Switzerland: Old Geneva and Carouge

 The next morning we went to work with Kim and got a personal tour of the W.H.O. It is a very interesting high modern building. Built in 1959, it includes a wonderful top floor garden and a assembly building surrounded by a reflecting pool. Thanks for the inside tour, Kim. 

Ann and I caught the bus out front on this gray rainy day and headed back to central station. From there we hiked back across the river in our raincoats and began a more extensive exploration of the old city. We stopped for tea in a cute little shop to warm up and dry off. We visited a bookstore. Ann bought fabric at a craft shop. We walked for hours in the rain, soaking up  the sites, past a university, fancy single homes, even making it to some fields before curving back to the waterfront. After this circumambulation of old town, we headed for Carouge, a once adjacent town built in the 1700's, not subsumed into Geneva. 

 Carouge had the feel of a well preserved colonial American town, with long streets of 3 story buildings tight to the street. It was nicely restored and held numerous small shops as well as apartments. Walking past one shop we were stopped in our tracks by the smell of exquisite chocolate.  We turned in and were enveloped in a warm blanket of chocolate and spices. There they made their own chocolate, and their own chocolates. Beautiful works of art, they were. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. Ann decided to buy some for gifts while I waited outside to make room in the small space. I found the smell even more compelling at the doorway, where was not omnipresent, but contrasted its cloying charms with the crisp damp day's air.

I just stood there smelling and absorbing the street and its activity. Ann emerged sans chocolate. Oh no! Their debit card reader's magnetic strip reader wasn't working. We found throughout Sweden and Switzerland that first, most use debit cards, and second, most use smart cards. We had innumerable instances of having to educate vendors on how to use the strip reader on their machines when we couldn't insert a smart card. Had always been resolved before, but now, no luck. So we left with only this memory. And that's enough.

Instead we found a bakery and bought sweets and bread for dinner and Ann. There were some small language issues here, but everything worked out fine, though a staff member observing the process did make the one snide comment we encountered on our trip about foreigners and lack of local language. No harm done, and it was good bread. 

So we took our prizes as the day ended and made our way through rush hour back to Kim's for dinner. 

A Tram in Carouge

Chocolate!

The next day she saw us off at the Geneva airport, and we made our long flight home via Washington DC and Chicago. What a  great, great trip. It's hard to believe all that we saw and did in just two weeks in Europe. A lifetime of memories. Ann's already imagining the next trip to the southern Alps. Yay!