Genf

So I got back to Stuttgart from Venice very late at night Sunday, and then went into work monday afternoon. I'd actually requested the entire day off, but we had a major competition due so I felt like I should put in a least a half day.

Wednesday afternoon, the company decided to send me to Geneva for a meeting on friday, so I quickly bought rail tickets and booked the cheapest hotel I could find. I didn't have to stay: the meeting was going to be quick and I could have just hopped a train straight back, but its six hours by rail each way and I usually like to explore a new city a bit, especially if the transit is paid for.

So Friday morning, I caught a 5:45 am train out of Stuttgart, lugging my meeting materials and a backpack with a change of clothes. When I crossed the border into Switzerland at Basel, I had at that point been through four European countries in five days.

It ended up taking five trains to get to Geneva, but I eventually got there, and took care of the business I'd been sent to do, and then had the rest of the afternoon and next day free. After my meeting I went straight to the hotel since I was totally exhausted. Geneva has a small red light district, and I was bemused to discover my hotel was on its edge. Actually, the store next to the hotel was a sex shop, and from my window I could see the hookers on the street corners, and once, a drug cache pickup. For all that though the hotel was nice. Low cost, but no flophouse by any stretch of the imagination. The hotel also included a public transit pass for the city and breakfast, which substantially lowered my food costs.
On the free wifi, I arranged to meet my old coworker Sergio for dinner that night, since he was going to school in Lausanne.

I struck out in the afternoon for the main UN building and took a tour of the buildings. It was nice, kind of fun to be in the center of international diplomacy land, although I found myself humming the theme from National Geographic over and over. In the end, though, the UN campus lacks a kind of identity because it is really just a stage for things to happen- its an ornate vessel. The guided tour was good- the guide was animated and interesting, but very matter of fact and diplomatic. She dryly reported that Russia's seat on the security council had recently blocked eight resolutions on Syria. Security was not as bad as I had expected- check of my passport, a bag xray, and they printed me a special visitor badge with my photo on it.

Anyway, after the tour I went back to the hotel and slept for a few hours before meeting Sergio downstairs for dinner. We walked over to a recommended (for its quality and low cost) Lebanese restaurant and I got some grilled lamb. We got caught up over what the we'd been up to in the intervening year and a half since we parted ways in Mexico City. It was surreal to see him there in Geneva. We had a beer in a plaza near the old city center and called it a night.

Friday, I took advantage of the continental breakfast to load up for the day. I went to explore the other big Untited Nations buildings in the area, taking photos and walking around. All the architecture was transparent glass boxes, emphasis on glass.

Crossing town and the Rhone, I browsed the luxury stores on Avenue du Rhone. My search for Mezcal turned out to be fruitless, but I found an international beer store in the train station after I checked out which was a treasure trove. I bought probably two liters of beer, including Red Stripe (Saori's favorite), some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Karhu (Finnish), and some Belgians. Another big score was a kilo of Argentine yerba mate.

Got back to Stuttgart just with one train change in Zurich, and made it home Saturday night before 8:30.

German is not the most lovely language, but the things it does to other names is especially awful. Venice, Venezia becomes Venig in German, and the lovely Geneva, Genéve, is truncated to a stumpy Genf.