That’s Lake Geneva we’re rounding, on our way to Geneva and our final stop.
What’s Paris’s great icon? The Eiffel Tower. London has Big Ben, New York the Statue of Liberty. Geneva? A safety valve in the water mains.
Just like in Paris and that radio mast, the locals were quick to spot the appeal of the pressure flow when it was first installed as a 30 foot jet in 1884. A couple of moves down the years, new pumps and more oomph, and the Jet d’Eau now majestically climbs to 140 feet.
That’s if it’s on. They switch if off in high winds. You’d be surprised by how often that happens.
Like Zurich, Geneva sits on a gorgeous lake and river, like Zurich it’s full of money, like Zurich it’s frighteningly expensive. But while Zurich has its banks and enjoys spending the dosh, Geneva plays the more earnest and high-minded cousin, creator of humanitarian institutions like the Red Cross, home to most of the UN bodies and to other major international organisations like the WTO.
Perhaps its most famous institution is a tram-ride away…
If you haven’t organised a special tour, there are two exhibition spaces at CERN. I was utterly engrossed by Microcosm, a detailed account of the design and operation of the LHC, including a full-size model of the actual beam line piping.
I also liked the sculpture in the grounds…
…but that tells you more about me than anything else.
orwellianTwo 