Day 37. Today I woke
up and caught a train to Bern, the capitol of Switzerland in the heart of the
Alps. The train ride was just a 2 hour ride but it was incredible to ride
through the Alps. I got to see all of Geneva Lake and the city laid out in front of me, fields of yellow
flowers and the countryside of Switzerland with the impressive white Alps as
the backdrop. Bern is a very old town that has a lot of its history preserved. It’s
a medieval/ very renaissance town with cellar shops, decorative fountains, high
but short tiled roofs, and it is right along a bend in the river. It was really
cool just walking around and pretending I lived in medieval times. My expensive train
ticket came with a free admission to the history museum (go student discounts!)
so I made my way through the town, checking out the parliament building, the
clock tower, and the cathedral on my way to the museum. The Bern Historical Museum
/Einstein Museum had a death and murder temporary exhibit going on that was pretty
interesting, it was calling into question what the value of human life was, and if
murder can ever be acceptable/ what would drive you to killing someone. The
main museum had a lot of history from the old town of Bern and the Einstein museum
that was also very interesting to see. After the museum I walked to
Bearpark where I got to see a brown bear!! I love brown bears and it was my
first time seeing one in person. Its ears were so cute, I just wanted to give
it a big’ol bear hug! But I knew better, so I saved the bear hug for when I get to
see Anthony in Italy (SO SOON!). After watching the bear for a bit I made my way up to the
Rose Garden. Unfortunately, the roses weren’t in bloom… but I am sure they would
have been lovely and could picture them in my mind. The view from the rose
garden was excellent; I had the whole of the city laid out in front of me and
the Alps behind me. I caught the train back to Geneva and was so tired form
walking around all day I kept falling asleep in my seat. When Alvaro got home
we ordered a pizza and I FINALLY did my laundry. I was in dire need for clean
clothes and washed absolutely everything (Literally everything except for a
pair of shorts, haha). I was already so tired but had to stay up and wait for
my clothes to be dry, ugh. I eventually decided they were dry enough and just folded
them quick (they were still slightly barely damp…) so I could go to bed.
Another excellent day and yay for clean clothes!
Day
38. Today I woke up and was very excited to get a tour of the United Nations here
in Geneva. I put on some nice clothes to look sharp and cleaned myself up as
best I could (It’s definitely time for a haircut). Alvaro came and picked me up
and we were off to the UN, Eek I'm so excited (I really made that noise)!! We got
to the United Nations and I had to go through security and I got my very own
visitors badge complete with a picture, time of arrival, and my passport number (They weren't messing around).
They asked where I was from in the states and were excited I was from Seattle,
but the security officers said we needed a better basketball team, haha. The tour of the UN was fantastic! I got to see all of the major rooms
where they have important meetings and discussions on international policy, peace, finance, human rights, etc. And I got to learn a lot about the League of Nations and some of the United Nations history. I
walked past a room where a meeting was going on and wanted to sneak inside so
bad! The coolest room had colored stalagmite all over the ceiling. It was supposed
to be imitating water and to pull it off they had to reinforce the ceiling. So cool! Ugh,
it really solidified my desire to work for the UN one day in Human Rights.
Geneva is home to 200ish international government and non-government organizations, including the International Red Cross, the
UN, the United States Mission office, International Labour Organization, World Health Organization, etc. and
it was really impressive being in the presence of such important buildings and organizations. On the flip side, Geneva is ridiculously expensive! After
the tour I made some new friends, Peter and his very lovely wife both from
California, now living in England. We decided to explore Geneva together
and so walked down along Lake Geneva towards the city centre. As we were walking we
came across a street performer moving around 3 cups with a hidden ball in one of them and
you had to bet against where the ball was. I didn’t place any bets, but I got it
right every single time (They definitely cheat you and I wasn’t about to fall
into another tourist trap). We then headed to the jet d’eau. An enormous jet of
water coming out of lake Geneva spouting seven tonnes of water at
200 km/h going ridiculously high into the sky. Apparently you haven’t been to Geneva
or Switzerland unless you have gotten wet by the jet so of course we had to run
through the mist and get soaked by the falling water. After we all were sufficiently wet we
headed to the Old Town. It was similar to Bern in that it had a medieval design and
very renaissance vibe to it. There was even a fountain in the middle of old town were
you could drink fresh mountain water. We then headed to the Cathedral Saint-Pierre and
climbed its many steps for a panoramic view of the city. We got there right as
the 4 o’clock bells were ringing which was cool to see from the top of the tower as they
were ringing in the tower right next to us. It was such a great day in Geneva, the
weather was so warm it was excellent to walk around the city and enjoy each other's company. We were all quite tired from walking around so after the cathedral we parted ways and I
headed to the train station to get my tickets to Germany sorted. I grabbed a
quick snack, got my tickets sorted in like 30 seconds, and then headed back to
Alvaro’s. He had prepared a delicious chicken and potatoes soup that I scarfed up
and I got to skype for a while before he came home. I was so exhausted from the day that Alvaro and
I watched a bit of Die Hard 4 (classic), and then I passed out as soon as my
head hit the pillow. It was a great way to end a trip to Geneva (Thank you so
much for hosting me Alavaro, I can’t express enough thank you's!!!!). Tomorrow morning
I am off to Germany where I get to see Tom again and experience more fantastical adventures in Europe, Yippee!
