Geneva

Geneva or Geneve (pronounced Je-neh-veh in French) is a french-speaking city in Switzerland, located along the western edge of Lake Geneva. It was once known as the Protestant Rome (because of its role in the Reformation) and is now the European headquarters of the United Nations and the birthplace of the International Red Cross. We really enjoyed walking through the narrow, cobblestone streets of the Old Town and through several parks throughout the city.

This is Cathedrale St-Pierre, a Catholic-turned-Protestant church built from 1160 to 1230.

Chapelle des Macchabees, Gothic style


The Horloge Fleurie (floral clock), created in 1955 as a tribute to the Swiss clock tradition, marks the entrance to Jardin Anglais (English Garden)

A fountain in Jardin Anglais

Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman in French) is the largest lake in the Alps (shown in the background) and is split between Switzerland and France.

Mr. Clean- Swiss style

Cathedrale Orthodoxe Russe (Russian Orthodox Cathedral) in the Les Tranchees district, once a popular residence for wealthy Russians.

Gilt onion domes

Art History Musem

Reformation leaders in the Parc ds Bastions

And finally, the Alabama Room in Hotel de Ville, where the first Geneva Convention was signed in 1864.

Chamonix (Sham-oh-knee)

For Valentine's and President's day weekend, we packed up our skis once again and drove to Chamonix, France for 2 days of skiing in the French Alps. We stayed at Chalet Frenas, just outside of Chamonix Mont Blanc, the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924.
On our first day, we chose the Brevent ski area. We had beautiful weather, check out the blue skies!


We spent our second and final day of skiing at Les Grands Montets ski area.

Do you see the figure flying through the air (and the shadow below) in the middle of the picture? It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Matt in Le Snowpark!

And a video of a subsequent jump...

On the lift...

"Downtown" Chamonix

On our last night in town, we had a great French meal at Le Trampelin, a small, family-owned restaurant about a mile from where we stayed. I had a goat cheese salad, Matt had a baked potato-ham-and-cheese dish, and for dessert, we shared creme brulee and poire glace (pear ice cream)- yum! There are several other ski areas that we weren't able to explore on this trip, so we plan to visit Chamonix again next ski season.

Before driving home, we decided to stop in Geneve, Switzerland for the day.

Beautiful views on the drive from Chamonix to Geneve...