Last night was the Geneva day celebrations for this year, as usual capped by one of the best firework displays in Europe. (I'll put up the finale as a video and include the URL reference in a future blog.) We had dinner in the open air at the Café de Centre then walked fifty meters to the riverside to view the display. The weather was perfect, and many of the city's residents had poured into the riverside and along the lake to party. It was on a similar day of celebration that I first visited Geneva many years ago, and, as I recall the city then, there is little observable difference today.
I have mixed feelings about Geneva; in many ways it's a business and money city, without a great deal of personal warmth. Like many European cities in the post-war era, they put up some atrocious buildings in the downtown, mostly aluminum and glass packing crates. It will take a long time to get rid of them and replace them with designs more appropriate to the city's history and culture. On the other hand, control-freaks will love the many layers and degree of public administration in Switzerland. This is an organized town. Traffic is horrible; the streets are mostly under construction, with new subterranean fiber cabling, piping and tram rails being laid. I'm told it will be like this for years to come.
Geneva's old city, up on the hill, is not without charm, but then, it's old, and when compared to the modern lower city, it's peaceful and has many interesting shops. There was one enterprise selling antique scientific instruments that appealed to me in particular, but then, I like shiny, complicated things. The old city is well worth a walk, but be careful of the idiots driving the narrow streets.
It seems that if you visit European cities, eventually you end up in the local cathedral—and this is the case in Geneva. It certainly is the most interesting structure we visited. The cathedral in the old city, with its 1,700 year documented history isn't much to look at inside or out, when compared with some of the truly magnificent churches in Europe. Perhaps there is too much Calvinist influence. Then again (there are always at least two sides to any comment about Geneva), archeology has created a wonderful dig underneath the cathedral and documented the constant human occupation and building on the site since the third century. There is an exhibit under the cathedral where you can literally wander amid the excavations for eight euro, four if you're old enough to dodder, and see the structure as it existed at various times. With a few more euro and strong legs, you can walk to the top of the tower and see a spectacular view of Geneva, if you're into that sort of thing.
Geneva is about money, and this is a very rich town. Evidence of wealth is everywhere, and if you are one of the financially-challenged, it can be fairly depressing. The city is not particularly expensive for Europe until you get into luxury items, like food, clothing and housing. Eating simple is okay, but if you insist on tablecloths, prepare to hurt in the wallet area. Our experience of dining in Geneva was not that great. We found much of the food to be over-cooked and unimaginative—a surprise in what is, in effect, a French city. I'm sure there are fine restaurants here but I don't think my expectation of moderate pricing and sufficient care in food preparation is that exceptional. The same can be said of the wines: there is a natural bias to locally-grown vines, not altogether deserved.
I like the Swiss, but I'm not entirely sure why. They are obsessive about security and have some really strange views about sequestering themselves in this age of European consolidation. While the euro is essentially a second currency here, and travel to and from Switzerland by EU citizens is simple and open, this is the only country I know of that requires—today—that new residential buildings contain a bunker behind a blast door, stocked with air, water and food for its residents in the event of a nuclear attack. I find this attitude odd in a country known for peace, neutrality, the UN and charitable works, but such paranoia should resonate with many Americans convinced that everyone is out to get them.
The lake and river are Geneva's main claim to natural beauty, other than the surrounding mountains, of course. I don't think there is any sight more uplifting to the spirit, or more reassuring to a feeling of permanence and continuity of life than to pass through the Alps on a clear day. In Florida, more than anything, I think, even considering the food, culture, democracy and diversity of Europe, I miss the Alps.
It's been a long day of driving, not the happiest thing to do during the European vacation period. Through July and the first part of August, much of the population of Europe is on the road, for the most part headed south (in two weeks it's north). Weekends are the worst, which is why we traveled on Monday. There are several weekends labeled "Red" because of their traffic density, and reported on TV like sports events, with at least one picture of immense lines of cars stacked behind tunnel entrances or turnpike turnstiles. It wouldn't be summer without them.
We packed L.'s car and planned a route through Luxembourg, then south to Metz, Nancy and Dijon, and finishing up with a run through the French mountains into Geneva. This is a familiar route, and we must have driven it dozens of times. There was a great deal of traffic, as was expected, but as we stayed on the French turnpikes, the roads were safe and comfortable. My advice though: avoid the popular rest stops—vacations do not bring out the best characteristics of Europeans, or anyone for that matter.
Using the French roads is not cheap. The fee for the 500 km "payage" in France came to almost $40. (Imagine Florida charging $40 road fees to travel from J-Ville to Miami. I can see THAT happening in the near future.) Here, you do get something back for your money: smooth, wide, well-maintained roads through some of the most scenic countryside you will ever see. Traffic is also less on payage, and believe me when I say that that alone during the vacation period was worth the $40.
It was the first time in five years that we drove the expressway from Brussels to Luxembourg. We saw this road built over thirty years ago, re-built twice and repaved numerous times in the intervening years. It won't be long before it's again partially closed for resurfacing as a good length is in sad condition; road construction seems to be something beyond Belgian ken—or has a very low regional priority. The trees are very dense now on each side of the road and in the median; it's almost claustrophobic, and in places you can see very little of the Belgium—a pity, it's pretty. It reminded us of Ireland and its hedgerows.
France farm land, was, is, gorgeous. This is a civilized countryside, as you would expect after tens of centuries of tillage. As we left Dijon and headed on an eastward bent toward Geneva, we began climbing into the mountains and the views are stunning. The weather didn't cooperate fully and we ran into some rain and cloud, but on the good road it wasn't a problem.
We were early for our expected arrival in Geneva, so we decided to stop short of Switzerland and have dinner in a French village. After several false starts, and a great deal of negotiation over where to leave the expressway and strike out for a village, we decided upon Nantua, about 10km from the highway. It is a gem of a little town, laid out along a beautiful, green lake in a steep valley. We were a bit early for the restaurants, but located the Café Brasserie d'Centre near, as you expect from the name, the center. We ate what was offered, a simple menu of charcuterie, pork and rice, paired with an excellent Côte de Rhone wine, which, accompanied by a dessert, came to less than expected.
The evening wouldn't be complete without some excitement: our GPS decided that a forestry track up the side of the mountain was the means to regain the expressway. It was wrong. After bouncing along the precipice and scaring the bejesus out of the ladies (I was resolute, of course), I finally surrendered to the obvious, back-tracked, and the rest of the trip was without incident. We're now back in Switzerland for the first time in six years. Not many changes are expected.
