can someone please tell me what public holiday it is today in Singapore? as far as my knowledge goes, the next public holiday is in May - vesak day?
anyway, here's why i'm so frustrated.
yesterday, as i was gathering my documents to open a UK bank account, i realised that i needed to verify my identity, so i had to go down to the singapore consulate to sign a declaration. to give you an idea of the gravity of the situation, i need to open this account by 2 May so that I can get my housing allowance, which would pay for a roof over my head when i'm in london. therefore, i need to send in my application ASAP. i couldn't do it before because there was some misunderstanding with the account types.
so i find out where the consulate is, and start on my 4km journey there. the consulate is situated south of the city centre, over this bridge which causes a butt-ache when crossing over, because of the arch. anyway, i find my way there, and realise that it is a small room in a danish shipping firm building. i saw the sign outside and my heart sank, because the opening hours were stated as 10am-12noon, monday to friday. the time was 1300h. i went in anyway, hopeful that there might be at least a single soul in the office who might be able to help me. i naively thought that singaporeans everywhere were hard workers, and surely that 2 hour office time actually meant consultation time. but no, i was wrong. the receptionist i spoke to showed me a piece of paper which said that the embassy was closed on (a list of dates)and in case of emergency, to contact the embassy in berlin. the first date on that list was 26 May. i don't remember the date, but i was certain about the month. so i decided to come back the next day just after 10am. i would be delayed by a day, but it was the best i could do.
actually, now that i think about it, what makes one think that the berlin embassy can actually help, are their office hours 12 -2pm or something like that? hehhhh
fast forward to this morning. i wake up bright and early, the earliest i've ever woken up on a tuesday. i had a class at 9.50am, and i would have made it on time, for once. but i decided that the trip to the embassy would take precedence for today.
my spirit was rather high as i made my 4km journey across the city centre. recently, with the flowers in full bloom, i feel extra happy cycling across the canals because kobenhavn was such a beautiful place, nothing like the gloomy city that greeted us in january.
but i digress.
i finally arrive at the door of the same shipping company, and i thought i saw an asian guy through the glass of the singapore consulate. i was glad, in fact, i was even dreaming of perhaps hooking up the embassy with the singaporean students on exchange. but it seemed that my eyes were playing a cruel trick on me. i went in, and the receptionist told me that the singapore consulate was closed today because it was a public holiday today, and that it would reopen on thursday. i was puzzled, and my heart sank lower than it had yesterday. but i tried to work it out. it definitely is not a Danish public holiday, because the shipping company was open, and there were classes today - so it had to be a holiday in Singapore. But that's strange because the next holiday i remember to be on the calenday was labour day - 1 May. moreover that piece of paper i saw yesterday said that the next time the embassy would be closed was in May. AND the only double day midweek public holiday we ever get in Singapore is for Chinese New Year. why on earth would they take a 2 day holiday in the middle of April, and attribute it to a public holiday? I remain in the dark.
anyway, i am now really at a loss. i can't get this application sent out until thurs, and i'm gonna miss the deadline. i started my journey home, my spirit weighed down with worry. that _ digit figure would have been significant at the beginning of june. i highly doubt i'd be able to finance my rent with the limited resources i now have. as i crossed the canals from the city centre back into norrebro, i forgot to glance over the lake and take in the sight that always made me smile.
on a brighter note, i think i've emerged from this situation with stronger butt muscles now, considering i'll have to make that same journey again for the 3rd time this week, on thursday. they better not play me out again. bleah.
"Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was civis romanus sum [I am a Roman citizen]. Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is 'Ich bin ein Berliner'… All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner!'"(John F. Kennedy, 26 Jun 1963)
Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany
12-14 Apr 2008
Berlin is an amazing city. Walking through the streets, one can literally see pages of history come alive. Meaning 'swamp', the city has certainly come a long way since its humble beginnings some 800 years ago.
