My mind is on hyper-drive when I wander around a town for the first time. The only problem is that I’m not usually thinking of anything very useful or deep, just ruminating on my observations. The first of thought that grabbed my mind in Geneva was how quiet it was. But here are a couple of other thoughts that hopefully give you a glimpse inside my head.

eeewwwww

I hate overhead wires. While Matthew Yglesias argues that overhead wires are just fine in the historic towns of Europe, I see them as a sign that these towns have become complacent in their ongoing development. I love public transport, but it needs to evolve. Overhead wires strike me as a fairly old technology which should be swapped out for a system of rail cars with on-board clean engines, in ground wiring, or a cable car system (I’m sure the tech must have improved since San Fran put their system in the 19th century). While European cities are likely the last places that need to invest in infrastructure overhauls, I think it would be a very positive development.

I swear, every one is different

All the urinals are different. Hang with me here, I know you’re thinking that the urinal on the left looks like any other out there. Truth is it was slightly different, and unlike any other urinal in other restrooms in Geneva. Admittedly, I’ve only been to 4 or so urinals in Switzerland, but no two have been alike. That’s what’s throwing me off. I might be totally off here, but I feel that generally in a certain area it is common to find most of the urinals, especially in public toilets like museums, train stations, and restaurants, to be largely the same. For example, in Munich public toilets they are the little ones with the fly printed on the them (giving you something to aim at). I have to wonder if there is just a proliferation of urinal manufacturers in Switzerland, or if Geneva’s location at the center of Europe means that they have a plethora of choices for sourcing bathroom hardware.

Of course there are other things on my mind, but these are recurring thoughts that seem to come back every time I turn a corner or duck into the loo. Now if only I could get my mind working to understand quantum logic.

I took this one way back in August ’04. This ski trip took me to a totally different side of France from the one I saw on my first trip there. Good deal more of France to see too, I reckon I’ll be back.

If you have a picture that you think would make a good background, send it to me at weldon [at] questingforadventure.com with the story and I’ll put it in rotation.

I have to admit that in retrospect, I came on this trip ill-prepared for the big holidays that I’m celebrating on it. Thankfully, for Christmas, there were Gareth and Ross, two gents who were exceptionally well prepared to celebrate in style, as you might guess from their costumes in the picture above. But they didn’t just mark the holidays with outlandish outfits. On Christmas day they cruised around the slopes handing out presents from porno magazines to Christmas crackers, which you can see them doing in the picture below.

Everyone who travels during a holiday comments on how they are celebrating on the road. But for my part I think Gareth and Ross have the formula just right: live it up. Dress up and live the spirit of the season since your travels already mean that you won’t be following the traditions. With that in mind, I’ve got a couple of days to plot New Years.

I can’t find anything about it in the news, but apparently Geneva was hit by the plague earlier this week, and only about 40 tourists (myself included) didn’t get the memo. Seriously though, I guess it’s just that it’s a Sunday during winter holidays, but there is no one around and it’s eerie. When it came time for lunch it took me a good 20 minutes to find an open restaurant, though when I did with was worth the wait for the fondue and mulled wine.

Even without people, it is a pretty city. Well laid out around the water. And the people who are here are very nice, people riding past on their bikes say “bonjour” and people speak French back to me when I speak French to them, which I really appreciate as I desperately need the practice. I think I’ll have to give the city another chance sometime in the summer when there are people around to give it a bit more life.

Update: Couple of other pictures from Geneva (including the large versions of the ones above) in this Flickr set.

I just sorted through my photos of skiing le Plange and thought it would be worth tossing a couple more up here.

Cable car from le Plange Center to the top of the mountain

Sunset lighting up a mountain

Mid-mountain cafe near the end of the day

You can see some more pictures in this Flickr set, and I’ll be adding more as I go along.