A Weekend Adventure in Geneva and Lausanne

We arrived in Geneva mid Friday evening and were welcomed by rain. In an attempt to not spend hours searching for our hotel, I made sure to book one right across from the main train station. Best. Idea. Ever. The hotel was cute, quaint and had evidence of being a little .... lets say outdated.
Look at the most.retro.hair.dryer.I.have. ever.found....ever.
Thank you Geneva for 1970's the flash back.
We wandered around our area of town for some dinner and stumbled upon some amazing Indian food. We could tell that we were so much closer to the French boarder due to the drastic change in diversity (via ethnicity, social strata and/or wealth). After a month of living in Zurich, I can say that there is VERY LITTLE diversity and just a touch of blatant racism/discrimination. Any who, after CERN on Saturday, Duane and I wandered the rainy city.

Lake Geneva sans fountain/geyser
Duane came to Geneva a few years back and took me to this amazing cathedral. It looks like your typical church from the front on the inside, however, it is an archaeological/historical wonderland!

St. Pierre Cathedral 

The area beneath the Cathedral has recently been excavated extensively, revealing a rich history of the site dating back to 100 B.C. and a religious site itself back to 20 B.C. and through the Roman Empire. While in this massive archaeological site underneath the cathedral, you walk through all stages of the building of this and see that over time, wars, fires, the changes of the interior and exterior construction. It was probably one of the most amazing things I have seen to date. 

St. Pierre Cathedral excavation
St. Pierre Cathedral excavation
On Sunday we took the train to a nearby city on the Geneva Lake called Lausanne on our way back to Zurich.

Lausanne 
Lausanne Cathedral 



 

Rathaus

We happened to be here at 11:58 and were admiring the square. At 12:00, all of the bells around us started to chime, then out of no where, an ominous God-like-voice that spoke in French sounded in the court yard. It was the metal clock in the background of the picture. It twirled and whirled and told a story. Probably the oddest clock I have seen yet. 

Lastly in the afternoon after some great hot Vietnamese food, we headed back to Zurich to relax for the evening. Little did we know, that our homecoming would be celebrated by dueling marching bands in the main train station. I love random things.




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