Lake Parade

Every summer in July, the road around the lake in Geneva is blocked off for a "technoparade," or a parade where floats or Lovemobiles blast dance or techno music. Starting in the mid afternoon, the parade of Lovemobiles goes around the Geneva part of the lake very slowly, ending up on the other side about 3 to 4 hours later. At that point, they set up stages with a DJ on each stage, it's like having 20 mini parties lined up ready for sampling. The Lovemobiles have different themes, or the dancers on them have themed clothing (sometimes) and really, anything goes as far as clothing. The Lovemobiles are usually sponsored by radio stations or clubs, so the DJs are chosen to impress.
 
This started in 1997 in Geneva, and this year's theme (2012) was "Get ready for the unexpected."
Which I was!
The parade starts with a few cars to go down the blocked off road, but there was no strong enforcement of staying off the road, so most people wandered in between the Lovemobiles when they needed to. 

The Lovemobiles would have people walked around them holding a thin rope to prevent people getting too close.

What I called the flash Lovemobile, protected by men holding a thin rope

Some of the Lovemobiles had foam or "mousse" spewing out the back, which covered the dancers and the parade watchers.

MAD Lovemobile with foam or "mousse"

A trail of foam left on the street from a Lovemobile

Most people were there, like my friends and myself, to people watch. Because so many people dress up or dress oddly, it was so much fun to watch the parade of Lovemobiles and the people on the street too!

Cheeky

A stand off, or a casual encounter?

Moo

It's fun to see the Lovemobiles go by the ritzy hotels along the lake. I wonder what the hoity-toity hotel guests must think. Are they confused, outraged, or do they join in the fun? Do they get deep discounts on their hotel rooms?

After the parade moves around the lake to the other side, people either followed the Lovemobiles, or sat and relaxed, while the street sweepers quickly came out and did as much cleaning as possible. Which was vital to openin up the roads as the streets were littered as I'd never seen in Geneva.
Smashed bottles, trash, cups, confetti, take out food wrappers - you name it, it was on the street. We had to step carefully through it all.

The event goes on until the wee hours of the night, but I think I was there until 11pm. It's surprising how attending a Lake Parade (with a short break for dinner) can wear you out! I'm glad I went, and I really didn't know what to expect. The weather was absolutely beautiful, which really helped the day, and it was nice to hear so much dance music outside, without having to go to a crowded club. All in all, the ambience was pretty good, but it did get a bit rowdy towards the end of the drink, as the afternooners went home and a new crowd mixed in with the other revelers.

How most people felt at the end of the day

Flags

I just saw an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" where Sheldon and Amy made a YouTube video (apparently the first of 52!) called Fun with Flags. Perhaps this is why I am posting these pictures!

There are lots of flags on display in and around Geneva, and here are some of the places where the Geneva canton flag, Swiss flag, and UN flags are on display. I find myself taking lots of photos with flags in them, actually.

Geneva canton and Swiss flags at Lac Leman, Geneva

This one was taken when the sun was setting one nice Saturday (the kind of weather where you just delight in having an icecream):

Swiss flag and Jet d'Eau, Geneva

 All around town, especially in Old Town, or Vieille Ville, you can see flags adorning the streets. This is one of the quiet streets where the flags demonstrate the street's narrow width.

Flags in Vieille Ville, Geneva

Flags at the UN

This was taken in nearby Yvoire, France:

My sister and mother

Here are some more from the back of boats:

The Swiss one...

...and the French one

And here is the Welsh flag on our couch cushions (thanks cousin Audra!), with Fred the model:

Gruyères

The Gruyères region in Switzerland has amazing mountainous scenery, and is where the Gruyère cheese is made. We were told by many non-Swiss people that it is a town that we must visit. The central part of town is medieval, with old buildings on both sides of the main street which is cobble-stoned. Essentially, it can be described by one word: quaint.

The town is pedestrian-only, which means buses and cars all park below, and tourists have a short walk in. We visited on a warm summer day, and although it was mid-week, it was pretty packed with tourists - not too much so you couldn't walk around easily, but it definitely made it hard to take photos (at that time, most of the tourists were Spanish actually).

