It's almost midnight here and I am in the middle of packing for week in Paris. We leave tomorrow morning from Geneva. We are taking the TGV (Train a Grande Vitesse) which is France's high speed train that is able to reach speeds over 300 mph. I'm really excited for this trip. We are going to be meeting with people from Medecins du Monde (Doctor's of the World) and Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger). Thursday will be a free day so some friends and I are hoping to go to Versailles for the day.

I wanted to give a quick update on my weekend since I won't be able to post this week. On Friday afternoon, some friends and I went to the Ethnography Museum in Geneva. I really enjoyed this museum, it was so different from anything I have been in before. One of the main exhibits was about music from around the world. It was very interactive. One area was all about traditional folk music and you could pick any country to hear their version. I went to the US and the first song was referenced under Springfield, Missouri! I forget who the artist was, but it was from about the 1940s. It was a country/bluegrass sound. Who knew I would feel at home in the Geneva Ethnography Museum...

There was also this amazing exhibit on photography from Madagascar. A cultural anthropologist left over 12,000 negatives to the museum when he passed. This room is made entirely from the negatives. I thought this was such a wonderful way of displaying the pictures.

Saturday was jam packed with adventures. We efficiently visited two cities in one day--Fribourg and Neuchatel. 

 

Fribourg is set up really beautifully. The historic part of the city sits down in a valley and is surrounded by bright green hills. The tall building on the left is the St. Nicholas church tower which is one of the highlights of the city.

Fribourg was so different than anything else I have seen in Switzerland so far. It is almost in the Swiss-German part of the country so I probably had a lot more German influence which I could sense in a lot of the town's architecture. Also, this was the first Swiss city I have been to that wasn't on a lake. But, it did have a large river. It wouldn't be Swiss without some type of water!

The inside of St. Nicholas was really amazing. The organ was my favorite. I'm finding this is true in most churches I visit. Now I find myself walking towards the front just so I can turn around and look up. After walking around the church for awhile, my friends and I decided it would be fun to walk up the tower and look out over the city.

We might have thought this through a little more had we known we would have to climb 368 stairs. Oh, and with rope for railing (notice the rope on the left hand side). This is my friend Vanessa in the middle of our climb. I'm sure all of our faces were about the same as hers, if not worse.

After lots of laughter, groaning, and burning muscles we finally made it to the top.

The view was definitely worth the pain. We could see all the different areas of the city--the historical, modern, the river, the green valleys. We stayed up there for quite a long time to soak in the scenery. And to avoid going back down those 368 stairs.

We eventually forced ourselves to go come down. And, once again, it was worth it. We ventured down into the historical part of the city that is nestled into the valley. Here you can see the Sarine River that runs through the city. The bridge you can see in the distance is a beautiful, very old wooden bridge that was covered in flowers.

After walking around for awhile, and beginning to hear our stomachs growl, we decided to grab some lunch and take the next train to Neuchatel.

Neuchatel was very different than Fribourg. It felt more "Swiss", or my idea of "Swiss", since it was on a lake--Lake Neuchatel. The city is known for its wine festival that will be taking place within the next couple of weeks. It looked like it was going to rain on us all afternoon, but we lucked out and it never did. I still think the clouds are so beautiful here since they seem to much closer to the ground.

We went in the courtyard of the Neuchatel Chateau which we discovered is actually governmental offices. I thought the shutters were really interesting. At first they seem out of place, but after being there for awhile I couldn't picture anything better.

We continued down the road to this really beautiful church. It was actually under renovation so we couldn't see a lot of it, but we happened upon a wedding just as the bride and groom came out of the church. It was really cool to see. The more I travel the more I realize that the unexpected moments are the ones that will stay with me and make me feel more connected to the places I visit.

I should probably finish packing for tomorrow. After my trip to France in high school, I know that the TGV will be leaving at EXACTLY 9:17. A couple of weeks ago the train was about 10 min late somewhere. This made the headlines of some of the French newspapers.

A bientot!