A Georgia Girl in Germany

In early August, I took a trip to Geneva with the USO. Geneva is amazing, with tons to see! We started our walking tour in the grounds of the University of Geneva, where several large chess sets were set up. I even saw one game in progress.

From there, we walked a short distance away to the Reformation Wall, which honors many of the main individuals, events and documents of the Protestant Reformation by depicting them in statues and bas-reliefs. The wall was built in 1909 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Calvin's birth and the 350th anniversary of the university's establishment. It is built into the old city walls of Geneva, and represents the fortifications', and therefore the city of Geneva's, integral importance to the Reformation. It stretches for 100 meters and depicts ten Protestant figures from across Europe, including the four main reformers from Geneva in the middle: William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza and John Knox.

We then left the university grounds, heading toward a market square. I liked this archway over Pont de Saint-Léger.

The Roman roads connecting Paris and Rome, and Germany and Spain cross in this square. Geneva is generally considered a global city, mainly from so many international organizations being there, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations. Even centuries ago, the people there helped immigrants. This square, with its Gothic and Renaissance-styled houses (narrow and high), once had booths for newcomers from various European countries offering food, soup and medical care to help them upon their arrival. The Italian residents would help the Italian immigrants; the French residents would help the French immigrants, and so on.

The building to the right (with the flag) was the first hospital in Geneva.



This building houses the Museum of Reform and is beside Calvin Coolidge’s school (below). His school was the first free school, with the building of the school funded by citizens…and it’s still in use today. Coolidge is considered one of the three most significant men of Geneva, along with social philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau and businessman and founder of the Red Cross Henri Dunant.



This is the house where Henri Dunant was born in 1828 (to the left of the building with the green awning).

The Reformation Wall is but one of Geneva’s four famous landmarks. Another is the Horloge Fleure (Flower Clock--below). Some of the postcards I found of the clock show some of its different variations, including with only one circle and all 12 numbers on its face.


Perhaps Geneva’s most famous landmark is the Jet d'Eau (water-jet) in Lake Geneva. Its 140-meter-high water column is visible from many parts of the city and was originally built in 1891 to commemorate 600 years of Swiss confederation (yes, Switzerland is the oldest democratic country in the world). It’s one of the largest fountains in the world, and pumps 132 gallons of water per second 459 feet into the air.

I liked the Pont du Mont-Blanc bridge, built in 1826, over Lake Geneva, with the flags of the 23 Swiss cantons.

This small island in the Rhone River is Rousseau Island. Yes, it’s named after Jean-Jacques Rousseau and even has a statue of him as well as a restaurant named after him.

This clock tower is part of what was once the town wall. The shopping square on the other side, in the Old City, is lined with cobblestones, as is found in many European cities. What makes these different is that every few stones have greetings to visitors in one of six languages: English, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, French or Spanish, which is truly indicative of Geneva being an international city.








The Saint-Pierre Cathédral sits at the top of a sand hill in Geneva’s Old City, which has to be restored every 100 years to prevent it from sinking. This is actually the fifth building on this site. The original church was begun in the 12th century, and includes an eclectic mix of styles. It is best known as the adopted home church of John Calvin, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation. Today it’s still used for the administration of the city, with the religious sections of the cathedral reserved for VIPs only. In fact, when Geneva decided to become a republic, the church searched out an army to protect itself from its own people.

The benches in this part of the cathedral were added for teaching...so people could sit and read the Bible. Since Bibles at the time were written in Latin, which was difficult to read and understand, they translated the Bible into other languages.

These seats along the wall of the sanctuary were pretty interesting looking, and were where around 400 monks would sit.

There’s even a side chapel in the cathedral, where the most stunning stained glass windows were. This room was absolutely beautiful!

We left the Saint-Pierre Cathédral, walked a few blocks and went past some beautiful mosaics with cannons in front of them. I didn’t catch the significance of them since our tour guide had the speed of an Olympic speed-walker and easily got ahead of me as I paused to take photos (she was so quick that I lost her twice!).

Just around the corner is this 500-year-old theater (with our sprinter-tour-guide in the foreground) where the Geneva Convention was signed in 1864 -- the First Geneva Convention, formally known as the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field and covers the treatment of battlefield casualties. When it was adopted, it was part of the establishment of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

In 1872, the first international arbitration, the Alabama Claims between the United States and Great Britain, was settled here. These were a series of claims for damages by the U.S. government against the government of Great Britain for the perceived covert assistance given to the Confederates during the American Civil War. The United States claimed that Great Britain had violated neutrality by allowing the Alabama to be constructed, knowing that it would enter into service with the Confederacy. A U.S. senator originally requested either $2 billion or the ceding of Canada to the United States, but instead the final award was $15.5 million. More importantly, this arbitration established the principle of international arbitration and launched a movement to codify international law with hopes for finding peaceful solutions to international disputes. The Alabama Claims was thus a precursor to the Hague Convention, the League of Nations, the World Court and the United Nations, and is recognized by a plaque at the theater (to the left of the main wooden door above).

I thought this was a beautiful fountain, in the theater courtyard, so snapped a quick photo before rushing off on the next mad-dash to keep up with our tour guide.

After sprinting after our tour guide for nearly two hours, I sat for a brief spell...on the longest bench in the world. The mountains in the background are in France.

I liked the display of flags on this building as we walked from the Grand Théâtre to the Rue de la Croix-d’Or.

This is the Temple de la Fusterie along the Rue de la Confédération.


We were in the city during a festival, as is evident by this hot air balloon over the Square du Mont-Blanc and the Rhone River. We found many venders along the Promenade du Lac offering souveniers. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such large glasses of mixed drinks! They didn’t serve customers these large glasses, but rather ladled the beverages into smaller cups. The drinks were quite pricy though!

Labels: Switzerland, Travel