Geneva!

Wayne, who Ive been travelling though Switzerland with, left this morning for the USA. So today I was alone in Europe for the first time in my life. Let me tell you, its both scary and awesome. I was free to basically do whatever I wanted....and so I did.

After figuring out the local Mass Transit bus system, I spent the day walking the old city. I wandered around until I came across Saint-Pierre, something I had earlier decided I definitely wanted to see. Boy, was I right. If you thought Cluny was amazing and breathtakingly old and beautiful and inspiring, then you should see Saint-Pierre! It totally blows Cluny out of the water! I saw that they had some archeological museum under the church, so I decided to go in and check it out. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. Under the cathedral is the remains of the previous churches that were built on that spot beginning with the burial mound constructed there by the barbarians that inhabited Geneva before the Romans occupied the town. My jaw dropped many times during this visit as I saw the different layers that had been built on top of each other over the years. Because people have been continually rebuilding cathedrals on this site throughout the middle ages, the site is unique in that the history of Geneva is revealed by the layers of stone. Other than just sheer, utter, amazement, I was also thinking about how jealous my sister would be when I told her about this. I'm pretty sure she'd do anything to visit this site. Any Medieval history major would. Thus my day began with finding out that Geneva has been around since the time of the Romans.

After this I had lunch at a little cafe after wandering about a bit, and then decided to head down to the Jet d'eau. Of course, on Sunday, nothing is open, and sure enough, after spending about an hour finding it, I realized it wasn't turned on. I got a great picture of where it would be though. I guess i'll have to come back once more to see it in action. I then again wandered around some more and taking pictures of anything that looked pretty. Some of the places I visited included Calvin's lecture room, two other old churches whose names I can't remember right now, the hotel de centre ville, and the flower clock. By flower clock, I mean that the clock was made of flowers. I'll put up a picture of it when bandwith limits permit me to. I then ended my journey in Switzerland with a delicious cheese fondue and glasses of local red and white wines. Now, its time pack for tomorrow.

I'd like to thank you for following me on my journey through the history and culture of Cluny and the Burgundy region, as well as the microbiology of wine and cheese. I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog. I will post some afterthoughts when i'm back home in the states, and do a final post with all those pictures i've been promising.

Ciao!