First documented in the 13th century, Berlin was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1918), the German Empire (1871-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the Third Reich (1933-1945). After the Second World War, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a Western enclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall from 1961-1989. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of all Germany. (wikipedia.org)
Off a rather interesting overnight bus journey from Prague, we arrived at the main bus terminal at the unearthly hour of 5.30am, shivering from the cold. On the way, the weather had been unkind, continuous bolts of lightning flashed across the sky, while rain and later hail pelted down mercilessly while we were in the middle of nowhere. tucked into the seats of our 25 euro bus, we were in between trying to get some sleep and watching a czech movie when we arrived at the border checkpoint. Our first encounter with the German authorities was none too pleasant, when they took our passports and didn't return it till a good half hour later. Even then, the bus couldn't leave because there was a joker on our bus who didn't have a schengen passport and had to be forced off the bus by 5 police officers, just short of creating a nasty scene on the bus. after him (and his friend) got off the bus into the bitter cold, we could finally continue our journey into the capital of Deutschland.
we didn't waste anytime. despite amassing barely 4 hours of sleep on the bus, we arrive at the hostel and head straight out to the Reichstag, with our new Australian friend whom we made while waiting on the bus. She's an exchange student at Prague and was staying at the same hostel as us! So we troop off to see the most famous building in Berlin - seat of the parliament. Since Germany was pretty much a monarchy/dictatorship for most of its history, there was hardly a need for a parliament. It was more like a display on the mantlepiece, until the time of Adolf Hitler. He played his cards well, and took advantage of a fire that broke out one day to blame it on the communist party. To cut the long story short, people turned to Hitler to solve their problems of bread and work in the days of hyperinflation following Germany's loss in World War I and the Versailles Treaty which left Germany in so much debt they would take the next 50 years repaying it. In that building, he persuaded (to put mildly) everyone to vote for the infamous 'enabling act', which essentially gave Hitler the sovereign power in German, and it was downhill from there. anyway, the building is a rather impressive one, with a glass dome on the top that's open to the puplic free of charge. The architect had wanted to remind the German parliament that whenever they had a decision to make, they should look up, to see who they were serving- the people. But of course, the lines to get in these days are so long, and all of them must be tourists...
We then split ways with Sarah, who had wanted to go for the free walking tour. We headed to the Charlottenburg Palace instead, and started our learning journey about the great Prussian Empire that once existed as a great military power in Europe. The palace was built by Frederick the Great's grandmother as a summerhouse, and later used as a Palace when she became queen. We spent the next 4 hours walking around, listening in to the audio tour and getting a crash course on those years in history. We were really tired tho, from all the walking we had done in Prague and the lack of sleep, and didn't quite take a good walk around the beautiful baroque-style garden grounds there was. Plus the bitter cold was quite a turn off. All said, we still somehow managed to stay out till 9pm, after landing ourselves in the modern downtown of Berlin - portsdamerplatz. the shopping centre actually opened till 9pm, what a rarity in europe, despite Berlin being touted as the next fashion capital of the world after New York and Paris. but i was wayyy too tired to shop.
the next day was museums day, for berlin also has more than 170 museums, and even an island dedicated to museums. the pergamonmuseum was highly rated, so we headed there to see the famous reconstruction of the Pergamon Altar. That museum was amazing too, it was another history lesson, this time dating back a few thousand years, giving us some visual insights into the ancient world we read of in the Bible. German archaeologists are rather good at what they do, i must say. they've managed to dig up remnants from the ruins of Pergamon and Miletus, ancient Greek cities situated in present day Turkey, and reconstruct the magnificent Pergamon Altar, where they sacrificed burnt offering to the Greek gods for victory over neighbouring cities like Galatia; as well as the old market gate of Miletus. For me, it was also a lesson in greek mythology, for there was a myriad of gods depicted in larger than life forms. More remarkably, those german archaeologists also pieced together the old Ishtar gate from the land of Babylon, and reconstructed using remnants and adding new pieces to fill up the gaps. It was incredible being able to get a sense of how the city was like in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar II, the same king who took Judah into captivity, cast Daniel into the den of lions, and made that huge statue of himself and made everyone bow down to it. They were the world power of their time, and the magnificent gate reflected the glory of the kingdom. we also wandered into Altes Museum, to view the world-famous bust of Queen Nefetiti of the Ancient Egpytian empire, whose beauty is said to be immense, and whose fame as Queen of Egpyt is only second to cleopetra. This iconic bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egpyt, preserved in colour, encased in a huge glass box that's probably 100 times the size of the bust, and has her own personal security guard. totally reminded me of mona lisa in the lourve.
