Geneva: Home to the UN

Geneva, Switzerland, you were beautiful. Your lake, your history, your shops.

Alexis and I met in Geneva during our fall breaks. I flew in from Barcelona and she came from Dublin. We spent three days in the city.

Friday morning I landed in Geneva and headed to the hostel to meet Lex. We decided to go to a local café for some crepes.

I believe these were banana Nutella crepes. Yum!

A majority of our afternoon was spent shopping. I may have spent a little too much money, but hey “When in Europe!”

The next day began with a trip to and tour of the United Nations Office.

The UN buildings are located in Ariana Park. This particular building behind me is a museum featuring ceramic art. Their Instagram page can be explored here. The park is also home to villas and sculptures and features an amazing view of Lake Geneva.

Here are some other views that can be spotted around the park. The red chair with the broken leg was requested to be made to raise awareness of landmines. Alexis and I had to get our picture taken in front of the UN sign because it was a dream for both of us to one day work there. The last picture was difficult to take with so many people walking in front of the flags and cars driving by, but it was still an awesome sight to see.

Now for the buildings that are a part of the UN and our tour.

We were required to wear these bright orange lanyards at all times with an ID card attached to them.

The amazing ceiling in one of the conference rooms. One of the pieces of art that line the walls of the buildings. An old time telephone booth. More artwork in another conference room. The biggest conference room on their campus.

These are the 17 sustainable development goals. I personally support all of them and love their colorful advertisement.

The campus was big but we were not able to access every part of it so here are a couple of okay-ish photos I was able to snap.

We walked around the city Saturday evening. We wound up at an incredible overlook. I took better videos there than pictures so I will upload those on my Instagram post after I finish this blog and link them here. As always I am in love with the architecture in Europe so that was most of what I captured. However, I did snap a little bit of nature in this group and after exploring the city we went back to Lake Geneva.

Just look at these views. They are to die for!!! This location was a little rock pier that led out to a famous jet/fountain on the lake.

Face down, ass up… Sorry I had to. I am a millennial. Can you blame me?

Gigi III, for my Aunt Gigi and my pal Aubrey’s mom, Coleen (known to her grandbabies as Gigi).

The Genevians have some interesting bathroom sign choices. However, they do get the point across. P.S. the fact that these pictures are not aligned really grinds my gears, but I am too lazy to fix them right now. Maybe one of these days.

Our last night was spent out on the town. Given I am writing this blog a year and a half after my time in Europe a lot of the details are fuzzy. I remember it was a fun time and the food was good. Although all I have pictures of are my drinks that night. Oops, sorry.

A gluten free beer, a high ABV beer, and a pretty good cider. I have actually seen the Flying dog snake dog beer in the states since I have been back which is pretty neat. The restaurant we were at is called Black Sheep. It definitely had more of a city/hipster vibe with a wide variety of drinks.

Geneva is a city I would love to return to. I would like to visit more of Switzerland, too. Alexis and I considered going to the mountains but we did not plan far enough ahead. For two American women who barely speak French and Spanish we did pretty well for ourselves. The people we met were very kind and helpful. Another adventure I want to take on is sailing on Lake Geneva. The view is absolutely stunning and there were boats everywhere. Ciao until I see you again.