Category Archives: Lakes & Water

The fête commences

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Post by Lauren

Every summer, Geneva hosts an amazing 10 day festival. Or maybe its 20 days? The “pre-fête” started around July 23. There have been swarms of people everywhere, rides, music nightly on 3 stages and food vendors galore for the pre-fête over the last 2 weeks. We’ve gone there twice for drinks already and to take in the international scene. You could have fooled me and called it a real festival, but it actually wasn’t the real deal.

The real fête started this past Thursday night with a grandiose fireworks display which is actually the petite (or little) fireworks. The big fireworks come at the end of the festival. S hosted a bunch of us at their home for a fabulous dinner and we walked down by the lake afterwards to enjoy the scene.

We have a friend coming in next week so we are really glad we have the entertainment of the festival at the lake to show him!

Swiss Sporting Events

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Post by Lauren

Everyone was off of work Monday for the national holiday. It was the first one Gabe had taken since everyone in the US continues to work (and need things) on his Swiss holidays. We had planned it to be leisurely and imagined it like the tranquil scene below:

However, things got a bit “sporty”.

First, we met up with the group down at the river. Since Geneva has a plethora of yacht owners, they have been talking about taking out their “yacht” on the lake or the river ever since we had met. They had launched about an hour prior, and this is the scene to which we arrived:

We rode around in the yacht (or at least some of us did, as we couldn’t all fit at the same time with the picnic) for a little bit and hung out in the sun. Note the patriotism demonstrated by crew.

After we discovered how strong the current was after all the rain, we realized that it was going to be hard to get the ship back home upstream. Therefore, we had to come up with an alternate plan. It involved Adam scaling the wall.

Once the yacht was aboard land, we came up with an another activity as can be seen below. I was a chicken at first but the group quickly convinced me to partake in the fun.

 

 

A picnic in Aix-les-Bains, France

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Post by Lauren

This weekend, we did a quick overnight trip with A & A to Lyon, France.

Since we knew dinner would be an “experience” in Lyon, the culinary capital of France, we opted for a picnic to stop on the way.

We ended up in Aix-les-Bains which was a cute little French town on beautiful lake, Lac du Bourget.

Not a bad place for a picnic!

Gabe confirmed the water was frigid, just like Lake Geneva.

Gratitude Friday: The Great Outdoors

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Post by Lauren

One of the things I am so grateful for in Geneva is the beautiful parks and green spaces. I wrote about this on a previous post when we first arrived.

However, I am just continually impressed by how the community uses these spaces, especially in the summer when the fountains are on for the kids swimming pleasure. Even better, the ville de Genève hosts tons of extraordinary events outside. These don’t just happen every week, or once a month. There is something literally every day and usually two happening in the same evening. Sadly, we haven’t been able to experience it much this week because of the monsoons, but here are just two ways we have enjoyed it in the last 2 weeks:

# 1 – Free concerts in Parc a la Grange – these are twice a week – Wednesdays and Fridays for the entire summer. There is seating, or you can choose to bring a picnic. Large groups of people meet and picnic together, listening to the music. Gabe and I biked there and enjoyed a little picnic for two.

# 2 – Free movies in Parc Perle du Lac – this happens four times a week. Gabe really wanted to see Top Gun, so we spread the word and had a really nice evening with A & A, D, and C & M last Saturday night.

We loved the spirit of the movie-goers. Someone dressed up as an air-traffic controller, and others brought sparklers. However, the funniest part were the Swiss spoofs on Top Gun they did before hand. You can see the spoof videos as well as more detail on the evening here on A’s post about the evening.

We look forward to trying out the other things but in the meantime, we are just so thankful that Geneva offers these programs and we get to enjoy them in the beautiful open air, gratuits!!!

Bon weekend, everyone!

Yvoire, France

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Post by Lauren

We had heard from our friend A that Yvoire was a really cool medieval town on the lake to check out. He had traveled there on a co-worker’s boat for dinner one evening. We personally think his way was the best way to travel. However, since we were in Northern Geneva countryside so that Gabe could attempt to teach moi how to drive a stick shift, it was only a 15 minute trip.

