A couple of nights in Geneva for work

I spent a couple of nights in Geneva for work this week. I came across some Europeans who have trouble comprehending what is involved in travelling from Australia. I left Canberra on Monday evening and flew via Brisbane and Dubai before arriving in Geneva on Tuesday afternoon (late Tuesday evening in Canberra). Coming home, I left Thursday and arrived home on Saturday losing Friday altogether.

Geneva for work

Téléphérique Salève cable car

Because of the way my flights worked out and to ensure the most economical fare structure, I got a few hours to myself on Thursday morning. I caught the number 8 bus from the Metropole bus stop to the Veyrier Douane bus stop just inside the border with France and a short walk to the base of Mont Savève where the Téléphérique Salève cable car station is. I’m grateful to a work mate who used to travel to Geneva frequently for the tip about the Téléphérique Salève cable car ride.

Métropole
1204 Geneva, Switzerland

Veyrier, douane
1255 Veyrier, Switzerland

Téléphérique du Salève
Route du Téléphérique, 74100 Etrembières, France
+33 4 50 39 86 86

Aire du Téléphérique du Salève
Route du Téléphérique, 74100 Etrembières, France

This photograph is a panorama I stitched together from about a dozen files I shot using my Sony fixed 35 mm compact point and shoot camera. I used Adobe Lightroom to piece it together and then did some extra editing in Aurora HDR 2019. I shot the files from the top of Mont Salève where the Téléphérique Salève cable car station terminates. You can see Geneva, its lake, and Lake Geneva’s famous water jet.

The Geneva Water Fountain
Quai Gustave-Ador, 1207 Genève, Switzerland

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I didn’t get back to Canberra until Saturday. The good thing is because I don’t sleep well at the best of times, while I do experience jet lag, I don’t think I’m affected as badly as many friends who do a lot of international travel.

Geneva is a nice enough city. Lake Geneva has a big jet fountain. The Captain Cook fountain in Lake Burley Griffin is similar to the one in Lake Geneva. Food though is expensive. Over on Yummy Lummy I will write a few words about what I ate on the two nights I spent in Geneva.

Geneva for work is expensive for food

Geneva though is hugely expensive. We all know that airport food is expensive, but on leaving Geneva at the Genéve Aeroport I was thirsty and wanted a soft drink. Nine hundred millilitres cost me $14 Australian dollars. I just find that outrageous.

On Tuesday night I had a lamb shank with some field mushrooms and potato mash. It cost $AUD65.45.

On Wednesday night I had fish and chips and it cost $AUD44.89

On Thursday I had steak, chips, vegetables, and crayfish butter for lunch. It cost $AUD51.70

Weight gain and food

The problem with travelling and not cooking for myself is that I end up compromising and one thing leads to another. I eat some bread, I eat some chocolates, I eat some biscuits, then there’s cake, panna cotta, creme brûlée, meringue, mousse, and other desserts.

I was surprised when I weighed myself this morning. I weighed in at 78.5 kilograms. On Monday when I left, I weighed in at 78.6 kilograms.

I’m not sure what to deduce from this. Perhaps I need to eat more dessert!

What have I watched this week?

X-Men: Dark Phoenix

On the flight from Brisbane to Dubai I watched X-Men: Dark Phoenix via the airline’s entertainment system. I hadn’t realised that Sansa (Sophie Turner) from Game of Thrones played Jean Grey in this movie.

The Big Bang Theory: Season 12

Prior to leaving I downloaded some TV shows onto my iPad.

On the various flights this week, I managed to watch the last season of The Big Bang Theory. I know TBBT has its haters. I’ve always enjoyed it. Some people don’t like the racism. I don’t mind it.

I thought the whole series ended well and was a good handover to the new series Young Sheldon.

Kim’s Convenience

While flying back from Geneva, after I’d finished writing up some work reports I watched a few episodes from this Canadian situation comedy. It’s about a Korean family which owns and operates a convenience store in Vancouver, Canada. Like a lot of Asian-centric comedy, there’s a lot of self-deprecation of the family’s Asian culture with a specific focus on being Korean. The family is bi-generational with the parents emigrating from the Republic of Korea (also known as South Korea) to Canada for a better life. Their children, an outcast son and a photography student daughter are Canadian in speech and behaviour but with a distinct Asian flavour.

In a small way I identify with these sorts of comedy shows. I’m a fifth generation Australian on my mother’s side of the family. Apart from an Irish great great grandmother, everyone else is Chinese. So much so, my maternal grandmother while born in Charters Towers in Queensland was sent back to her ‘home’ village in China for all her education. She returned to Charters Towers when she was twelve having received a full education of all she needed to know in ten short years.

Like my comments about The Big Bang Theory, I don’t have major concerns about what I regard as the necessary racism to make this comedy work. I know the phrase ‘necessary racism’ is probably regarded by many people as an odd thing for me to write, but for comedy of this nature, I think it is necessary.

What have I listened to this week?

I didn’t listen to many podcasts while away.

What have I eaten and photographed this week?

Photographs

This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and scroll through the rest of them.

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Yummy Lummy this week

No recipe post this week. Given I was in Geneva for work, I’ve posted a review of some of the places I ate in.

The cookbook

What do you think?

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Final thoughts

• Have you ever been to Geneva for work?
• Do you like riding in a cable car?
• When you travel overseas do you suffer badly with jet lag?

I like using @SkylumSoftware Luminar 3 for photo editing
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Yes, if people buy from this link I get a reward.

— Gaz 🖖 (@garydlum) August 15, 2019