Geneva, city of espionage

 Carrying on from my promise made in my post from the 25th of February, I am blogging again about a city associated with espionage, in fiction and in history. So today, I wanted to blog about Geneva. I have been to Switzerland once in ym life, more than 25 years ago, a very short stay, but I never set foot in its capital. However, I have seen it featured in many spy thrillers, as well as a few documentaries about espionage. Being a center of finance, diplomacy and international politics, it makes sense that Geneva has been a key setting for secret business, before and after the Cold War. I want to go to Switzerland and have a long stay there for a number of reasons (okay, mainly its trains). If we ever go to Geneva on holiday, I will keep this in mind, and maybe bring with me a spy thriller novel set there to read in my spare time.

Reichenbach Falls

My recent posts (this one and that one, more specifically) about Sherlock Holmes reminded me that there is one place of pilgrimage every Holmes fan, or indeed every crime fiction fan should visit. I am talking of course of the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland, the place where the greatest detectivemet his"death" during the events of The Final Problem. It happened on the 4th of May 1891. Switzerland is in my list of countries to visit or, in this case, revisit, for many, many reasons. Maybe when or if it happens, we should make a stop there. It could be fun. Sometimes I find the association of places with legendary or fictitious events to be more interesting than historical ones. And if you have even been there, please tell me in the comments. I'd like to know about your experience.

Mürren, Switzerland

Thanks to internet algorithms (who know me a bit too much sometimes), iIstubled upon this BBC Travel article about the Swiss village of Mürren. Which is so isolated and out of the way that it canbe accessed by cable car. This is just so mysterious and unheard of in our day and age. Apparently, the village is very picturesque. And I happen to love cable cars.I have been to Switzerland only once, for about 24 hours, and that was a long time ago. I thought the country, from what I have seen of it, looked beautiful, but otherwise I didn't have much of an impression of it. I have been wanting to revisit Switzerland, I think Mürren will be on my ever extending travel list. Although it might not be the easiest Swiss village to get to.

Train Holidays

 I receive lots of news reading suggestions online, thanks to algorithms. So an article from Euro News recently caught my attention, about the best train journeys in the world. Some I knew about, some I did not. If time and money were no objection, I would so go to one of these journeys for a holiday. Taking the train can be in itself a holiday. My favourite would probably be the Orient Express. But I am curious about Rovos Rail and the more I learn about the Glacier Express, the more I want to try it. I have been to Switzerland only once, and very briefly, so I would love to revisit the country. And I know even their ordinary trains are absolutely brilliant, so imagine the Glacier. Anyway, I really want a train holiday when the journey would be more important than the destination. And you, what of all these train journeys would you like to experiment?

The Bernina Express

 My laptop has Windows 10 and recently, the screen saver showed this image. I fell in love with it right away. It's the Bernina Express, a Swiss train. Apparently, Swiss trains are the very best in the world, comfy, classy, efficient, just like the country's greatest gift to transport. As a railway afficionado, I want to revisit the country just to take its trains. And I know this picture is pure and utter scenery porn, with the snowy landscape and everything, but I had to find it and share it.

Scenic train journeys

 Thanks to internet algorithms, I stumbled a few days ago on this article, about "Nine of the Most Beautiful and Affordable Journeys Around the World". It reminded me (although I did not really need to be reminded) that a journey can be a holiday in itself. Especially if one travels by train, still my favourite means of transport. I have been dreaming of a holiday that would consist of a train journey and I would love to try all of the ones listed in this article. The nearest one is probably the one between Glasgow and Mallaig, but I'm particularly curious about the Zermatt to St. Moritz one. There's just something about Swiss mountains that catches my attention. But before planning anything, I would need to convince the rest of the family. Wolfie would be easy. My wife, not so much.

L'horloge du Jura (encore)

 Voici une photo de l'horloge du Jura, prise par mon père à Québec. J'en ai mis d'autres ici l'an dernier. Cette horloge me fascine, je ne suis pas certain pourquoi. Peut-être que c'est simplement parce que ses murs sont en verre, ce qui crée un effet de distance et de proximité à la fois.

Image du temps qui passe

Photo de l'horloge du Jura, prise par mon père à Québec. Une chose m'est venue à l'esprit: les Suisses sont reconnus pour la précision de leurs horloges. Tout ça pour dire que le mois d'août achève et je cherchais une photo pour illustrer le temps qui passe. J'ai pensé que l'horloge ferait parfaitement l'affaire. Comment se passe votre mois d'août? A-t-il été aussi rapide que le mien? C'est vraiment un mois transitoire, entre deux saisons, cette année plus qu'avant.

