Geneva: Touring the City

Well, while Geneva may be better known for banking than for tourism, there is still quite a bit to see. The old town is quite well preserved, and very beautiful. It sits at the top of a hill in the center of the city. The main attraction that I saw was the cathedral. It was a bit different than others I have seen so far, with the entrance reminding me more of a Greek temple than of a traditional cathedral.

As you can see however, the rest of the building has more typical features that you'd expect to find on a cathedral.

As is typical in most "old towns" in Europe, the streets at quite narrow. This would've been one of the main streets during the Middle Ages. To us, it would appear as little more than an alley.

Some places did have wider streets, such as the main streets that entered and left the city. Here is one of the gates that leads into the old city. This is not the main gate, but a secondary one.

Another attraction in Geneva is the Flower Clock, which is a clock face made out of flowers. Every season has different flowers, and the hands are different colors. This early in the year, most of the flowers were pansies, but it was quite pretty and cheerful.

The main attraction in Geneva is the Jet'Deau, but I'll be devoting a whole post to that.

Geneva: The Journey

Friday was the day I had been waiting for, the day I would leave to go to Geneva, Switzerland. What is in Geneva, you may ask? Well, many things, but the main attraction for me is the Geneva Auto Show that takes place during the first and second week of March. But that was the plan for Sunday. Meanwhile, it was Friday, and I had an eleven hour train ahead of me. Now, I suppose I should mention that this particular route takes one through some of the most spectacular scenery on Earth, the Alps. It was quite the impressive trip! The scenery was typical post-card Alps, small Austrian and Swiss villages on the lower slopes, massive rock walls, and peaks covered in snow, complete with beautiful blue sky! This route took us through Salzburg, Innsbruck, and Lichtenstein and into Zurich, where we changed trains for the last three hours of our trip. Zurich has a massive Hauptbahnhof, with 50 plus platforms for long-haul trains, plus other sections devoted to local trains, buses, and the Metro system. To top if off, we had 12 minutes to find the right train, but fortunately it was only a couple platforms over. So with that out the way, we were on our way to Genf (Geneva). We got in around 8, and found our hostel. The room was even smaller than my room at home, but it was pleasant. Next up, in the morning, sightseeing around Geneva! Here you can see a map of the route our train took. 

Milan Cathedral

Okay, so I know that Europe is full of impressive churches and cathedrals, but I've seen enough that I was starting to get a little bored of them. But wow! The Milan Cathedral is amazing!! When you first come out of the Metro station at Duomo Station, the first thing you see across the piazza is the cathedral. It doesn't appear as large as it really is, because it doesn't have any obvious towers or turrets sticking up. What it does have is amazingly intricate stone work. You start to get an idea of how large it really is when you start walking towards it. It takes longer than you might think to cross the piazza until you arrive before the front doors. Then you go inside, and that is when it hits you: this place is MASSIVE! The columns are 20+feet in diameter, and there appears to be enough seating for half the city! Once you've walked down the main part of the nave, you still have the apse to see, and this is mostly taken up with a gigantic pipe organ. The stained glass windows are gorgeous.

view of the front from Duomo Piazza

stained glass window

massive columns

Apologies for the lack of pictures from the interior, but after taking these I was told by an annoyed looking Italian lady that you must buy a ticket to take photos inside. The ticket was 3 euros, and I didn't feel like paying to take more pictures. But you can get an idea of the size of this place by using the people for scale.

One thing that is worth paying for is going up to the roof terraces, which basically means you either climb 245 stairs (yes, I did count them!) or taking an elevator to the roof. From there you can walk around on the roof of the cathedral and get stunning views of Milan. For me, this was about the coolest thing! Walking around on the roof of a cathedral! Not something I'd ever imagined doing, yet here I was! It really felt like being on top of Milan, even though there are skyscrapers much taller than the cathedral, they are several kilometers away. 

some of the impressive stonework one can see up close when you go up on the roof.

Golden statue on the peak of the roof: tallest point on the cathedral.

Part of the walkways on the roof.

View down into part of the piazza and the entrance to an expensive department store.

Part of the skyline of Milan

One of the many gargoyles and statues on the roof

Part of the stairway to the roof

Peak of the roof

Milan: First Impressions

So, today was my first day in Milan! Here is a snapshot of some of my first impressions and sights.

