International Red Cross and Red Crescent (Croissant-Rouge - ha!) in Geneva
Geneva has one of the world's largest fountains (le Jet d'eau - that spout on the left side of the photo). They also have a giant soccer ball balloon flying over it in honor of Euro 2008.
Geneva was okay, but Montreux (a small city also on Lake Geneva) was spectacular. It's even prettier than Constance, and that comment's coming from someone with a massive bias toward the latter.
family minus Dad in Montreux
Montreux (it was in the 80s)
While in Montreux we took a boat to Château de Chillon, the castle about which Byron wrote his poem about François de Bonivard.
De Bonivard was imprisoned in the castle with this view to taunt him every day. He was the real life Tantalus.
another shot of Chillon Castle
and another, with Lake Geneva and the Alps as backdrop
Swans are all over this lake. At one place in Geneva (the space of about 6m2) I counted a dozen.
They're also friendly. (They thought my sister had food.)
Dad in front of Chillon Castle
Then we rode first class around the lake for 2 hrs. It was an extremely nice end to an extremely nice trip.
It was wonderful to see the family, and (at least I think) we had a wonderful time traveling this little slice of Europe together.