this trip was different also because we seemed to be friendlier than we usually are, and we picked up yet another friend that 2nd night. This german guy of turkish descent moved into our hostel room and couldn't stop talking. tired as we were, we had to keep up our conversation with him, and we even went for dinner together. i raised the white flag first, when i fell asleep after coming back while waiting for my turn to shower.
but the next day, he gave us a ride in his 2-door mercedes car to town, and saved us 20 mins of walking time. he was a nice guy tho, we did enjoy those conversations. anyway, we finally went on the free tour on the last day, and there was yet more to learn. but this time, it was more about the recent history of berlin, and germany. it's quite hard to imagine that all those events only happened 50 years ago, in the lifetimes of people who still walk on the face of the earth today. the rise of Hitler; world war II, where germany emerged as the losers once again; how east germany was engulfed by communism, and why the berlin wall came up in 1961; the cold war and hard life; sad, moving, inspirng and sometimes incredible stories of trying to cross the berlin wall; the cracks in the wall, and finally, its collapse.
the longest surviving stretch of the wall
But it doesn't stop there, berlin is still recovering, and those signs are visible everywhere. construction is ongoing; memorials are always springing up; people still walk the streets with scars to show for their valiant attempts at freedom. it is a city in the midst of modernisation, yet still treading the fine line between that and keeping its rich historical past intact by virtually reconstructing every significant building because literally everything was detroyed in WWII. almost none of berlin's monuments are original, save the symbolic Brandenburg Gate, but it is a city with an unparallelled wealth- of stories accumulated over time that sets it apart from any other city in the world.
the Brandenburg Gate
the very captivating tourguide tells the story of the glitch that caused the wall to come tumbling down...
well, as a follow-up to the story of the clogged bathroom... the short conclusion is that we've never been so deperate one moment, and relieved the next. and that God is real.
the next morning when we woke up, the first thing most of us checked was the bathroom. we saw that the water had mostly evaporated (we have a heated bathroom floor, remember?) but hasn't actually subsided. our hearts sank. the girls got on the phone with their dads, who both concluded that we needed a long pole to clear it cos our snake was too flimsy. we tried that, but it didn't seem to work. so we trooped down to the supermarket to buy some chemical to pour down. obviously we couldn't understand the labels on the bottle so we asked this random guy for help, and he looked at us with eyes wide open and repeatedly told us to be careful cos the solution was very acidic. we were quite happy to hear that actually, there was hope.
back home, we had to first clear the remaining water before we could actually pour the acid down. so i decided to start mopping, but debbie was a lot braver, she decided to get a cup and clear the water out with her bare hands. i dunno how many times she stuck her hand into that drain hole... but she did garner a lot of respect, especially from the boys, that morning.
so, in went the acid. nothing happened. we waited 1 hour... but still no signs of improvement. david decided to try to plunge again, so he filled up the hole with water to dilute the acid. nothing seemed to be working, and i decided that we should just call the plumber just to enquire. so debbie did, and to our horror, it was 3000dkk an hour for their services because it was a public holiday....!?!? we expected it to be expensive, but almost 900SGD per hour is INSANE. if we waited till monday (3 more days) it would be 700-800 dkk per hour. that was still expensive, but we were starting to psycho ourselves that it was affordable once we split it 5 ways...... and we got mentally prepared to go to yocksong's place to bathe.....
and just as suddenly as the toilet started to flood, we heard a swirling sound. like debbie later said, there was never a sound so sweet- than water going down the drain. and it went down real fast. just as we stood there, still, exasperated and completely at a loss, a miracle happened. we all stared at david, who was still holding the plunger in his hand. and he was grinning like a silly boy, and he said 'I prayed'.
it wasn't as if we haven't been praying all through last night. but we weren't desperate enough i guess. God chose the time when we've completely emptied ourselves of all solutions and strength, and he caused the water to go down. hallelujah, for it was truly nothing short of a miracle. once again, He showed us how weak we were, and gave us such a wonderful opportunity to praise His name and testify of His goodness to us.
so whenever someone asks about our toilet, and how we solved the problem in the end, i'll tell them that the answer,
was prayer.