L'horloge du Jura

Mes parents m'ont envoyé pleins de photos de leur séjour à Québec (même s'il fut bref), y compris de l'horloge du Jura, cadeau de la Suisse à la ville de Québec pour son 400e anniversaire. Nous sommes le premier août, le temps passe, alors c'est une raison comme une autre pour partager cette photo.

Oberägeri, Switzerland

Maybe I'm a sucker, but I really love, when you log into a computer with Windows 10 on, they show you picturesque images from around the world. Sometimes from very far away, somewhere from not so far. Either way, it makes me want to travel. Since we can't for the time being, I thought I share some of these virtual discoveries here. Some might become holiday destinations, who knows. Anyway, I recently found out that there is a village called Oberägi in Switzerland. I  have been to Switzerland once, twenty years ago, and it was a very stay It looked very beautiful, but it was in a very quiet time of year (not sure if this was a good or a bad thing) and not in the best circumstances. Going back there with my wife and kid would be great, especially in a village such as Oberägi. I don't think I would mind if it was going to be quiet. Anyway, has any of my readers been there? How is it? What would be the ideal time to visit (in a "normal" year)? Where in Switzerland would you recommend a visit?

Italian civilisation in a nutshell

This is, in fact, a great known line, a great known tirade in fact, which I quoted before here. I have read it, I have heard it, yet I never watched (yet) the movie it is taken from. I will correct this as soon as possible. For some reason, it is in my mind tonight. So I decided to upload it here. Maybe I am in the mood for black and white movies. Or something. Or I have Italy in mind. In any case, here it is, in a few words, Italian civilisation in a nutshell:

Je veux revoir la Suisse

Ceci est une photo de la boîte de chocolats que j'ai reçue récemment (je sais, je photographie des boîtes de chocolats, sous tous ses angles en plus, avec emballage, sans emballage, boîte ouverte, boîte fermée, c'est pathétique). J'aime bien son côté vieillot, avec l'image de Neuchâtel dessus. Je trouve que ça a un certain charme, un certain cachet. J'ai presque envie de garder la boîte rien que pour l'image, mais j'imagine que j'ai la photo maintenant. Et puis en regardant ça je me suis dit qu'il faudrait que je revoie la Suisse. J'y étais allé brièvement il y a plus de dix ans, deux ou trois jours à Saint-Moritz, vers la fin août ou le début de septembre, je ne sais plus, l'endroit était mort, presqu'une ville fantôme. La Suisse ne m'a jamais particulièrement attiré, mais la récente gentillesse dont j'ai été l'objet me fait penser que je devrais redécouvrir ce pays et apprendre à l'apprécier.

A box of chocolates

An anecdote that made my week last week: I received a present from a client last week, two boxes of Swiss chocolates. Not one, two. Nicely wrapped too, a lot of effort was put into it. You can find a picture of the chocolates on the left. They are delicious and utterly decadent. Strange that a country that has the reputation to be so strict (it was the bed of Calvinism after all) are famous for something so sweet and that pushes people so much into gluttony.It sure gets me in a gluttonous mood.

I was quite touched by it. Last time I got chocolates from work, it was some because I was leaving. And it didn't taste nearly as nice as those! It was just a friendly, gratuitious, warm gesture for something I would have done anyway. It makes me appreciate my job a bit more.

Citons Hubert Aquin

J'ai en tête cet incipit d'Hubert Aquin, tiré du classique Prochain Épisode:

"Cuba coule en flammes au milieu du lac Léman pendant que je descends au fond des choses."

J'ai lu le livre à l'université, mais je n'en ai qu'un vague souvenir (j'en suis d'ailleurs tout honteux). Le lac Léman est également là où Mary Shelley a eu l'idée de Frankenstein. J'ai donc toujours associé les deux oeuvres, ce qui est étrange, ou peut-être pas. Il me faudra les relire...

L'accent suisse?

Bon, ce billet en est un autre sur mon accent, après ça c'est le dernier pour un bout, promis. Quelqu'un m'a dit que j'avais l'accent suisse. C'est bien la première qu'on me dit une chose pareille! Je n'ai été en Suisse qu'une fois, à Saint-Moritz, pour trois jours en plein mois d'août ou de septembre (je ne m'en rappelle plus) et j'ai trouvé ça très monotone. Tout de même, où ai-je bien pu trouver ça? La seule chose que j'aime de ce pays, à part ses paysages, c'est sa fondue!