It was a cute town and I can’t wait to bring my Mom back to see the beautiful flower covered buildings. But, as A had noted, a bit crowded so we might choose to go back in the evening or when it isn’t the middle of summer.

Another small world story – we bumped into a lady Gabe works with in Yvoire. So, two days in a row, we have collided with people we actually know while we were out and about. Switzerland is starting to feel like home!

Montreux Jazz Festival

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Post by Lauren

We had so many neat adventures this past weekend that I wanted to dive deeper into a few so that you could get the full experience. Luckily, guest Henry Birmingham is an amazing photographer so the next two days of posts are going to have more eye-candy than you are used to (all of the photos are his).

On Saturday, we traveled to Montreux Jazz Festival. According to wikipedia, Montreux Jazz Festival is the 2nd largest music festival in the world, after Montreal’s. If you recall, Gabe and I had been to Montreux on our first trip to Geneva – most of the sunset photos on our first post are of its beautiful Alp-view shoreline and the Chateau Chillon.

Throughout the week, artists such as B.B. King, Ziggy Marley, Carlos Santana, Natalie Cole, Jimmy Cliff, Seal, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, House of Pain, Liza Minnelli, and everyone’s favorite Ricky Martin were playing in the different venues set up on the lakeshore. With us going the first Saturday, all the shows were sold out, but nonetheless, we decided to go check it out. Also, we heard there was a Jazz Train and Latin Music boat that could be cool options if we wanted a different pace from the land part of the festival.

We set out upon our day and had a little bit of a hiccup as it was the International Gay Pride Festival and they had started to close off the Geneva streets close to the train station. We finally decided to jump out and walk the last part. Here, Gabe is doing a victory cheer for beating the bus (bus in the distance)

After an hour train ride, we arrived and were immediately greeted by great music, beautiful art and our favorite find….reasonably priced AWESOME food. We are used to paying ridiculous prices for average food back home in Geneva. We prioritized and immediately split up to go get some eats and meet back at a table. This one kind of had a nice view.

The jazz train and salsa boat (above, bottom left) did look like fun, but we ended up just hanging out in the park watching the free jazz and wandering along the coastline to all the cool vendors.

We found the experience to be really cool, even without checking out one of the shows. We calculated that we can buy train tickets to Montreux, eat delicious festival fare and it will still cost less than an average low-budget meal in Geneva. Based on that, we may try to go back before it ends in 2 weeks. Maybe even to a real show this time!

 

Photo Moment : The Swan

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Post by Lauren

Maybe I just wanted an excuse to take Gabe’s fancy camera out, but I joined the Photography Group at the AIWC. The group which meets monthly to shoot, discuss and share work on a particular photographic theme. This month’s was “water”.

My favorite photo moment of the day was this swan checking out the grocery cart.

I could interpret it as this strange paradigm between nature and pollution. However, I think he is trying to figure out a way to return it back to the Co-op grocery story. Since you have to pay 2 CHF to use a cart in a grocery store, a cart is worth big money when you return it. Heck, I might put on my swimsuit tomorrow and fish this out myself if he doesn’t figure out a way.

A fantastic 4th of July with Henry Birmingham

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Post by Lauren

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, but Gabe and I have been trying to recuperate from the weekend and it has taken us some extra time to get back in the swing of things, due to its epic proportions.

As most have caught on, we give our friends abbreviated names often times to protect their privacy. So, instead of a simple abbreviation, our fun-loving guest chose his alternate name as Henry Birmingham. It is a combination of the street he grew up on and his first pet or middle name. Some of you are catching on….

Anyhow, Henry was in Europe for work and we were quite excited when he announced he was coming to see us at the end of his trip for the 4th of July. We had so much fun, we have dedicated this post to…..

