Summer '09 Day 1 Geneva

Day 1 15th June 09 - Geneva

All times are local times, add 6 hrs to get Singapore time. Eg. 0815 here is 1415 in Singapore.

Updates

They have arrived safely in Geneva at 0815 and 'checked in' at the apartment suite of Jacky & Jamie at Carouge, Geneva! The long flight was tiring and they had a little rest in the apartment before embarking for lunch and a little tour of the city centre at 12noon.

Background of Geneva:

Geneva is one of the major cities of Switzerland (capital: Bern). Competing amongst Zurich, Lausanne, Basel, St. Gallen, Lugano and Lucerne, Geneva is the 2nd-most populous city and the seat of international affairs with numerous governmental as well as non-governmental institutions and headquarters. UN, WHO (who decides the pandemic of swine flu recently), Red Cross, u name it, all have or had important HQs in Geneva. It also hosted the 2008 European Football Championships last June along with other cities in Switzerland and Austria. The one where Spain won Germany, remember?

Geographically, check out the part of the Swiss Alps in the east of Geneva that almost seem like engulfing the regions around. Geneva also lies at the South-western tip of Lake Geneva, which serves many picturesque lakeside towns including Lausanne (place of IOC HQ (Olympics Committe), Vevey (HQ of food and beverage giant Nestlé), Montreux (the jewel of the area with casinos, gives a Monaco feel) among others. Conclusion: this lake is a very important lake in Switzerland.

Let's zoom in somemore and you can see Jacky & Jamie's place at Carouge, about 2.5km away from the city centre of Geneva, and accessible by trams.

The most famous attraction is Geneva is arguably a very simple fountain that shoots water up 140m situated at the lake side of Lake Geneva. It's called Jet d'Eau, remember it!

What They Can Expect to See and Experience:

(based on our previous visit, in winter though)

Comfortable train rides from the airport to the city

Outside the apartment block of their apartment suite

See alot of these kind of trees, and trams carrying people around.

Touring the Lake Geneva on a mini-cruise boat

and seeing numerous offices of watch-makers.

Join in the coffee craze and marketing success in Europe: Nespresso.

Jacky & Jamie are huge fans of drinking coffee via a coffee capsule housed in aluminium, and buying these capsules from exclusive boutiques in the city! (Advertising campaign fronted by George Clooney.)

Scream: What happend to good old coffee prepared through stockings by our grandparents and parents!!??

A church lit up in the night.

Sitting on one of the longest benches in Europe and having fun like kids again in this turnstile (we all need to rewind many many years, I know)

See this huge statue of the founding fathers of Geneva at the Parc de Bastions, just below the old town.

Go along the cobbled streets of the old town and enjoy their own quiet moments in the church there.

That is most likely how they will be having fun in Geneva, hope to bring you some photos of their Day 1 experiences via direct feed later in the day. Stay tuned.