Jewish Quarter in the Medieval City

It’s officially summer and time for weekend getaways! And at one-and-a-half hours south, Lyon is a great shoestring evasion from Geneva.

Stuff your backpack with a toothbrush and a camera and catch a train at Geneva’s train station, Gare Cornavin. Change trains at Bellegarde, or get the local Poste bus from there to Lyon.

The ride itself is a panoramic plunge into the Rhone river valley, so don’t nap.

Make sure and grab an espresso on the way as the central train station resembled a gladiatorial contest on two recent visits. More than mere metaphor, the city actually represented the ancient Gallic capital of Western Europe and boasts extensive Roman ruins on the edge of the old city.

Old is relative as Lyon has enjoyed several heydays, including as a seat of the Roman Empire, and later on as a medieval trading, and financial center during the Renaissance.

The history and intrigue in Lyon oozes from the cobbled streets in the old town and the ramparts of the Roman amphitheatre on the hill overlooking town, and wafts from the back doors of Lyonaise Bouchons (the traditional Lyon restaurants renowned for their baked pigs feet and similar “light” fare); a word to the wise, order a lot less than you think you will eat, butter and lard are the operative words.

Hotel St. Paul in Lyon's old town

The Hotel St. Paul, located in the town center near the old train station and the St. Jean cathedral, presents a reasonable, convenient, and quaint lodging for exploring the city.

Reservations highly suggested. Alternately, you can venture to the other side of the Saone and the Rhône and find reasonable lodging in the University area (Hotel du Helder was a good value and appreciated last minute find).

As a bonus, this area hosts a mini China town with a selection of Asian restaurants.

Bon week-end!

"Our World - at War" Exhibition

The  ”Our World - At War,” exhibit on display at the SIG Gallery, commemorates 150 years of documenting humanitarian disasters and providing assistance, beginning with Henri Dunant’s vivid description of the Battle of Solferino.

It was this battle that prompted Dunant to write “A Memory of Solferino,” and which subsequently spawned creation of the original Geneva Convention, and the International Committee of the Red Cross.  2009 also marks the 60th anniversary since ratification of the subsequent Geneva Conventions for the protection of non-combatants; together, these have effectively become univeral law protecting civilians worldwide.

In recognition of these milestones, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched the “Our World. Your Move” campaign to highlight the responsibility of individuals and of the international community, to lessen human suffering globally. As part of the campaign, ICRC collaborated with the humanitarian-minded photo agency, VII, to commission works for the “Our World - At War” exhibit.

However the series of 40 prints, by five award winning war photographers, spanning eight countries, does much more than capture the physical destruction wrought by armed conflict (and in some cases by natural disaster). The pictures successfully convey as well the range of emotion and anguish surrounding the violent disruption of peoples’ lives.

"Loss Upon Loss" - Photo by Franco Pagetti

These stories are told largely through portraits capturing human expression, from bewilderment and loss, to the power and joy in a survivor’s reestablishing normality through rehabilitation programs supported by the Red Cross and Red Crescent. The works are beautiful in their own right, and largely narrate themselves; brief anecdotes by the photographers in French and English locate the viewer geographically.

Displaced family in the Phillipines - Photo by James Nachtwey

Colombian mine victim and daughter - Photo by Franco Piagetti

“This exhibition is a reminder that war has not become more benign since the battle of Solferino.”

How hard is it to buy an inexpensive, used and reliable car in Geneva?

If you have taken an international job in Geneva, chances are you may have shipped a vehicle to Switzerland, under the special tax free provisions for international organizations and the diplomatic corps.

If however you are purchasing a vehicle in Switzerland, or otherwise do not qualify for the above exemption,  you are faced with seemingly daunting Swiss regulations regarding the inspection, or so called ”expertise” of a vehicle prior to registration.

My experience buying a “non-expertised” motorcycle shortly after arriving to Switzerland illustrates how costly this process can be.

Ready to ride... right?

When I road tested my bike (left) it drove and stopped well, but was not expertised at the time of purchase. Let me just say I paid nearly three times the purchase price of the bike (not to mention several times the comparable US value) to bring the bike up to Swiss inpection standards - and the cost to my marriage was astronomical.

Therefore, when we were looking for a used vehicle, I swore to my wife and to myself that I would not consider a car without a valid expertise. The formula for the canton of Geneva is as follows: if the vehicle is more than ten years old, it must have been inspected/expertised within the last 12 months; for vehicles less than ten years old, the previous expertise must still be in effect.

Why do you want to buy a vehicle with a valid inspection?

