"Geneva" Geneva by lnalba

The name "Geneva" means "at the mouth of the waters", which is a very suitable title, as the city sits around the huge Lake Geneva, which the river Rhone pours into. The famous water fountain, which has been in operation since 1891, gushes to a height of 140 metres/459ft and the total weight of the water in suspension at one time is 7 TONS!

Geneva is a very multicultural city, with 199 nationalities represented here. Nearly 40% of the population is foreign to Switzerland. The language of Geneva is French, followed by German and Italian.

Of course, there are three things that come to mind (to my mind, anyway) when thinking of Switzlerland, and they are chocolate, cheese and banks. Geneva has the most wonderful chocolate shops and cafes, which are well worth a visit. I spent quite a while gazing through the windows of chocolate shops at the beautiful chocolate creations on display. They really do taste as good as they look!

Geneva has nearly 200 banks, and I don't have an account in any of them.

If you want to stay in Geneva, there are about 130 hotels to choose from, most of them being 3 star, although you can stay in anything from a 5 star hotel to an apartment house. There are also several hostels to choose from, which are near to the city centre (downtown).

About 70% of visitors to Geneva are here on business, which is a contrast to the rest of Switzerland (80% leisure visitors). Geneva is a good base for visiting the area roundabout - you can easily get to Mont Blanc, the Matterhorn and the Genevese countryside, with its vineyards and pretty little villages nestling in valleys or perched precariously on the sides of mountains.

There are lots of museums here, a fascinating history to discover, and important organisations to visit such as the UN headquarters and the Red Cross headquarters, which are conveniently on opposite sides of the same road.

You can go on boat trips, guided tours, swimming in the lake or an Olympic-size swimming pool, strolling through parks, sightseeing and, not to forget, shopping!

Shopping in Geneva is either for the rich or the window shopper. Here you will find all the designers in clothes, bags and jewellery you want. The main shopping streets, running from Rue de la Confederation to Rue de la Croix d'Or are pedestrianised in some areas (look out for the trams) and have more mainstream shops such as C&A and H&M.

Getting to and from the city is really easy. The main station is right in the middle of the city, and only about a ten minute walk from the lake. On your way, you will pass the Tourist Infomation, which is on the Rue du Mont Blanc - this road leads to the main shopping streets on the other side of the Rhone.

The airport is about ten minute ride in the train, and is very inexpensive to get to. However, you can only buy an airport ticket from the station up to an hour before the train, unless you have made prior bookings. So if you want to buy a ticket the day before you need to get to the airport in order to save time (as I did), you can't. It only takes a minute to do, though.

A website which may be of interest is the Geneva Tourism page, which has heaps more information.