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highlyeccentricWhere we last left this this thread, I'd just got back from a whirlwind trip to London.
Since then I have done a number of things and NOT done a number of other things. I'm in the middle of moving house (currently nested in Friend L's place. Friend L is the best) and between housing instability and god knows what else it's been a vr stressed few months. I really don't want to rehash it all, even the good bits, so let's just call this a photo post.
These are all culled from![[tumblr.com profile]](https://www.tumblr.com/favicon.ico)
speculumannorum, my photoblog. I've been posting regularly there - currently I have SO MANY PHOTOS OF DUCKS to share that I've had to increase the rate to 4 posts per day. I'm not doing this photo-a-day project right.
Simple things in Geneva:
Taught myself to crochet. Yarn is very comforting. Plus I find that tackling new skills that I'm *actually never going to be very good at* is a useful weapon against perfectionist anxieties.
I've basically adopted Cafe Boreal as my second home. The place was set up by an American who'd worked in cafes in Australia and, upon arrival in Geneva, realised all the Australians and New Zealanders were pining away for lack of flat whites, macadamias, and coffee that isn't burned. So he set up a solution and it does a roaring trade.
Summer in Geneva is full of goings-on, many of which I ignored, but I did get to the free concerts just once. Tuareg rock band Tamikrest were great fun and musically fascinating - their genre influences from western music ranged all over the map (and I assume their arabic & african influences did too, but I'm not positioned to pick those).
The landscape, and lakescape, continue to be too pretty for my smartphone to handle.
Although sometimes the preset filters rescue me from weird under or over-exposure issues.
Most recently (aka just on Friday) I had the immensely fabulous experience of attending a Back:N:Black gig (all-girl ACDC tribute band). SO MUCH FABULOUSNESS ON ONE STAGE.
A++ would go again. If Verbier weren't so far away I'd have gone again the very next night. I am, however, unaccustomed to rockin', and rather stiff from the experience - still.
My most recent discovery is the little yellow mouettes which zip back and forth within Geneva port (and there's one stop further up the shore, I think). My walk to work already takes me past DUCKS and COFFEE, I could easily add in a boat ride for maximum fun.
Excursions:
1. Annecy
I got fed up with being in Geneva and got on a bus to Annecy, to the south-west.
Annecy is one of those unfairly cute european towns with all the houses painted different colours.
It has a stupidly gorgeous lake, and I have no idea what game this family were playing. It seemed to work sort of like bocce, only with wooden blocks.
The River Thiou, through the town centre, may or may not be the shortest river in France depending on how much trust you put in badly-formatted websites I found online.
The Canal du Vassé. Pretty pretty.
I saw'd a duck. Ducky ducky ducky!
Here is a view of the lake from one of the castle windows. The castle itself was pretty cool, although not a patch on Chillon for either massiveness or curation. If interested, more commentary can be found here.
2. Excurting in Geneva w/ Jon
The Cathedral tower was our first goal:
Roof of the nave, cityscape, back end of a grotesque.
View of the port from the tower
City and Salève from the tower.
Our second goal was the archaeological site under the cathedral, which doesn't make for good pictures. Here's one of the mosaics in what was once the bishop's reception room off the south cathedral (there are, I think, four cathedrals under the present one. It's confusing):
3. Nyon and the Most Inaccessible Library
I was under the impression that the only copy of a particular book which I could access was held by the World Council of Churches, in a 19th c Chateau accessible by bus then a twenty minute walk. Jon and I set out first by ferry to Nyon:
A sailboat preceding us out of the port.
This was our paddle steamer from Geneva to Hermance.
Hermance to Nyon was this wee little motor ferry.
Here is a photo of Jon, operating at Peak Beard on this occasion.
We disembarked in Nyon:
Once in Nyon, we headed for the castle. In this case one has to climb up through the castle gardens, it's all very lovely.
Nyon has some pretty egregious lake-and-alps scenery going on.
And this rather pretty, although mostly early modern, castle. Alas, it was closed on a monday.
Then we proceeded to Cèlingy, where we expected 'signs' would point us to the Chateau in question. ONE sign pointed VAUGELY in the right direction.
We saw cows.
Took an accidental detour into a cemetery.
Crossed a stream and climbed the stairs.
Circumnavigated a field.
Passed the giant chess...
Only to find the library closed, and two DIFFERENT sets of opening hours advertised, both entirely different from that which was specified online.
Aggravating, but photographically productive. The punchline comes in several days later, when I was looking up the citation again, only to discover that *three* copies of the book were right here in the uni libraries. If I'd spelled mariage with one R, I'd have found them. As it is I found the only copy in the system which had been catalogued by an anglophone who made the same spelling error I did. Of course by that time I'd already given up and *bought* a copy. Hrmph.
Waterfowl:
I just really like ducks, OK?
This duck is the best duck. It is a Ruddy Shellduck.
Excitable swan! I got a series of photos of this bird having a ruffle and taking off.
GEESES. Greylags and at least one Bar-headed goose. Plus a muscovy duck and some mallards, a swan, and a pigeon.
Nyon had cygnets. I've never seen cygnets before!