Geneva has very stringent inspection guidelines, for example a car must have something like 70% life left on the brake pads and discs to pass inspection (and they do measure with calipers). This is the bad news financially. The good news is however that if you buy even an older car with high miles, a recent inspection will assure that the car is in relatively good working order.

Room for 5 plus dog

With this in mind, I set out to find the range of car we were interested in, less concerned about the year and the kilometers logged, than about the date of the most recent inspection. While vehicles are not inexpensive in Switzerland, you can find a reasonable deal by looking for well maintained older cars with a few kilometers logged.

Our mothership turned out to be a 19 year old Volvo - renowned for their longevity - with 258,000 km, but with a complete service history and recent inspection. The bottom line for the car, including purchase price, registration and insurance comes out to something like 3,000 CHF - a breaking point whereby we calculate that we will get good value out of the car by the time significant repairs are necessary, or by the date of the next scheduled inspection (roughly 18 months).

Nice rims and tread

She took a deep breath, looked off into the middle distance, and began a soliloquy about the many factors that determine the worth of a true jamon.

I had to take her word for it until a recent trip to Madrid where I was introduced first hand to that intimate friend, that luscious shank of pork meat known as the Serrano Ham. (Click on pictures to enlarge)

Jamon Serrano cuttlery

Introducing fine carver: Antonio

Operation carving begins

The first thing I noticed as our host Antonio invited us to a late night snack upon our arrival, was the ritual around the storing, cutting, and eating of a jamon serrano.

From the open air pantry, Antonio produced a sizeable ham, already secured on what looked like a rotisserie skewer with a solid wood base, a proper device for carving the ham.

An inverse shot

A tight grip is important

Next, he pulled out an oversized bread knife with a non-serrated cutting edge, the blade thin and flexible.

With a surgeon’s precision, Antonio carved away transparent sheets of fat from the ham, revealing a vermillion colored meat which he carved off in paper thin sheets and offered up. Of course, this was accompanied by fresh bread and two varieties of Manchego cheese, my favorite was the slightly tangy picante, aged longer and saltier. Needless to say, this was all washed down with a Spanish Crianza wine.

Three days of this “light fare,” I thought was enough to keep me content ’til my next trip to Spain; and I’ve been thinking about that return trip ever since.

On a recent trip to Spain I was awestruck by the automobile driven megopolis that is Madrid - there are 6.5 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area and with some of the cheapest gas prices in Europe, cars and overpasses are ubiquitous.  I was also happily surprised by a number of noteworthy architectural works breaking up the city scape.

Inclined towers in Madrid, not an optical illusion

Our tour of the City began , with a Priest and friend of the family, driving from the North of the City, South along the Castellana, the principal avenue in Central Madrid.

Our first stop was the KIO Towers (Kuwaiti Investment Offfice Towers), otherwise known as the leaning towers of Madrid. As I stood in the middle of the Castellana taking shots of the towers, a New Year’s reveler stumbled past me (at 11 am) on his way home; his sideways stagger mimicked almost perfectly the incline of the building behind him.

After a brief stop at the Colón Plaza, a Neo-Gothic 19th Century homage to the explorer, we arrived at Atocha Station, the recently completed central train station which was added onto the existing rail yards and train bays.

Atocha parking lot

A lateral view of Atocha

For me, the real draw of the station lies outside, with its walls of automatically articulated shutters, and semi-enclosed parking structure dotted with Arabesque archways.

Inside is a pleasantly open modern space that is best appreciated by stepping through the entryway into the hall housing the original train quays; the older half of the combined structure is dominated by a spacious courtyard with a fountain in the center.  The antiquated steel frame structure of the train hall is effectively on display here, now that most traffic transits through the new station.

Our guide pointed to a darkened room with what seemed to be ultraviolet lighting; a memorial to the victims of the 2004 bombing at the Atocha Station.

In fact the room was illuminated through a blue skylight, with homages to peace inscribed on the glass in a helix pattern.

We finished our whirlwind tour with a walk through El Retiro, an urban retreat designed in the 17th century, and on the scale of New York’s Central Park. While portions of the Park are over the top, like the collonades and statue commemorating Alfonso XII, others like the tiered fountain area around the main entrance, and the walk around the lagoon, lend themselves to getting lost in your head on a Sunday afternoon.

Sunday afternoon at El Buen Retiro Park

Speaker at the 14th International Humanitarian Conference

Sitting in on the 14th International Humanitarian Conference, entitled Facing the Psychological Impact, I was struck once again by the wealth of human resource at our fingertips here in Geneva.

The conference, which began yesterday, February 26, and runs through today, is co-organized by Webster University Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other Geneva-based institutions.