• Subways, about on par with NYC as far as cleanliness goes, but not as nice as DC Metro.
• People, very friendly, even the pan handlers and scam artists.
• Subways again, don't use around 2pm if you are claustrophobic or afraid of crowds. You are packed in like sardines in a can.
• City reminds me of LA, in that you can see the air. But it has much more charm than LA.
• Cathedral: WOW!!!
• Cathedral: WOW!!!
• Yes, it was that good! Only problem, you either have to be sneaky or buy a ticket to take pictures inside. Entry is free, though if you want to go up to the roof terraces, it will cost you 7 euros.
• Totally worth it though, because of the view over all of Milan, and so you can say you walked on the roof of a cathedral!
• One more mention on scam artists, ignore Africans with bunches of little cords in major tourist areas.
• It wouldn't be a visit to Italy without some gelato. Chocolate and lemon go quite well together, followed by authentic Neapolitan pizza (the chef was from Naples, so that is why I call it authentic).
• Cars are much more varied than in Vienna. More cheap, older cars, more Asian and American brands, and more variation in size. I saw everything from an F-150 to a Toyota smaller than a Smart car. All that said, I never thought I would think of a Mini Clubman as a large car, but now I do.
• Hotel, from the street last night, I wondered what sort of dive I had picked (I was going for cheap, but not a dive). Then I actually checked in and was quite surprised! Elegant lobby, and rooms furnished in modern, yet elegant furniture.
• Of course, not everything is perfect. Some of the fixtures in the bathroom are loose, like the sink faucet, and light switch plate. 

That's all for now. When I get back to Bogi, I'll do a full post about the adventures I've had here, plus photos.

Superbowl...in Europe?

Picture this, you are in a room with around 30 people. It is the first Sunday in February, and in the room is a large TV, a table with snacks, a cooler with drinks, and plenty of comfortable seats facing the television. Most Americans could guess by now what I'm describing. That's right, the largest unrecognized national holiday, Superbowl Sunday. Only in this scene, things were somewhat different. The people were quieter, there was little or none of the usual good-natured pre-game banter, and the first thing shown was a short clip explaining the basic rules of football.

Welcome to Superbowl Sunday...er, Monday, European Style! Yes, the first thing is that due to the time difference, the game didn't start until 12:30am, Monday morning. Another difference, since the teams really don't mean much over here, people were more interested in certain players doing well, mainly Peyton Manning, (yes, there were several disappointed people by halftime). Also, no team jerseys, no good-natured ribbing of fans of the opposing team.

The game started, and while people were quite interested in the game, there was also quite a bit of socializing, in this aspect it was quite similar to American Superbowl parties. But there were no signs of frustration, no agonized sighs when Denver lost the ball on the first play and Seattle recovered for a safety. Overall, there was much less emotion invested in the game than there has been at many Superbowl parties I've been at. By halftime, with the score 22-0 in favor of the Seahawks, many people were more interested in socializing than in watching the game. At this point I suppose I should admit I gave up on the game as well, and went back to my room to get a few hours of much needed sleep before class!

Panoramas

These are some leftovers from Innsbruck and Wien. Click on the pictures for larger views.

View from the Alpenzoo overlooking Innsbruck and some of the Alps.

Taken from the riverfront walk looking across the River Inn at the other side of Innsbruck and some of the mountains behind the city.

The front of Schloss Schönbrunn

The back porch of Schloss Schönbrunn looking out over Schönbrunn Garten.

Salzburg Weihnachtsmarkt

What is a "Weihnachtsmarkt", you may ask. Basically this is a large, open air market that usually opens around the third week in November in most towns and cities in German areas. There are many booths selling almost anything that you can imagine related to Christmas (Weihnachten is Christmas).

Anyway, last Sunday our Jungendgruppe went down to Salzburg to visit the Weihnachtmarkt there. It takes place in front of the main cathedral in Salzburg. The day we went it was cold and rainy, so high on our priority list was purchasing food and drink that would keep our hands warm. This desire led some of us to a Kaiserschmarrn booth. Kaiserschmarrn is a delicious food that appears to be a giant, cut-up pancake. It comes in many flavors. and I chose to get an apple-gingerbread flavor with chocolate  sauce. That was amazing! This warmed my hands enough to wander around looking at the many booths selling toys, clothes, christmas ornaments, etc. Soon though, it was time to warm my hands again, so I bought some Kinderpunch, basically a hot, fruity/spicy punch. It is called Kinderpunch because it has no alcohol.

VaShon, Dylan, and I decided to step inside the cathedral for a few minutes to warm up. Ha, we had forgotten that cathedrals generally aren't much warmer than the outside temps, due to a lack of central heating. Oh well, at least there were many candles lit in honor of the saints that we could surreptitiously warm our hands over!

Finally, it was time to get back on the train and head back to Bogi. If one is in Europe during this time of year, a visit to the nearest Weihnachtsmarkt is a must, although you might want to pick a day with better weather.