One of the first things we did was go to the HRGiger Museum Bar. Right by the HR Giger Museum, it is a bar that is best described as "cavernous" and "skeletal" and is said to remind one of Jason and the Whale. All I kept thinking about were the Alien movies, however. It took 2 years to complete, and there are some great photos on the website: http://www.hrgiger.com
People are constantly walking in it just to take photos, so there is a sign saying that it is for patrons only to enter. We enjoyed a drink and a snack there, and it was a cool place to sit and get away from the sun for a bit.

I later learned that H.R. Giger is a Swiss artist who did award-winning design work for the Alien movie.His work is also in the museum, and just outside it too. One of the more impressive displays is the sculpture of the alien "bullets" in the gun.

Gun with alien bullets

Door handles

It is a small town, but there are plenty of restaurants to choose from, and the dishes of choice are fondue, raclette, and rösti; and for dessert, Gruyère cream with berries, meringues, or both! If you are lactose-intolerant, this is not the place for you to eat. I enjoyed cream with raspberries. I liked that they were separate, as I could choose the amount of cream to eat, but the waitress was surprised I didn't finish my cream. I wondered if I'd offended her.

Berries with cream

 We walked around the grounds of the château, which are flanked by the château walls and the stunning scenery. The chateau is from the 13th century, and marks the top of the town.

Going around the château grounds

View from the château grounds

Around the town is the remaining part of the fortified castlewalls, and it's fun to scramble around there on the old, worn steps.

We found a lovely hotel / resort, Hotel Cailler, in nearby Charmey, a town that is enjoyed by people who enjoy fresh mountain air (who doesn't?). We chose to stay there and experience the bains, or thermal baths, and spent a lovely and relaxing afternoon.
Charmey also boasts breathtaking views of the impressive mountains. We could only imagine the scenery in the wintertime.

Fresh bread

We both love fresh bread, but rarely get it just out of the oven.

The area where we lived when we first moved to Geneva, Grand Saconnex, has an organization called Four a Pain, ("bread oven") that held a Fete du Pain one Saturday.

We thought it would be worth a look to see what was being shown. Ryan really likes the Swiss bread called La Tresse au Beurre, or braided butter bread. It's available in the local supermarkets here. As a Swiss friend says, it's great, but you cannot slice it properly - you just have to grab it and tear off a piece.

The Fete was held in a courtyard of a school. It was a nice sunny morning, not too hot, and there weren't many people there. However, inside there was a small crowd, watching the bread coming out of the ovens:

A tray of the Tresse bread

I got the breakfast plate - so simple, and yet so tasty!

Seeing as it was breakfast, I opted to not have wine with my meal.
There were a few guys grilling out, so Ryan had the "'amburger" which was pretty good, he said.
A lively band played what I call local Swiss music, which got the people dancing.  It was getting pretty lively as we left!

Caves Ouvertes

Every year in May, there is an open house day of Geneva's wineries. Held on a Saturday, locals and visitors are encouraged to spend the day near Geneva, visiting wineries, tasting all there is to offer and having an overall enjoyable day. We contemplated taking the train and using the courtesy shuttle, but our friends were driving there, so we gladly tagged along with them.
Just a short drive and we were in a nearby town, where we found a place to park and walked a couple of minutes to our first stopover place. It had been raining that morning, and we were worried about the weather so we packed rain gear. 5 Swiss Francs was the cost for a glass, and we could sample whatever we wanted.

We noticed throughout the afternoon that a lot of people were English speakers. It's clearly the thing to do if you are Australian/Canadian/British/American!
Or maybe the bad weather scared away the other people.

There were food options available, such as sausages, breads, cheeses, desserts, and meals served too.  We did not sample any as we had just eaten, but probably would go hungry next year.

A very enjoyable experience was cut short, however, due to the weather turning sour. With high winds and sideways rain landing on us, there was very little shelter, and we called it a day a bit sooner than we'd wanted!
It was a great day out, though, and we look forward to trying it again.