Thematic discussion for this year’s conference includes:

• The Foundations, Ethics and Practice of “Humanitarian Psychology”
• The Psychological Vulnerability of Individuals and Communities at risk
• “Helping the Helpers” - Psychosocial Care for Humanitarian Workers

Chechen refugee family in the Republic of Georgia on World Refugee Day 2005 - Photo ®Jared Bloch

As an independent consultant and refugee advocate living in Geneva, the conference represents an opportunity to listen to leaders in the field discuss challenges faced in addressing the psychological impact of humanitarian crises on those directly affected as well as on humanitarian aid workers.

The topic is one close to my heart, having worked for many years with refugee individuals and families, often survivors of multiple trauma, who recounted for me in painful detail their life experience.

Even in the best of settings, psychosocial screening, referral and treatment services for refugees and other victims of humanitarian disasters, are in short supply. This in spite of the overwhelming need documented by psychosocial practitioners; a torture and trauma counselor and colleague involved with a national resettlement program once commented that up to 50% of newly arriving refugees could benefit from psychosocial services due to their traumatic experiences. In acute situations, the need is dire.

Dermot Carty, Deputy Director for the UNICEF Office of Emergency Programmes (Emops), cited a recent World Health Organization field mission to Gaza identifying between 25-50,000 individuals there in need of mental health interventions. And this among a population that has shown itself to be amazingly resilient throughout years of being enveloped by armed conflict. But at what cost?

Refugee, Republic of Georgia - Photo ®Jared Bloch

This last question was raised by several presenters who provided examples of the psychological impact of humanitarian crises and conflict on individuals and groups. These ranged from Post Taumatic Stress Disorder/Stress Syndrome and related chronic health problems, to the perpetuation of fear and subsequently aggression amongst both perpetrators and victims. One presenter noted, in the case of Gaza, that “Psychological healing may be an even larger challenge than reaching a peace agreement.”

Several of the presentations during the first day also dealt with the evolution of International Humanitarian Law in responding to humanitarian challenges. These include the post-Cold War emergence of a doctrine of pro-active or “muscular” peacekeeping activities, and the concept of Responsibility to Protect or R2P. These can be seen roughly as tools for the protection of human rights, developed by the international community following a paradigm shift in conflicts characterized by irregular combatants, ill-defined boundaries of conflict and attacks on peacekeepers and humanitarian workers.

Refugee children on World Refugee Day, Republic of Georgia - Photo ®Jared Bloch

The second day of the conference is focusing largely on self-care of Humanitarian Workers, by individuals and the organizations they work for.

Where the Road and the Sky Collide... Road to Nowhere

Driving through Southern France on our way to Madrid, through the Basque Country, and two days later returning through North eastern Spain, I see glimpses of the Road in a European setting; rugged hills breaking up the monotony of endless townships combined with vast spaces between settlements and an emptiness unblotted, or too immense to be paved over by humanity - and still it is the road that has brought us here.

By some luck, good or bad, we miss the turn for Madrid at Iruña, and end up at 11 pm touring the outskirts of Bilbao.  At this hour, it is disheartening to imagine another 3 hours driving until we reach Madrid.  My wife laughs and doesn’t say “you wanted a road adventure…”

On a blissfully empty stretch of road, somewhere in North eastern Spain between Zaragoza and Barcelona, my wife offers; “driving is empowering, I miss driving.”  I have never thought of it in these terms, over countless thousands of miles logged, mostly in North America, but also in Europe.

Mostly driving has been a meditation; in the days of gas at $1.25 a gallon, you could afford to “lose” a few days wandering around on lonely highways and backroads.  On a motorcycle the possibilities were endless with a few dollars of change in your pocket.

Motorized meditation may be the closest approximation to a vision quest that the last two generations of Americans have experienced as a mass culture.  Immortalized in Easy Rider, Zen and art of Motorcycle Maintenance, and Two Lane Blacktop, motorized transcendance has been an American pasttime for the past 50 years.

Most of our adventures since moving to Geneva have been via train, on foot, and on bicycle.  We don’t own a car and so don’t often venture out in one, much less so without a destination in mind.  There is something incredibly decadent, fantastic and wonderful about travelling in a car - the power to transport yourself into someone else’s reality on a whim, this turn, that road, the odd cafe, an out of the way town.

In the best sense of travelling, the road is open.

Rue de St. Jean Celebration

The last time my parents visited Geneva, my father was reminiscing about his ski bum days in Northern Vermont 40+ years ago, and the fact that a number of the instructors at that time were from Switzerland. I am often stricken by the similarities between my home state of Vermont, USA and its inhabitants, and many parts of Switzerland.

