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| Geneva city near the Lake |
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| River Promenade |
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| Water Fountain |
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| Water Fountain |
After visiting the W.H.O. building complex, we went to stroll near the Geneva Lake, the main attraction in the heart of the city. It is surrounded by busy promenades, shops and restaurants. We saw the world's tallest water fountain "Jet d'Eau"(water jet) spouting water up to a height of 140 meters from the surface of the lake. In 1886 the engineers installed a hydraulic power station to supply water from the lake to city's fountains, houses and factories. A special valve was set up to regulate pressure. A jet of water sprang from the lake entering the river Rhone gradually rising to higher level. Since 1951 five hundred liters of water has been pumped per second at a speed of two hundred kms per hour so that the jet of water from the fountain may reach up to a height of 140 meters. A miracle of Nature enhanced by technology ! The silver spurt of water leaping into the sky and falling down like a shower of laughing pearls is indeed a fantastic sight to onlookers !
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| Floral Clock |
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| Floral Clock |
Later we went to see the beautiful floral clock " L'horloge Flurie" (flower clock) located at the western edge of a garden called "Jardin Anglais" ( English Garden). This giant flower clock is was set up on the southern side of the Lake Geneva.It is is made of 6,500 varieties of plants and flowers. It has eight floral circles whose colors change with seasons. It was designed in 1955 to honor the 400-year old famous watch industry of Switzerland. The seconds hand of Geneva's flower clock is the longest (more than 2.5 meters long) in the world. The diameter of the clock is five meters and the circumference is 15.7 meters. The colorful arrangement of flowers and leaves in concentric circles is a beautiful work of floral art and technical expertise. In 2005 in Teheran a floral clock with 15-meter diameter was set up which is now the biggest flower clock in the world. Of course the first flower clock was designed by James Ritchie in 1903 in West Princess Garden, Edinburgh. If you have fancy for branded high-quality watches, you can visit the shops at Rue Du Rhone, where you will find most sophisticated and latest varieties of watches and clocks -- if you can afford to buy."
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| Reformation Wall |
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| Reformation Wall |
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| Park Des Bastions |
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| Inside the Park Des Bastions |
Another worth visiting place in Geneva is the famous "Reformation Hall" near the elegant "Place de Neuve" in the beautiful park "Parc des Bastions". Geneva has been one of the important centers of the Reformation since 1565. The giant statues of Europe's major reformers (Jean Calvin, Guillame Farel, Theodore de Beze and John Knox) are engraved on the wall along with Geneva's maxim "Post Tenebras Lux" (Light after darkness) , which is also the motto of the Reformation Movement. This historic monument highlights the prominent role played by Geneva during Reformation and also Geneva's glowing tribute to the pioneers of Reformation.
While going by bus on the highway we saw a huge structure shining like a golden globe in the late evening time. It is called "The Globe of Science and Innovation" or "Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire" (CERN), world's largest laboratory in Particle Physics, where nearly ten thousand physicists do research on unravelling the secrets of the universe and Big Bang Theory. This building is 27 meters high and 40 meters in diameter and is spherical in shape, symbolizing the planet Earth. On the ground floor there is "Universe of Particles Exhibition" to acquaint you with scientific facts about the inner structure of particles. We were not able to visit this marvellous laboratory due to lack of time.
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| The Globe of Science & Innovation |
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| Inside View |
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| St. Peter's Cathedral |
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| Church of Calvin, St.Peter's Cathedral |
Another historic monument we had not seen is St.Peter's Cathedral built in 12th century with later extensions done in 16th century. This cathedral was the center of the Reformation Movement. One can have a panoramic view of the city from the tower of this cathedral. To reach the tower of this cathedral one has to climb 157 steps. Besides these, there are more than thirty museums and galleries such as International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MAMCO), The Foundation Bodmer Library Museum etc.,
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| Business Park Hotel |
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| Business Park Hotel |
After this three-hour busy orientation tour we rushed back to our most comfortable and cosy hotel "Business Park Hotel" to have our Indian dinner and lie down soon. Our tour manager, on a precautionary note, mentally prepared us saying that in European hotels we should not expect spacious rooms and luxurious facilities. Even in the so-called three-star hotels we have not found coffee kettles, water bottles, trays with simple things like sugar sachets, coffee powder packets, sugar and biscuits. Even a writing pad and stationery articles were not seen,-- not to speak of journals, books and newspapers. But here in Geneva at this hotel I felt glad to see a writing pad with stationery along with a proforma requesting our feedback. In most of the European hotels even free water bottles are not supplied.You have to go down to the bar and buy a bottle priced at seven Euros. But in all hotels complimentary breakfast is provided.
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March 1st, 2016 Somaseshu Gutala
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