Geneva

The last overnight stop on our Great American Road Trip (through Europe) was Geneva, Switzerland (Ville de Genève in French). We elected to spend two nights and a full day here so that we could do more in Bordeaux and to break up the drive back home. Honestly, it was probably the right decision. Lake Geneva and the surrounding area are certainly beautiful and we had an interesting, if long, guided walking tour to learn the history of the area and it's growth as a leading Swiss city for international politics, science, medicine, time pieces and chocolate. But, to be honest, by this point in the holiday we were actually rather exhausted from nearly three weeks on the road so we probably would have been just as happy eating the chocolate while looking at the watches.

The architecture was a bit nondescript, although we were fascinated by all the flags!

England my have Greenwich, but Geneva boasts itself as the 'world capital of time' due to all the clocks & watches.

Our two favorite locations during our day in Geneva were the Jet D'Eau on the lake and the Patek Philippe watch museum.

Jet D'Eau is a 140 meter tall water fountain constructed in the lake and dates back to 1891! In American that translates to 460 ft from the base of the fountain to the waters peak extent into the atmosphere! From a distance it is a striking sight that dominates the view of the lake from the shore. But from up close it's even more impressive!

I have what I consider to be an interesting relationship with watches. On the right hand, I find them completely fascinating. The level of detail and craftsmanship that goes into most watches is amazing to me and add to that the variety of styles, materials and technology all packed into something you wear on your wrist and I can't help but stop and admire them. But on the left hand, I generally dislike having things around my wrists! I'm pretty sure this goes back to my sporting days when I was younger which prevented me from growing accustom to the feel of something wrapped around my wrist and now it just seems weird to wear the few that I own.

Patek Phillipe is a luxury watch manufacture from Geneva that I had never heard of but when the Museum popped up on a list of things to do in Geneva and Amanda suggested it I jumped at the opportunity. If you like watches or jewelry I would definately recommend a visit. Even the girls found it interesting despite being tired from the morning walk and a little on the hungry side. This is just a small sample of what's on display across two floors of this impressive museum.

Amanda said we didn't have an extra $76,594 USD laying around, so sadly, I left without any souvenirs.