through the jardin anglais where we came across the flower watch (so clever!) and a beautiful gazebo.


Then up to St. Peter’s Cathedral, which overlooks the entire city! And after, we walked through a market (not that exciting), but before we headed to the train station, the trip would have not been complete without buying some Swiss chocolate (Toblerone to be exact)! And that my friends, completed my trip!

P.S.- anyone wondering what the significance of my album title “Smoke on the Water” is? Well, when Deep Purple was at the Montreux (a city also on Lake Geneva opposite Geneva) Music Festival, there was actually a fire in Geneva and they could see the smoke on the lake, so the band decided to sing about it and what do you know? “Smoke on the Water” became a hit!* This fun fact was contributed by my lovely mother, who knows everything and anything about music! Love her!

P.P.S- Nothing related to Geneva, but today I was running around the track by my apartment and because none of my roommates were home I took a small sack with water and my house keys. The track was dead with a few people rollerblading, but that was it. No one was sitting at the benches in the middle of the track, so I put my bag underneath the bench and started my run. I noticed this guy sitting on the bleachers taking a break from rollerblading who kept looking at me, but I just thought that he was doing so because my face was really red or I was wearing a shirt with English on it, I don’t know. As I am coming around for my 12th lap and final one I might add, I see him making his way to the benches. I kept an eye out for what he was doing because my bag was there and as I was rounding the corner of the track I look back and I see him picking my bag up and opening it!!! I turned around and raced over there yelling at him (in French) “What the h*** are you doing?! That is my bag!” And he responded, “Oh this is your bag? I was looking to see whose it was.” HAH Yeah right! He saw me putting my bag down and I knew he was planning on steeling it if I wouldn’t have seen him. I snatched my bag out of his hand as aggressively as I could and shower him who’s boss! And not only that, but I was shocked because this guy was like 50! But because of this, now I will have to find another way to transport my keys when running because I am not going to leave my bag alone again!

And get excited!! Paris with CEA next weekend and Vizille chateau this weekend! Only 4 more weeks until Patrick comes to visit too!

Until next time,

Steph