I met a Fulvous Whistling Duck, who is not even native to Europe, while out jogging.
This has been Amy's life in summary. In summary: mostly ducks.
Since then I have done a number of things and NOT done a number of other things. I'm in the middle of moving house (currently nested in Friend L's place. Friend L is the best) and between housing instability and god knows what else it's been a vr stressed few months. I really don't want to rehash it all, even the good bits, so let's just call this a photo post.
These are all culled from
Simple things in Geneva:
Taught myself to crochet. Yarn is very comforting. Plus I find that tackling new skills that I'm *actually never going to be very good at* is a useful weapon against perfectionist anxieties.
I've basically adopted Cafe Boreal as my second home. The place was set up by an American who'd worked in cafes in Australia and, upon arrival in Geneva, realised all the Australians and New Zealanders were pining away for lack of flat whites, macadamias, and coffee that isn't burned. So he set up a solution and it does a roaring trade.
Summer in Geneva is full of goings-on, many of which I ignored, but I did get to the free concerts just once. Tuareg rock band Tamikrest were great fun and musically fascinating - their genre influences from western music ranged all over the map (and I assume their arabic & african influences did too, but I'm not positioned to pick those).
The landscape, and lakescape, continue to be too pretty for my smartphone to handle.
Although sometimes the preset filters rescue me from weird under or over-exposure issues.
Most recently (aka just on Friday) I had the immensely fabulous experience of attending a Back:N:Black gig (all-girl ACDC tribute band). SO MUCH FABULOUSNESS ON ONE STAGE.
A++ would go again. If Verbier weren't so far away I'd have gone again the very next night. I am, however, unaccustomed to rockin', and rather stiff from the experience - still.
My most recent discovery is the little yellow mouettes which zip back and forth within Geneva port (and there's one stop further up the shore, I think). My walk to work already takes me past DUCKS and COFFEE, I could easily add in a boat ride for maximum fun.
Excursions:
1. Annecy
I got fed up with being in Geneva and got on a bus to Annecy, to the south-west.
Annecy is one of those unfairly cute european towns with all the houses painted different colours.
It has a stupidly gorgeous lake, and I have no idea what game this family were playing. It seemed to work sort of like bocce, only with wooden blocks.
The River Thiou, through the town centre, may or may not be the shortest river in France depending on how much trust you put in badly-formatted websites I found online.
The Canal du Vassé. Pretty pretty.
I saw'd a duck. Ducky ducky ducky!
Here is a view of the lake from one of the castle windows. The castle itself was pretty cool, although not a patch on Chillon for either massiveness or curation. If interested, more commentary can be found here.
2. Excurting in Geneva w/ Jon
The Cathedral tower was our first goal:
Roof of the nave, cityscape, back end of a grotesque.
View of the port from the tower
City and Salève from the tower.
Our second goal was the archaeological site under the cathedral, which doesn't make for good pictures. Here's one of the mosaics in what was once the bishop's reception room off the south cathedral (there are, I think, four cathedrals under the present one. It's confusing):
3. Nyon and the Most Inaccessible Library
I was under the impression that the only copy of a particular book which I could access was held by the World Council of Churches, in a 19th c Chateau accessible by bus then a twenty minute walk. Jon and I set out first by ferry to Nyon:
A sailboat preceding us out of the port.
This was our paddle steamer from Geneva to Hermance.
Hermance to Nyon was this wee little motor ferry.
Here is a photo of Jon, operating at Peak Beard on this occasion.
We disembarked in Nyon:
Once in Nyon, we headed for the castle. In this case one has to climb up through the castle gardens, it's all very lovely.
Nyon has some pretty egregious lake-and-alps scenery going on.
And this rather pretty, although mostly early modern, castle. Alas, it was closed on a monday.
Then we proceeded to Cèlingy, where we expected 'signs' would point us to the Chateau in question. ONE sign pointed VAUGELY in the right direction.
We saw cows.
Took an accidental detour into a cemetery.
Crossed a stream and climbed the stairs.
Circumnavigated a field.
Passed the giant chess...
Only to find the library closed, and two DIFFERENT sets of opening hours advertised, both entirely different from that which was specified online.
Aggravating, but photographically productive. The punchline comes in several days later, when I was looking up the citation again, only to discover that *three* copies of the book were right here in the uni libraries. If I'd spelled mariage with one R, I'd have found them. As it is I found the only copy in the system which had been catalogued by an anglophone who made the same spelling error I did. Of course by that time I'd already given up and *bought* a copy. Hrmph.
Waterfowl:
I just really like ducks, OK?
This duck is the best duck. It is a Ruddy Shellduck.
Excitable swan! I got a series of photos of this bird having a ruffle and taking off.
GEESES. Greylags and at least one Bar-headed goose. Plus a muscovy duck and some mallards, a swan, and a pigeon.
Nyon had cygnets. I've never seen cygnets before!
I met a Fulvous Whistling Duck, who is not even native to Europe, while out jogging.
This has been Amy's life in summary. In summary: mostly ducks.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-08 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-08 04:53 pm (UTC)In the meantime, I'm greatly enjoying all your photos of waterfowl.