Verbier

This is the view from the deck of the chalet where we stayed—just gorgeous. There’s more snow here than in the Rockies this year. 

The reunion, which was the reason I went to Switzerland in the first place, was grand. Besides the storytelling activities we engaged in, the chalet itself was wonderful, and included a live-in chef. My, it was nice to have someone else cooking for us. Chef David made the best chocolate mousse I’ve ever tasted, and everything else was splendid as well.

I loved this long wooden table, which everyone could fit around. The conversations were stimulating, deep, fun, wide-ranging.. 

I had made small bowls as gifts, in my pottery class. My teacher wanted pictures of everyone with the bowl they chose, so we did this. 

We shared lots of stories, feedback, and other fun stuff—including making this wonderful wooden spoon a main character in more than one story. It will never be the same, and I believe it (he? she?) has been retired from being used for cooking. 

Nor will I ever be the same. This gathering was sparklingly special in so many ways. Reconnection with old friends, learning new stories, getting feedback on stories, and just generally having a great time, away from the regular world. It was difficult to leave.

The trip home was long, jet lag hit with a vengeance. But it was worth it. 

Train ride to Verbier

Haven’t updated this in awhile. So much storytelling! Hard to blog about that. But these are pix of the train ride from Geneva up to Verbier. About 1 hour 50 minutes of gorgeousness!

Jet d’eau

A much quieter day. I didn’t sleep well, so wasn’t moving very fast. I walked to the harbor, in search of the famous water jet, the Jet d’Eau. Not that I had to search very hard! It goes so high that you can see it from just about anywhere. It is impressive! A water jet was originally built around 1886 by the water department, as a safety valve. But it became famous enough that it eventually earned its very own water station and mechanism and now operates specifically as an attraction. The wind wasn’t blowing too hard, so it was on today. 

The Jardin Anglais, English Garden, is along the quay and was well-populated today, by tourists, locals and scavenger pigeons. I sat on a bench and just watched the world go by for a bit.

A sailboat, much bigger than the one my father and his best friend built from instructions in Popular Mechanics when I was a kid. This is obviously a working boat. I was surprised that it had sails.


And ducks. Lots of ducks, mallards mostly. They look the same the world over, just as pigeons do.


And swans.


Such interesting architecture, all over the city. This seems French-inspired to me, which makes sense given how close Geneva is to France. In fact, the Geneva airport is in France. No border crossings, people going back and forth all the time. Rather like I drive back and forth across state borders. 

There are quite a few buildings in Geneva that remind me of New Orleans, actually, some even more than this one. Some sorts of balconies, architecture, “feel”.

Tomorrow I meet up with storytelling friends at the airport, then take the train up to Verbier, in the Swiss Alps. Looking forward to seeing all of them again!

Tile Floors

Oops, almost forgot. I love tile floors! These pix are Roman through the latest version of the church. And by “latest”, of course, I mean something like the 1500’s for the main church. 

Musée d’Art et d’Histoire

Some nice pieces in this museum!

This piece moves! You press the foot pedal and the whole thing starts clanking and turning, so fun! It’s by this artist, Hodler, who was Genoese. I had never heard of him, and I really liked his variety and style.


This is his sister. I love her eyes, he seems to have painted her soul.


Hodler apparently had a big influence on la escape painting. This one reminds me of an Estes Park artist, Alfred Wands. Hodler lived from 1853 to 1918, and Wands lived from 1904 to 1998, so it’s not inconceivable that he was influenced by Hodler.


Another artist I didn’t know of is Felix Vallotton. This is his depiction of Perseus killing the dragon. I love the look on the woman’s face, and that the dragon is a crocodile!



The museum also has a large collection of weapons and armor. I’m not fond of such displays, of which I’ve seen many. This helmet was particularly creepy, with the weird smile. There were several others like this.


I did love this eagle. Simple, elegant, beautiful.


There was also a large collection of Egyptian artifacts, including this foot votive. I’d never seen one before.


Some really nice Roman sculptures, copies of Greek originals. Stone sculpture just awes me, such a long process.

These heads are tiny, no more than 1.5”. But such character captured!




And a Picasso! I am not that familiar with his phases, but this seems as if it would be earlier in his career. Ive never seen this style before.


And the sun came out! This is looking north. You can see Lake Geneva in the center. The strange, knobby trees in the foreground are everywhere. I have no idea what kind they are.

Origins

Geneva is old, very old. I decided to explore the oldest part, where the Medieval walled city was. But there was a settlement here an eon before that, started by the Helvetii. The tribe is still remembered today, as the name of one of the main thoroughfares, Blvd Helvetique.

The archaeological exhibit under the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre is pretty cool.

This burial seems to have started it all. This skeleton was uncovered deep under the current cathedral. IApparently he was a person of consequence, honored and worshipped, and the wooden structure built over his remains was the start of a later Roman camp.

The current church is built on much older remains of several structures, at least 25 feet higher than the original hill. These walls are Roman and Medieval, the later walls being much less expert. Those Romans knew how to build. I love seeing underneath old buildings, so much history. We saw the same sort of history in Regensburg, Germany and Seattle, Washington, among others.

This the current cathedral, beautiful and pretty standard for cathedrals that started out Catholic and were still used after the Reformation. 

I was lucky enough to be able to hear the organ while I was there. Just tuning, not a full-on concert, but still, to hear organ music echoing off the Gothic stone architecture is pretty cool

And for Tolkien fans, here is an actual Duke of Rohan! His remains are entombed in this alcove, under his statue. I wonder if JRR ever visited Geneva?

12K steps later...

Jet lag or no, I did get out into the city today. It was overcast and drizzly, but I came prepared, with a good raincoat and my brimmed hat that’s been all over the world with me. It’s an old friend by now.

It was chilly though, so I started with hot chocolate! It hit the spot.