French.
Just the word makes me shudder.
If there was ever a language that I just never really wanted to learn or make an effort to pick up, it'd be French (thanks, Albert (Al-bear from 2945)). I know a good ten words in French, and that's including the four-letter ones I use more frequently in my English.
Luckily, people in Switzerland speak every language under the sun, which is probably why everyone likes the country (on top of the fact that it is really, really easy on the eye). Speaking of easy on the eye, there's Geneva:
We arrived in Geneva around 2:30pm and checked in to the city hostel. The Geneva City Hostel, frankly, is nicer than most Italian three-star hotels. Probably one of the most readily apparent differences in Geneva compared to most of Italy is its cleanliness (in Switzerland is not only socially acceptable but encouraged to pick up after your dog, whereas in Italy it seemed to be punishable by stoning. So you're not worried all the time about where you're stepping... on the sidewalk). The total lack of graffiti is also a nice change. The metro and tram lines seem like they were reupholstered yesterday, or just installed yesterday, whichever makes them seem newer. For a small city (only about 160,000), Geneva is modern, clean, gorgeous, and affluent.
For the pictures and touristy stuff: obviously no trip to Geneva would be complete without visiting its number one employer:
Above, me in front of the United Nations building. I'd say sizewise the perimeter is five by five San Francisco city blocks.
The entrance to the UN building with all of the flags waving in front. Basically every diplomat's dream.
Of course, it wouldn't be a typical day in front of the UN building if there weren't some kind of rally or protest or demonstration going on out front! On the day we strolled by, there was a nice crowd of about 80 people chanting about human rights in Tibet (or I guess the lack thereof).
The three-legged chair monument directly in front of the UN building (this is where the Tibetan demonstrators were gathered). It's called The Broken Chair and serves as a symbol for the lives (and limbs) lost by land mines. I picked up that little bit of information from our visit to the Red Cross Museum:
Musee International de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, above. On one hand, it's great to learn about the foundation and the origin of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, as well as all the calamaties it has served. On the other hand, it is quite the Debbie-downer of a museum. Pretty morose stuff. 
This was the exhibit on land mine awareness (above). There were some other pictures that were kinda graphic. They had a TV in the corner of the room showing commercials from different countries around the world on land mine safety. It was an interesting exhibit, I liked it just as much as the stuff on the World Wars and all the other major conflicts.
After the Red Cross Museum, we went south of the Rhone River in to the Old Town. At the park Place du Croix-Rouge there are bunch of big chess and checkers boards. The chess pieces are about two-and-a-half feet tall. I thought it was too cold to play, plus I did not see any masters that seemed like worthy opponents to me. Primarily the former.
Again, courtesy of The Pillars of the Earth, I just kept getting mesmerized by the insides of churches. This is the inside of Cathedrale St. Pierre. I took a bunch of other pictures, too, another "no-justice" kind of place. It's famous for being the home church of John Calvin and the Protestant Reformation.
This is just a random picture of the square in front of the cathedral. I loved all of the Swiss and Geneva flags flying all over town.
From Lac Leman, aka Lake Geneva, south of the Rhone. Those are mallards in the water. Some of them were trotting on land. They are so unbelievable stubborn I wanted to pick one up and punt it just to prove a point and send a message to the rest of them that they are underneath me on the food chain. Seriously, a pack of them will just lie around and look at you as you walk towards them as if they're saying, "Are you going to walk around us or what?"
Well I sort of posted these out of order, but anyway, this is from the north tower at the Cathedrale St. Pierre. It's the highest point in the city and just provides unreal panaromic views from every direction. I just noticed how good looking the sky is. Or "that guy is."
From the opposite end of Place du Croix-Rouge, I was getting nostalgic of Villa Borghese. This is also a very pretty park, though. It was a wonderful stroll.
On the east end of the park is the Reformation Wall. It's a 100-meter long wall dedicated to John Calvin and all of the other integral smart guys of the Protestant Reformation. This is just a portion of it, at the center. William Farel, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, and John Knox, if you were curious, Purtill (or any one who's a fan of Jeopardy).
On our last night in Geneva, we went to a pretty famous restaurant, Au Petit Chalet, for some authentic Swiss fondue. Several pieces of mouth-watering bites of cheese-covered bread in to the meal, I was having some kind of bizarre epiphany that this is, in fact, my life right now: I am in Geneva, Switzerland eating cheese fondue, drinking draught Heineken, and doing nothing but loving life as if it were my job. I do nothing but go out, look at really pretty things all day, take pictures, eat really good food, and blog about it. That is my life. My travel companion clarified it for me quite nicely, I think:
"You must have done something right."
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