The first order of business during our latest travel trip was a quick weekend tour of Switzerland by train. Zurich is basically central-north Switzerland and our end goal was Geneva in the south west. It’s less than 3 hours by train to give you an idea of how small the country is. We stopped in Bern on the way there and stopped in Lausanne on the way back. Here are some photo highlights. I have a lot to catch up on and the other trips were a bit more interesting so I’m skipping photo touch-ups and long commentary for this leg.
Recall that before Katrina there was some flooding in Europe, particularly Germany and Switzerland. Bern was one of the cities that was hardest hit, but it pales in comparison to what is happening on New Orleans. I’ll just post a couple before and after pictures that I was able to assemble from a previous trip to the capital of Switzerland.
And the token underwater cars:
Bern has a really amazing old-town area, but it is undergoing massive roadwork this summer and this is what we saw.
We visited the house Einstein lived at in Bern when he started forming the ideas for the Theory of Relativity. He’s real popular in Bern still. You had to use your imagination in this landmark.
Geneva was probably the highlight of this particular trip. It has a nice mix of old town and modern city. This is a French speaking area of Switzerland and the French influence is very apparent.
The vineyards on the banks of the enormous Lake Geneva as seen from the train.
The main spectacle of the city. The Jet d’Eau shoots over 450 feet in the air and there is 7 tons of water in the air at any given time. Very impressive.
Miscellaneous views around Geneva
Lots more to come from Rome, Vienna, and Paris.
Dig on that suit
Wheelson, September 7, 2005 07:21 AM:I saw this show on PBS about a month ago that was all about Einstein's wife. Turns out she may have contributed quite a bit to helping him form his theory...or maybe not. What is known is that Einstein eventually became all full of himself and started treating her like crap. They divorced and he left her to fend for herself with a mentally ill child. She went broke taking care of him. She died poor and alone.
So he had the big brain and all but he wasn't really all that hot with the ladies I guess.
Bryan, September 7, 2005 11:03 AM:Interesting. They had a video playing there in the house and it talked a bit about his family life. His wife and child lived there as well, but it mentioned they had a child before that one that was actually born out of wedlock and nobody really knows what happen to him/her. We do know that matter can neither be created nor destoyed.