Geneva Sight-Seeing and Lausanne Night Life

Today I went with some of my new exchange student friends Josefine (Sweden), Giovanni (Italy), Ioana (Romania), and Ahmed (Egypt) to Geneva for some sight-seeing. It was a little gray and cold in the beginning, but as the afternoon approached, we managed to find the sunshine. We visited the Cathedral and took a tour of the towers, where you could see the entire city. There is also a famous water jet similar to Old Faithful where water spurts out of the lake a couple 100 m high. We unfortunately did not reach it in time to feel the mist, but we got to see it from the top of the Cathedral.

We wandered around and found the oldest restaurant in Geneva for lunch, which turned out to be one of the lesser expensive restaurants, although still high priced. They had steak-frites and other stereotypical French food, but I had a very delicious "feuilleté des champignons," which was a mushroom-filled pastry with rice.

We also found a lovely park with historical sculptures dedicated to Calvin and the Reformation. After wandering around through the shopping streets and taking the tram to various stops in the city, we came across the Russian church, which was suprisingly small. It had golden domes characteristic of St. Basil's church in Moscow. Fortunately, we arrived just after their service had started, so we were able to watch the ceremony for awhile. There was beautiful singing and the inside was filled with intricate paintings and gold inlay.

Finally, we returned to Lausanne for a night on the town. There is a very popular discotheque downtown called MAD, and they play house and techno, which is their prefered music when compared to the rap and hip-hop in the US. There were hundreds of people crowded in the room with strobe lights and flashing colors. The building consisted of 4 or 5 levels, including a bar, a VIP section, and another venue. It was interesting to experience this kind of culture when I never embraced it at Iowa State...this place was the true watering hole for young people. It was definitely a fun experience and I hope to have the opportunity to compare it to others, but I guess I'm just not that exciting to participate in hours of late-night dancing every weekend.

To Adam (and other car fanatics): Seeing as how Europe is known for its classy automobiles, I tried to capture that in parts of this album. You will have to see for yourself.