(I was too busy having fun and talking to take any photos. Luckily, Ryan did! Our friends kept asking where he was, as he would leave us for periods of time, taking good pictures like the ones on this page.)

Lakeside cinema

For about five weeks every summer, CineTransat shows films lakeside just after sunset. For free, you can bring blankets, chairs, food, drinks, umbrellas, whatever you like really, and enjoy a movie. We decided to go and see Blade Runner (director's cut) in August with some friends - there were 7 of us in total.

Comfy chairs for hire

The forecast wasn't looking too good, so we decided to wait and see what would happen. Ryan volunteered to go early and reserve a large space for us. Thankfully, he took our large umbrella, as the skies opened soon after he ventured out! The organizers, however, told the few people there that the forecase looked as if the rain would go away in time for the movie, and then they proceeded to play rain-themed songs - Here Comes the Rain by The Eurythmics, Purple Rain by Prince, etc.
Ryan gave me updates while the rest of us collected in the apartment, waiting for the rain to let up. By 8.30pm, about half an hour before sunset, we ventured out and found Ryan (Thank you, giant umbrella) had saved a great spot for us. We got chairs, and broke out the cooler for some refreshing beverages.

Before the movie. Notice the "paper" chairs and the robot DJ setup to the left

This was an impressive display and really built up anticipation to the movie!

Only 3 of us had actually seen the movie before. I'd heard good things about it from friends, and I love Harrison Ford and think highly of Ridley Scott's work, so I was looking forward to it. And it was a really good film! It's 30 years old, and it was funny to see the futurist LA (which is only 7 years from now); pouring with rain, and full of buildings so tall you couldn't see the ground; with constant noise and lights, yet it dim and grim.

During the movie, the following really enhanced the experience: the fireworks that went off across the lake and also to the right of us; the moon rising over the lake; and the lightning.

While we stood around discussing the film and the "ambience," Mother Nature decided to do what she had threatened for the entire evening - the rain started and suddenly we were all chased away by a massive storm! We couldn't have been more soaked!

What a great night we had! It is yet another reason why Geneva is such an amazing city in the summer.

Château de Chillon

My friend Tracy was here from the US, and we decided to go to Montreux and visit Château de Chillon while we were there. I love castles, so I was pretty excited to go and see it. It's on tons of postcards of Switzerland, with most pictures taken from the lake. We had expected to spend about half an hour at the Château, then most of the day at Montreux, but there was so much to see, we spent most of the afternoon wandering around the Château, exploring the castle and the grounds!

The weather was fantastic: warm, but not hot, and sunny. We took a pleasant train trip from Geneva to get to Montreux, then took a short bus ride to the Château.  On the way, a quick read through the guide books taught us that was "made famous" by Lord Byron, who wrote the poem The Prisoner of Chillon.  It has become a very popular tourist destination, It's in the very corner of Lake Geneva, and surrounded by tall mountains.

It is on what is now a very busy street, so it's hard to imagine how it was centuries ago. It must have felt like such a serene place to those who lived there.
Upon crossing a small bridge, you can see the natural moat.

The map given to us showed a suggested path to follow for a self-guided tour, which we chose to do. One of the first places we went to was the cellar, where we got to see the dungeons made infamous by the afore-mentioned poem. It's quite chilling to see pillars and posts where you can almost picture prisoners being shackled. I think if the lighting was any dimmer, it would be a very ominous place.

There are windows dotted around that show the stunning lake and mountains. Nowadays, a large ship full of tourists will sail by (very rapidly) or smaller boats.

The tour continued to 30 more different points of interest... it was full of narrow staircases leading to big halls or small private rooms.

There are many signs that this castle was built in stages, over centuries. There were three or four courtyards, for instance, and more than one private quarters.

We spent a good few hours exploring this lovely castle, with great views looking out and into the grounds. There were so many windows and scenic spots!

This excursion cut into our "Montreux time", but it was an afternoon well spent.

View of Château de Chillon from lakeside Montreux

The photo opportunities in this place are almost endless, and I thank Tracy for taking her wonderful camera and sharing her photos with me!