Amen.
"We come by prayer, and that prayer broken; with confession, and that confession faulty; with praise, and that praise far short of His merits; but yet He receives us. We come diseased, polluted, worn out, and worthless; but He doth in no wise cast us out. Let us come again today to Him who never casts us out."
it's a normal day after a rather delicious mee siam dinner. the occupants of griffenfeldsgade 58 go about their daily business. david - in the face of another catastrophe that hit his poor IBM laptop last night, was busy playing GTA, on our landlord's computer screen; debbie, rewarding herself with a rest after cooking dinner, was busy blogging/watching friends; carol, who's been slacking all day, was watching house; and jiamin, the newest occupant who just officially moved in 3 days ago, was taking a nice warm shower after frisbee training... jiamin: DEBBBBIIIIEEEE! (as he usually calls for her, for whatever matter, big or small) debbie troops out of the room and out of the living room. carol continues watching house, blissfully unaware of what's going on..
half hour later:
debbie: CAROL, BRING THE CAMERA HERE....
carol jumps up immediately, grabs the camera, and heads in the direction of the call, slightly confused.
she sees 3 people (no idea how David starting getting involved) standing in the bathroom, with dirty water and dirt swirling around their feet.
the bathroom was clogged. again. for the 3rd time. except that this time, it was worse. the first time it happened, 3 of us were in amsterdam, and david tackled the problem alone... 2nd time- jiams and deb were in berlin, and david and carol did the plunging... now, the 4 singaporeans were in closer proximity than ever, and for the next 1.5 hours, they alternated between inserting that 4.5m long plumbing snake into the drain, and plunging with all their might. it was a tedious process.
an example of the plunging:
the plunger (david in this case): everyone, take your positions...debbie goes into the shower cubicle to stand over the trap, which we covered with plastic bags; jiamin goes under the sink to seal off another opening there; and carol covers the sink hole - all in the name of increasing the pressure. and then he proceeds to plunge 100 times at a go.
all to no avail.
at first, they were all quite enthusiastic, cracking jokes every 2 seconds about super mario and the invincible NTUC fairprice plastic bag that we used to cover the cubicle drain... but after 1 hour, everyone got tired and slightly despondent. so carol, the only one with clean feet since she climbed straight onto sink level, went out to get refreshments.... but the swiss chocolates that she fed everyone with failed to help to situation, neither did the rounds of water she boiled so that they could pour hot water and baking soda down the drain.....
the time now is 1am. debbie decided that she had enough and got out. slowly, everyone was persuaded that it was time for a break, and resigned to their fates of not getting to bathe for the night. (except jiamin, who of course had finished his shower, but still insists on bathing again)
the girls are just gonna sleep. the guys think they're too filthy to even sit on the sofa. they'd rather sleep on the floor.... they'll probably call the plumber tomorrow morning... but it's a public holiday. bummer.
enough adventures for a night with a 200 year old drainage system....
Considering how late this is coming out, i shall attempt (as i have in vain the past posts) to keep this short.
i can hear my primary school classmate, shawn, heaving a sigh of relief now.
I shall also take the opportunity to try producing more photos for mummy's close examination, by putting them up on a separate site, links below.
LUZERN
An hour south of Basel and Zürich, and boasting invigorating mountain views, lake cruises and a picturesque old quarter, LUZERN (Lucerne in French and English, Lucerna in Italian) has long been one of Europe’s most heavily touristed towns. The River Reuss splits the town, flowing rapidly out of the northwestern end of the lake. River banks on both sides are clustered with medieval squares, frescoed houses, ancient guildhalls, churches and chapels, and filled with a liveliness that belies the city’s age. Whether you’re charmed by Luzern’s sense of history and tradition, or by the misty lake at its doorstep and the snow-capped Pilatus rising above, or even by its nightlife, charmed is what you’ll be.
Maccann and Luyi were really nice to go with us even though they've already been there once before. poor bingkai had to stay home because some guy was coming to repair the bathroom window (when it wasn't even spoilt). If we went prepared to be charmed, the first emotions that greeted us were that of disappointment. The weather didn't treat us too well, with strong winds at the top of Mt Pilatus (better known as the 'ricola mountain') because it was supposed to be really beautiful, and also 'cause it has a long toboggan run which you can use to get some way down the mountain, and that costs nothing!
