Geneva

Geneva, renowned city of peace, is tucked away in the French corner of Switzerland, wedged in between Lake Geneva and the Swiss/French border. It is famous for being the “Protestant Rome”, a signatory Conventions on the treatment of POW’s and battlefield wounded, and headquarters of many UN agencies as well as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent.


The Red Cross/Crescent was the first site I went to go see. Why Red Crescent you may ask? Well, Muslin nations do not take kindly to do-gooders marching into their land with red crosses and “good intentions” on account of the Crusades, so the organization had to adopt the red crescent as a compromise. The museum was a bit of a head trip, the entrance being marked by these creepy looking faceless statues, check em out:


There is two ways in which to view the Red Cross/Crescent Organization: inspiration or idiocy. This really is the first effort by any international body to address the needs of peoples devastated by natural disasters or war. It does so in an impartial manner, and offers help to all who need it regardless of affiliation. Truly noble in its mission. However, going through it and reading the exhibits, I found it stupid how they tried to put a more humane face on warfare. Their efforts towards natural disasters and aiding civilians caught in the crossfire aside, I did not find it humane at all for an organization to come in and say “You can’t shoot the wounded from the battlefield. They are off-limits because they can no longer fight.” And yet as soon as these wounded soldiers are all healed up and feeling better, what happens? They are sent right back to the front to engage in more killing and carnage. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the Red Cross/Crescent to say something along the lines of “You cannot kill this soldier, he is wounded, and as soon as he is better, he’s being sent home?” Unfortunately, the organization has no say over where troops go, as they are property of their respective governments. I will give the organization credit for alleviating the suffering of those who suffer at the hands of mother nature, but when it comes to the hand of man, particularly those individuals who propagate the violence, why try to make war more humane? I thought the more inhumane warfare became, the more likely it would be ruled out as a means of solving differences. Is this not the lesson from the World Wars? It’s a great idea, but in practice just doesn’t work and only perpetuates the problem. Oh the irony of mankind’s good intentions…

Besides this semi-depressing, semi-inspiring site, there was also the old headquarters for the UN building, as well as India's gift to Geneva: a statue of Ghandi:


From this clock you could see Jet d’Eau, a phenomenal jet stream of water that is shot to a ridiculous height in the air. Apparently the stream used to be just an annual thing for the city, but they liked it so much they wanted it to run 24/7. I don’t know how this is sustained, but it looks pretty cool at night. Here’s a pic:


Finally, Geneva is the site of the ill-fated League of Nations, the precursor to the United Nations. While I had wanted to get out to see it, the guy at the front desk gave me wrong directions and I instead wound up at the Wilsonian Palace. This was a palace (or what looked like a big hotel to me) dedicated to President Woodrow Wilson for his commitment to establishing a world government which the United States ended up not being apart of, one of the many reasons the organization was destined to fail. Since I had attempted to see this on the last day in the city, I did not have enough energy to seek out the real one, but here’s a pic of Wilson’s palace anyway:


Geneva was an alright city. There really isn’t much to the place. No crazy nightlife to speak of; I spent most of my down time in a jazz n blues bar down the street from my hostel, sucking down suds and complementary peanuts (yes, that’s right, the peanuts were free, saving grace of the entire excursion through Switzerland). There are no incredibly beautiful sites to see (eye of the beholder, I know). For this reason, and the fact that I was getting pretty tired of paying ludicrous prices for everything, I decided to cut my stay in Geneva to just one night, and head back into the Eurozone. Paris was a distance from Geneva, and not wanting to make such a long journey in one day, decided to see Lyon.