UN

The same way not many people can say they have the privilege of, only a week after visiting the New York Guggenheim Museum, be able to visit the Bilbao one (like mentioned in here) not much can say that only a couple of weeks after being in the United Nations building in New York they can visit the Genève one neither. But I do. And this time around I didn’t miss the opportunity to go inside, like I missed in New York. Well, to be completely true, is not that I missed my opportunity in New York is that I couldn’t because they were having some important meetings and any tour was allowed during my time in the city. 

But in Genève everything went smoothly. It wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, they ask you for a lot of documentation before letting you in, but I finally got in. And got my own badge! How cool is that?! I already have one from the European Parliament, that I got in 2010 when during my interrail I visit my friend Gisela in Brussels and she took me to the Parliament to lunch. And now I have a new one from the UN to add to my collection! 

It was my friend Connie, that lived in Genève and is a huge huge fan of the city, who recommended me the visit and I have to thank her, it was very interesting and I learned a lot. For instance, did you know that the area where the UN Palace was build was a property of the Revilliod de la Rive and when they offer that piece of land to the city of Genève they impose three conditions: first, that the patriarch from the family could be buried there; second, that the park would be open so the people from the city could visit it whenever they wanted and third, that their peacocks could still live there. And so it was... When the UN moved their headquarters there they kept the peacocks that, as you can see by one of the Pictures bellow, still walk freely around the park. 

Another thing that really interested me (and surprised me) was the quantity of Spanish artists involved in the decoration of the meeting’ rooms. To be more precise, of Catalan artists. In one of the rooms Josep María Sert was the responsible for the beautiful paintings on the walls and ceiling. As you can see by the pictures bellow, that might look tremendously familiar, he was also the responsible for the decoration of the lobby of the Rockefeller Center in New York (which you saw already in here). And in other room Miquel Barceló created beautiful and colorful stalactites. Two Catalans, two works of art in the heart of the United Nations. Well done! 

For these reasons and many more (all the visits are guided and the groups are always small so you can place all the questions you want and take all your doubts about the UN labor and departments) when in Genève you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to visit the United Nations. Even if you leave it for the very last minute, like I did… And that was all from Genève. 

And from Switzerland. 

 

More from Genève...

But there’s much more from Genève, a beautiful lake (that you won’t see featured in here because in an effort to avoid taking so many pictures with the LOMO fish eye – which according to my mum is a shame because later in life I’ll look back to my pictures from this phase and regret having taken absolutely all of them with my fish eye lens – I forgot to take pictures from the lake at all), white mountains surrounding the city that looked as beautiful during my mid-morning landing as during my early-morning take of, a small but yet very complete botanical garden (with tropical plants, as you can see by the previous post and adorable animals), great and very wealthy looking shops (which you won’t see featured in here neither because I didn’t want to look like a freak paparazzi disturbing the fancy people with the shoots from my camera while they were calmly buying in Chanel, Bvlgari, Hermès, etc.) and the United Nations. Most important (which doesn’t mean that the United Nations itself didn’t impress me, because it did, so much that it deserves a post for its own) the square in front of the United Nations, with the big sculpture of the chair without one leg, reminding us how armful anti-personnel mines can be… 

Genève, seriously?!

Indeed, in the city of Genève (yes, that Genève, in Switzerland, where it snows and it’s super cold during the most part of the year) I found this little piece of tropical paradise…

All thanks to this!

Luzern

I arrived to Zurich from Luzern in one of those sharp as only a Swiss clock can be trains, after having spend one day in this city that everybody says is the most beautiful from Switzerland.

The truth is that it is nice, and I really had a great time there with Patrick and his friends that I met some month ago in one Summer night in here, but once again: it looks (and feel) more like a village than like a city. The good news is that, due to its size, Luzern is very easy to visit. And my time there felt more like a relaxed day with friends walking around a city that could be my own, tasting cheese in the local market, talking about nothing in special and visiting exhibitions in the KKL (the modern art museum designed by Jean Nouvel), than a touristic day. The night I arrived we even went to a concert in Sedel, a former women jail converted in concerts house in the 80’s. This place is where the youth rebellion used to go and, although it lost a bit of its idealism, it's still the club where mums apparently don't want to let their kids go. Good thing mine was far away in Portugal!!! But because she reads this blog, and for everyone’s sake, I must say: nowadays Sedel is a place where concerts from Ska to Britpop go on and the night I was there it was totally calm and totally fun. It is a bit far away from city center (and like trains and buses, caps in Switzerland aren’t cheap) but it is totally worth it.

Another high moment was crossing the Chapel Bridge, the oldest wood bridge in Europe. It was built in 14th century as a protection for the city, but unfortunately the bridge I crossed in November is not the original one, since the ancient one burned down on 18th August 1993. Nevertheless, the authorities rebuild it very fast and the tower, used as oubliette, is still the original one. It's very amusing walking over the Chapel Bridge not only for it’s historical meaning but also because you can see about 100 pictures of life in the 12th century city of Luzern, some of them showing how the city used to be; almost like a Venice in Central Europe!

Next time I will be in Luzern has also to be in Summer, not only to take a dip in the swimming pools (in Luzern they have very similar swimming pools to the ones in Zurich, although they’re less) or in the lake, but also to ascend Mount Pilatus, the mountain overlooking the city. Its peak can be reached by the world's steepest cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad (that doesn’t operate in wintertime) or by cable-car and everyone says this trip is definitely a must do and that it gives you a good impression of a wild and rocky peak with a marvelous view to the "real" Alps.  Suggestive, isn’t it?!