Top 10 reasons why we love to travel with Henry Birmingham

#10 – The flower clock reads 3:30 on Friday July 2. Gabe would normally be at work at this time but motivated by his buddy being in town, he took off and we were able to have an incredible Friday afternoon spent exploring Geneva and lake-bar-hopping. Awesome!

#9 – He is always up for Donor Kebabs and trying new beers!! Exactly what Gabe likes to do best so I am glad he had someone to do it with wholeheartedly!

#8 – Ingenuity – I mean, who else can create a cup-holder so resourcefully in a country known for no cup-holders in cars!?

#7 – His appreciation for art – he got some amazing shots at Jazz Festival

# 6 – Love of adventure. I mean, this guy just had knee surgery like 3 weeks ago and he scaled the wall for this photo. However, along this same theme, I may need to deduct some “awesomeness” points in this category as his encouragement of a third bottle of wine on the train may have given the author a headache the next day and prevented the timely posting of this entry.

# 5 – It would have been anticlimactic if Gabe and I saw T’s doppleganger by ourselves

#4 – We haven’t made late night food in a long time. Thanks for re-igniting the magic.

# 4 – We couldn’t have justified ordering both raclette-for-two AND fondue if there weren’t three mouths to feed.

# 3 – We finally have photos of both Gabe and I in Switzerland, not just one of us taken by the other one. Thanks for all the incredible shots 🙂

# 2 – His interest in snow & ski led us to pick this 2nd day trip to Chamonix / Mt. Blanc which is only 45 minutes from our house. Keep in mind folks, this is June. Outrageous!

# 1 – It was just awesome to see a great friend and have the luxury of spending a nice weekend catching up and making new memories. Thanks for coming — we had a blast !!

Canadienne Buffet: USA Style

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Post by Lauren

This week, we had a patriotic Canadienne Buffet. Not to celebrate Canada Day which was Friday I think, but a potluck picnic to celebrate the Fourth of July. If you are just catching up with our blog, my French teacher taught me that the best way to say potluck in French is “Canadienne Buffet”. We love the phrase and I plan to use it until you are tired of hearing about it. Sorry in advance.

And here is the birth story of the CB: In Switzerland, we read in our Swiss Rulebook that if you make plans for dinner with people in a restaurant, the tradition is that you should always pay — the concept of “dutch” on anything simply doesn’t exist. This wouldn’t be a big deal back in the US. To treat friends to dinner at our favorite restaurants – Alexander Michaels, The Penguin, Big Daddy’s, etc. – would be no big deal and could cost us 50, 75 bucks – maybe $100.

However, when the average decent meal out with friends in Geneva could be 250-350 CHF (300-400 USD), we found that the “potluck” allows for the social aspect of a dinner out with friends but without having to refinance the house to enjoy a night out. Plus, we think the food our friends make is better than 95% of the restaurants in Geneva.

This weekend, in honor of the holiday, we decided to grill out in the park beside the lake. We are pretty sure we aren’t supposed to grill out, but we figured it was 4th of July and that could be our excuse if we were apprehended – in our country, it is actually ILLEGAL not to grill out on 4th of July. Also, we had our friend Henry Birmingham visiting from the US, so if all else failed, we planned to blame on him and act as innocent Swiss bystanders to these crazy American ways of lighting fire to food.

It was a pretty lovely evening spent with fun folks. Happy Birthday, America!! And thanks to Henry for the fabulous photography!

A rainy regatta

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This weekend was the Bol d’Or Mirabaud on Lake Geneva. It is the largest regatta in Europe, and we had planned to go out, bright and early and picnic to watch the sailboats set off for their journey to the other side of the lake.

Mother Nature had other plans.

As we approached the shore from our 10 minute rain-soaked walk from home, we saw this scene:

At one point, the sun sneaked out a wee bit and we could see a more beautiful kaleidoscope of sails that was originally hidden by the grey sky. There were so many!

The ducks enjoyed watching the faint images of sails on the skyline as well.

Maybe next year we’ll get to enjoy this beautiful scene in the sunshine!