Day Trip: Geneva

One of the cost cutting measures is to make full use of the Swiss Gleis 7. The St Gallen to Geneva route is nearly the furthest trip one could make on the Swiss Railway, covering about 350 kilometres, and probably the most expensive, with even a half-fare ticket costing CHF53 and even a deeply discounted supersaver fare (which restricts you to a particular train) costing CHF31.80.

So it makes perfect sense to exploit the Gleis 7 on this route, both for the outbound and return.

Geneva Cornavin Station

I took the 8:48PM train which involved a change at Lausanne, although there are also direct trains. It's worth noting that whether for direct trains or trains involving a change, sometimes only half of the train will proceed beyond Zurich while the other half stops in Zurich. Hence, it's important to sit on the correct half. 

Coming out of the Geneva train station, the first stop was to the tourist information centre, a quick 5 minute walk from the station. I grabbed an English map, and prioritised the places I wanted to visit.

Jet d'Eau

I must say the weather was really beautiful, with clear skies and a warm sun, just the ideal lighting for photo shoots and an idyllic stroll along the lake and around the old town.

After a quick lunch by the lake, I headed to the old town. While the lady at the tourist office suggested exploring Geneva on foot, which would probably be the same for most European small cities (I understand that Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland, but it is probably minute by most Asian standards).

Nevertheless, I was quite tired after the long train ride and since I had bought the Geneva One Day Pass, there was no incremental cost to taking any public transport.

Geneva has a fairly well connected public transport system, with trams and buses plying the routes in intervals of about 5 to 10 minutes. While the tram system would not be the most efficient form of public transport for the busy commuter, it is great for a sightseeing traveller.

As Geneva is a fairly small city, and sightseeing can get a little boring after a few hours, I decided to head to some of the museums.

My first stop was the Maison Tavel, the oldest private residence in Geneva. While the exhibits are not fabulous per se, they offer an interesting insight to the lives of the nobility who used to reside here, with many artifacts of daily life, such as silver and pewter ware, as well as a copper and zinc model of Geneva in the 1800s.

There was a short trailer about the model available on request, though unfortunately it is only in French, so I have to give it a miss until I mastered the language or they offered a translation.

The next stop at the Museum of Art and History, however, was somewhat a hit and miss. While the facade was beautiful, the same cannot be said for its exhibits, especially the sculptures and the archaeological exhibits. Perhaps it is my lack of understanding of the history and artistic value behind them, but the collection pales in comparison to those of its counterparts in Vienna and London.

To be fair, there are many interesting paintings in the fine arts gallery, one of which I had even used to illustrate an essay on perception for a psychology module.

Raphael (1510) The School of Athens

Of course a trip to Geneva would not be complete without paying a visit to the United Nations main office. While not a tourist attraction per se, Geneva is famous for the many intentional organisations that chose to base their operations there.

UN Office in Geneva, complete with a petition

A passer-by saw me fumbling with my phone, trying to take a proper selfie, and graciously offered to help me with a photo.

The return trip was again courtesy of the Gleis 7, this time involving a change at Biel/Bienne instead.

Conclusion
While the four hours train ride to Geneva had been really tiring, the city was really worth a visit. It is a really clean city, even by Swiss standards, and possess a idyllic yet elegant vibe. Given the long train ride, it might actually make sense to cover Geneva together with either Lausanne or Biel on a two day trip, so that the travelling time can be broken down into more manageable periods.