Pilatus was named after a local legend which alleges that Pontius Pilate was buried there.
Pilatus has the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland (0.88 miles or 1.350 km) and the biggest suspension rope park in Central Switzerland.
Nonetheless, the walk around the city proved to be a profitable one, and like a typical swiss city, the whole sense of nature engulfing the town gives a very calming effect. There were also hardly any tourists around, though the shops there were well armed (with banners in japanese and chinese) to deal with hordes of tourists who will probably descend on the peaceful little town in summer.
However, luyi and maccann had to abandon us halfway because of an urgent recall from bingkai to head back home, after an attempted break-in at their place. Thank God bingkai decided to stay home that morning/afternoon. Nothing was stolen, and i hope nothing happens to their place since they have since left for a 3 week holiday...
Zurich, St Gallen
we only had a short 1 hour there, so jianfeng, david and i decided to split up. david headed to see the famous buildings in zurich which included some churches and the river; jianfeng wanted to just walk around; i wanted to see if i could do some shopping and see the churches on the way. it turned out that i couldn't afford anything much on that street, so i went in search of st peter's church instead, because it supposedly has this huge clock face thats the largest in europe. i thought that the fastest way to get there would have been to just keep walking towards the clock tower. but that took me through numerous tiny alleys and i found some cute exotic shops.
but the weather was also quite bad and I was none too keen on taking too many pictures because that would require me to take my hands out of my pockets. hence the incredibly few pictures i have of such a famous city. i would hardly call it a city though, it still looked like a small swiss town to me, although admittedly busier and noisier. the onimous alps with its towering presence, coupled with the lack of tall modern-ish buildings make the city a pleasant one.
time moved a lot faster than the general pace of that city though, all 3 of us reported to the platform, just in time to catch our train back to st gallen - our home in switzerland.
ST GALLEN
this time, bingky met us at the train station and showed us around the city centre of the puny little german-speaking town of st gallen. again, the snow made the city lights look like christmas lights and helped to hurry us along our walk down the main street. back in the warmth of the apartment, we helped to cook cabonara for dinner and proceeded to have a feast that night. luyi also whipped up curry pork, and then we had chocolate and cheese fondue with the cheap 70 cents ikea chocolate (ikea choc rocks - cheap and good. why don't they have it in singapore, or copenhagen for that matter?! argh) btw, the st gallen trio prepared 10 bars each, as a welcome gift for jf and me. how sweet! we're carefully and slowly savouring them back here in copenhagen, a land deprived of good, cheap chocolate. anyway, for some strange reason, we didn't take many proper shots of us in the apartment as well, wasted. it was a good dinner. laughing and chatting and feeling like we're home with friends, yet so far away from home. i guess home is in the heart- it doesn't always have to be physical. though it would be nice to finally go home physically, soon enough.
A city of lesser renown (relative to Zurich and Geneva), Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland. But it certainly does not look the part, for it is a really puny city which hardly commands any feeling of awe or power whatsoever. Yet, it is a pretty little town with rows of nice little buildings, which helped pushed its nomination through, to the UNESCO list of world heritage sites.
You know you're in Switzerland when you see clocks... way too many of them, on clock towers, along the streets, outside shops... and in Bern, we had a little adventure with them clock towers.
