Calvin's Geneva - The City

Welcome to Calvin's Geneva - The City
Coming from rural Canada, Geneva is the first major city I've lived in ... what a place to start! It is a gorgeous city full of culture and friendly, helpful people. Although predominantly French, most everybody will attempt to help you in English if you get stuck. It is also a very international city -- people from all over the world have made Geneva a crossroads for the planet. Toronto, are you listening? ;) Anyway, from a Canadian perspective, Geneva's area is very small yet it contains about 300,000 people. It is a very walkable city, and the Vieille Ville, the old city, is a collection of meandering cobblestone streets rising up to the old city hall. You could spend hours looking at the unique shops. Back to the top	These are in no particular order... First is the Pont de Mont Blanc... the main bridge in Geneva across the Rhone. The river emerges from the base of Lake Geneva and heads west to Lyon in France & then south to Marseille and the Mediterranean. The Pont is apparently the busiest bridge in Europe; certainly I have never seen it quiet even very early in the morning. I took this first picture on the Left Bank of the Rhone (to get the Jet d'Eau in the shot) and then turned to the right and started across the bridge and snapped another shot across the bridge, facing the downtown. It is called Pont de Mont Blanc because if you look really closely on a really good monitor you might be able to make out the shadow of Mont Blanc just to the right of the first lightpole on the opposite side of the bridge. Pedestrians can cross on either side and it is a nice walk on a nice day. Next is from the downtown. I got off the tram at the Molard station and headed up into the Vieille Ville (the old city that used to be surrounded by a wall). This is just at the beginning of the Ville and you can get an idea of the narrow, cobblestone streets (walkways?) and the slope. Done leisurely, you can spend hours here. There is a modern sculpture to my left that I ignored, but there was a nice seating area around it in case you got tired from walking uphill. I was in search of the Hotel de Ville (the old city hall) for a performance by one of Switzerland's orchestras only to find out that because it was overcast with a good chance of rain they had moved it to Victoria Hall. Victoria Hall is a redesigned hydro-electric generating station across the Rhone (so downriver from the Pont de Mont Blanc). So, downhill I went in search of Victoria Hall. (Well, actually, a policeman had given me a map with it circled.) I eventually hit the Rhone, where I turned and saw the Jet d'Eau again. You'll notice that it is definitely overcast. I am on the bank of the Rhone... the buildings on the left are on an island in the river. There are numerous bridges crossing the Rhone and many of them are restricted to pedestrian and motorcycles/scooters. I'll leave off for now with Victoria Hall. It is an impressive building, given that it began as a generating station, and they have done a really nice job modifying it for its present use as a performing arts centre. You can get an idea of how high the ceiling is, and the glass windows run from top to bottom.

Welcome to Calvin's Geneva - The City

Coming from rural Canada, Geneva is the first major city I've lived in ... what a place to start! It is a gorgeous city full of culture and friendly, helpful people. Although predominantly French, most everybody will attempt to help you in English if you get stuck. It is also a very international city -- people from all over the world have made Geneva a crossroads for the planet. Toronto, are you listening? ;)

Anyway, from a Canadian perspective, Geneva's area is very small yet it contains about 300,000 people. It is a very walkable city, and the Vieille Ville, the old city, is a collection of meandering cobblestone streets rising up to the old city hall. You could spend hours looking at the unique shops.

Back to the top

These are in no particular order...

First is the Pont de Mont Blanc... the main bridge in Geneva across the Rhone. The river emerges from the base of Lake Geneva and heads west to Lyon in France & then south to Marseille and the Mediterranean. The Pont is apparently the busiest bridge in Europe; certainly I have never seen it quiet even very early in the morning.

I took this first picture on the Left Bank of the Rhone (to get the Jet d'Eau in the shot) and then turned to the right and started across the bridge and snapped another shot across the bridge, facing the downtown. It is called Pont de Mont Blanc because if you look really closely on a really good monitor you might be able to make out the shadow of Mont Blanc just to the right of the first lightpole on the opposite side of the bridge. Pedestrians can cross on either side and it is a nice walk on a nice day.

Next is from the downtown. I got off the tram at the Molard station and headed up into the Vieille Ville (the old city that used to be surrounded by a wall). This is just at the beginning of the Ville and you can get an idea of the narrow, cobblestone streets (walkways?) and the slope. Done leisurely, you can spend hours here. There is a modern sculpture to my left that I ignored, but there was a nice seating area around it in case you got tired from walking uphill. I was in search of the Hotel de Ville (the old city hall) for a performance by one of Switzerland's orchestras only to find out that because it was overcast with a good chance of rain they had moved it to Victoria Hall. Victoria Hall is a redesigned hydro-electric generating station across the Rhone (so downriver from the Pont de Mont Blanc). So, downhill I went in search of Victoria Hall. (Well, actually, a policeman had given me a map with it circled.)

I eventually hit the Rhone, where I turned and saw the Jet d'Eau again. You'll notice that it is definitely overcast. I am on the bank of the Rhone... the buildings on the left are on an island in the river. There are numerous bridges crossing the Rhone and many of them are restricted to pedestrian and motorcycles/scooters.

I'll leave off for now with Victoria Hall. It is an impressive building, given that it began as a generating station, and they have done a really nice job modifying it for its present use as a performing arts centre. You can get an idea of how high the ceiling is, and the glass windows run from top to bottom.