This weekend of course marks the end to another year of celebrating the Genevoise counterattack against the Savoyards in 1602, to defend the city of Geneva from the interlopers.  In addition to the still awe inspiring historical reenactment of the battle and its Swiss protagonists, I am especially partial to the neighborhood street parades that unfold in the urban villages that make up Geneva, and which remind me of the Bread and Puppet street theatre I grew up with.

In St. Jean, as in other neighborhoods I imagine, the ocassion is celebrated by children (as well as some adults) in full costume, street musicians, and theatrical players.  The crowd typically convenes at the local school, and gathers force as it travels through the neighborhood picking up converts.  This year, my daughter’s school joined forces with two neighboring schools and the entourage took over the streets from Planet Charmille, to the St. Jean Primary School.

Snow Leopard of St. Jean

The parade terminated, and the party began, at the Maison de Quartier, where volunteers served soup from the marmite, and hot wine.  This year, the organizers magnanimously added sausage to the party menu.  Meanwhile, a New Orleans style Dixie land ensemble kept the crowd entertained as we warmed our stomachs.  The musicians were spectacular, both in their enthusiasm, as well as their skill; getting your groove on in sub-zero weather while pleasing a crowd of onlookers is no mean feat, but again I thought of how icy hands and feet are part and parcel of having fun in cold weather climates.

Saxophone and Slide Trombone à l'Escalade

Bike Aquatic

Why do people throw good working bikes into the Rhone river? As far as I can tell, this is akin to my fifth grade escapade involving breaking into my elementary school and plastering my home room in waterloged toiletpaper; I was 9 or 10.

I don’t think I ever contemplated tossing a bicycle into the river; the joy must be short lived, watching two wheels sail through the air and then the inevitable plunking sound they must make. I don’t get it.  But apparently, this has replaced cow tipping for Genevoise entertainment, because on a typical Saturday there are no less than ten bikes submerged in the Rhone.

On a recent weekend morning, I took matters into my own hands. Armed with a length of nylon cord and a makeshift grappling hook, I began dredging for bicycles from the bridge by the Bel Air bus stop. After a few inquiries from curious bystanders, two municipal policewomen stopped to check on the progress of my operation: “Qu’est-ce que on trouve la ba?”, Ah, oui, bon, vous nettoyez la rive? Mais c’est super, il y a beaucoup des velos pour pecher! Bon chance!”

Another bystander, a man and his young son who was enthralled by the notion of fishing for bikes, stopped to help me hoist one of my catches, weighted down by lake weeds and detritus.

Mermaid Bicycle

Ironically, it is once the bikes breathe again fresh air, that any exposed metal rapidly oxidizes and moving parts freeze up. Still with a good triage and an ample amount of grease, the bikes roll back life and shed their watery past (they do maintain a distinct parfum de Lac Leman however).

Living mummy in Geneva

What is it that Americans love about Halloween beyond the childish thrill of having license to consume endless plastic pumpkin containers of sweets?

In fact, as a child growing up in rural Vermont, the best treats were always the homemade caramel apples and candied popcorn our neighbors 4 miles down the road made every year for the handful of kids who would appear in their yard.  Beyond the sweets, it was a social occassion, a chance for parents to show up unannounced, at friends houses for a bit of local gossip and maybe a sip of hard cider from the recent apple harvest.

Mummy shakin it with Arabian Princess

As an adult, halloween has become a once a year opportunity to try on other personas, to try on being Gene Simmons for a night (halloween 1994) or even transgender explorations (Monica Lewinsky Halloween 1993).

This year I had the funny experience of being someone I once was (17 year old graduate of a Norwegian gymnas) when my wife pulled out my now ridiculous looking graduation outfit.

Buried beneath the corny devil and witch outfits now available at Migros in Switzerland, is still the thrill of being able to become someone else for a night, checking our familiar personalities at the door and inviting friends and neighbors to journey for a few hours to the land of never never land; in short, to remember what it is to reinvent ourselves.

Shiek G. with Samfunnsfag Student

In fact, this year we attempted, somewhat successfully to transplant this very American (North and South) tradition to Switzerland. I must confess that the ratio of under 12 year old party goers to adult revelers was around 2 to 1, but thanks to a few stalwart American and Swiss friends, we did not let the munchkins steal the show.

The winner of the costume contest? An amazing mummy specimen on loan from the Museum of Natural History (over 12 crowd), complete with vintage era linen wrappings.

The festival will continue to be a staple in our house so plan your calendars accordingly, and rsvp early as we expect an even stronger turnout of the voting age crowd in 2009! (apologies in advance to the munchkins).