CLOCKS After finally arriving in Bern after our tour of Geneva, we found that luyi, mac, bingkai and jian feng (who had just arrived from prague that morning) had already finished walking through the town/city and already on the way back to the train station. They instructed us to meet at the 'MacDonald's at the big Clock Tower'. that sounded simple enough, we thought. cities usually only had one main clock tower. There was a huge clock in the middle of the train station, and a MacDonald's in the basement, so we happily headed there. But it was not the right one. So we ventured out of the train station with our huge bags, in search for the rendez-vous point. We saw a big clock tower right outside, and thought that had to be it, only to walk completely around and catch no sight of the familiar golden arches. But since MacDonald's is so ubiquitous, it didn't take us long to see a sign that said 'M - 200m', so we followed the sign, only to land up in the wrong restaurant again. We asked for the next nearest one and headed out into terrible weather, then we saw IT. we had thought that the first clock tower was big, but this one was GIGANTIC (picture below). and then we saw bingkai standing outside MacDonald's standing in a look-out position. To the relief of familiar ones basking in the warmth MacDonald's provided, we had finally arrived. BEARS The guys had enough of the city, and the weather only helped to dissuade them to take us on another tour. So the task fell on luyi, who gladly (presumably) brought us to see the only attraction Bern had to offer - 'bear pit'. When i first heard that, i thought it was some cheem german name.... but the story behind its significance is that when the Swiss first found Bern, the first thing they spotted were brown bears, and so the bears have now become the symbol of switzerland, and there's a pit with 2 bears put on display: but they must have been qutie afraid of luyi, who had earlier tried to feed by bananas by throwing it them, hitting their faces, so they refused to come out of their dens a second time for us. either that or they must have been confused by the weather, cos it started to snow suddenly again when it's supposed to be spring, and they went back into hibernation, thinking winter wasn't over. (in any case, luyi, please send me the pics of them!)
FOUNTAINS Another thing rather characteristic of any Swiss town is that it has countless number of fountains, most of them without water. they can be in the middle of the street, or at a corner.
Here's luyi and i on a street that easily had 5 or 6 fountains. And David and I at some random corner. notice the flag of the canton, and the bear on it?
We also went into this church, whose name i fail to recall.
And finally, here's some reason to suggest why the city qualified for UNESCO. the picture does not do any justice to how pretty the rows of houses really are, or how the charming little river that runs into the city is, against the mountains that form the usual Swiss backdrop. I blame the bad weather for the bad picture. It was cold and gloomy. and snow reflects light.
And that was it, we did bern in, like, 1 hour.
But i never looked at Clocks and Fountains in the same way again. Dunno about bears yet, cos i've yet to see any (alive, that is).
We did a whirlwind tour of switzerland (5 cities in 2 days) hung out with the st gallen trio at their place, and even managed to visit the supermarket a few times, all in 2 days.
i tell you, waking up early really does make a difference. the days seemed so much more productive. and we weren't exactly rushing. i'm a proponent of the school of early risers, but my stubborn body will not condone my conversion.
geneva was my favourite city in switzerland, though we barely spent a day there. i'm so grateful we didn't write it off like we had planned to in chamonix.
that was a long introduction. on to the real stuff. ______________________________________ That day started real early, we woke up at 4+am to get from chamonix to geneva airport. sent the london crew off, and then we were left to explore the city, and the land of neutrality which i've learnt so much about in social studies. what we were unused to was being too early. we hung around in the airport until the ticket counter at the train station opened.
something really stupid happened. i was really needing the toilet but it cost a hefty 1/2 franc (about 80cents SGD maybe?) to open the cubicle door. that got me really annoyed. 1) i wasn't willing to spend so much to go to the loo; 2) [after i got really desperate and didn't mind paying that money] i realised that the smallest note i had was 200 franc, and all the shops weren't open yet. so, carol the genius decided to take a walk down onto the train tracks, to see if i could use the toilets on the train. after carefully identifying the train whose departure time gave me enough time to pee, i had to garner enough courage to press the button to make the door open, run to the toilet, get back out, and pretend nothing happened. but of course, i was too hum ji, noticing how quiet the entire place was and taking in all the weird stares that the station workers were giving me. finally, after pacing up and down for about 10 mins, i decided to act. alas! the toilet that i was aiming for was not working. so i got off hastily and decided to give up. thank God, when i went back up to the station level, the counter finally opened, and we finally managed to buy that elusive swiss youth pass. armed with a proper train ticket at last, i could load myself (and my full bladder) onto the train with a clear conscience, and use another working toilet. phew.
we then got to geneva city, deposited our bags in the lockers and tried to locate the tourist information office. THEN, david decided that he wanted to go to the toilet. this time, the toilet (McClean, they're called at the train stations) cost 1 franc. but david the genius decided that he would use a hotel toilet instead. so we found a 3 star hotel, he used the toilet while i pretended to ask for directions (actually i really needed to know). just as well, i found that that the tourist office was closed because it was a public holiday (easter monday) but he pointed us in the general direction of the main attractions.
these are some of the places we visited. it was still bright and early in the morning (8am?), plus it was a holiday, so the whole town looked really dead and quiet. we literally had geneva all to ourselves... until about 11ish, when we were joined by other late-riser tourists. hah! the jet d'eau(iconic water fountain which shoots water up to 143m in height at 130km/hr) over the serene lake geneva, surrounded by the snowy white alps.
jardin anglais (english garden), where some the national momument is (One -with the crenelated headgear- is the Republic of Geneva ; the other is Helvetia: Switzerland. They symbolise the attachment of Geneva to the Confederation on September 12, 1814.)
as well as the famous flower clockas a symbol of the world-renowned watch industry of geneva, with 6500 flowers, and a second hand which is the largest in the world, at 2.5m long. the pictures honestly do not do justice to its splendour, neither did the weather and persistent snow.
patek philippe museum, it was closed though. i really wanted to buy myself, and daddy, a watch in switzerland, but they were wayy out of my league. even swatch was slightly more expensive than in singapore.
Place du Molard. Geneva has sheltered successive waves of refugees over the centuries. They brought the leading technologies of their era - printing, watchmaking and textile manufacture. The international city, with 40% of its population from other lands remains open to people of different origins and cultures.
place du Bourg-de-Four, the old city centre, completely deserted at that point in time.
the historical and spiritual heart of the city - Saint Pierre Church where we climbed up the steeples for a panoramic view of the city and a closer view of the giant bells in the bell tower.
it was in its HUGE compounds that we spent most of our time, learning about the evolution of the church over the centuries; as well as its significance in shaping the development of Geneva itself.
it was also the church where Jean Calvin, the great Protestant reformer, based himself, in directing the construction and organisation of this city as its primary spiritual and theological leader. Jean Calvin was French, but had fled to Geneva to flee prosecution in France after openly declaring his protestant ideas. He basically designed how the city would be governed with a constitution modelled after biblical models. Geneva was called 'the protestant rome'. Under that period, trade also flourished and Geneva grew from a small village to a prominet city.
International Museum of the Reformation. I absolutely loved that museum, it brought an important part of history to life, and showed the influence of the period right down to the lives of individual ordinary people. it literally tore europe into 2, and forced everyone to take sides and some to stake their lives for their beliefs. the exhibits were brilliantly arranged, with a room explaining the significance of the bible placed as the first, as the bible was the central tenet of the reformation; there was also a mock dining-table discussion where some key figures discussed their views on the doctrine of election, and it really brought to mind the current VPP battle, which seems to pale a lot in comparison; there were video clips, a room where you can just sit and listen to different types of church music- everything was very comprehensive. after coming out we immediately felt like going on a reformation trail around europe, despite the fact that it was the easter season. the first edition of Calvin's 'Institutes of the Christian Religion', published in Latin in 1536. a copy of the Geneva Bible - the first complete english translation of the Bible. a cartoon (powerful tools used to spread the new ideology) portraying how the word of God tips the balance. can you recognise the reformers?
Treille Promenade, supposedly a romantic 16th century promenade flanked on one side by the world's longest wooden bench (120m). also home to Geneva's official Chestnut tree, whose first bud's blossoming marks the arrival of spring.
Place Neuve and Bastion's Park. we had some fun with the life-sized chess & checkers sets. carol: it's amazing how there is not a single piece missing from any set david: it shows that not many singaporeans know about this place yet... and then we took a contemplative stroll along all 100 metres of the reformation wall,built against part of the city's old protective walls in commeration of the 400th anniversary of the birth of jean calvin. At the centre of the wall, five meters high, are the four great figures of the movement: Guillaume Farel (1489-1565), one of the first to preach the Reformation in Geneva, Jean Calvin (1509-1564) the"pope" of the reformers, Théodore de Bèze (1513-1605), first rector of the Academy of Geneva and John Knox (1513-1572), founder of Presbyterianism in Scotland. Behind these statues stands the motto of the Reformation and of Geneva: "Post Tenebras Lux" (After darkness, light.)
Other random shots: awesome car which looked like it was still in use. "i can imitate you..." "but please do not get offended...!" ............................. and then we zipped off to bern, the sleepy capital city, also a UNESCO world heritage site.
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