Wonderful, wonderful

The country of Denmark has become more prominent in the thinking of the average Australian since a young Tasmanian woman, working in a bar in Sydney, was first approached by a wealthy European gentleman holidaying there. Despite that, when confronted at Stansted Airport by the news that Copenhagen was to be our destination on this trip neither Brock nor Quinn had any idea where it was or what was there. What should we have told them? Royal Copenhagen Icecream? Danish pastries? The racehorse ‘Nothing Leica Dane’? We chose to go with Princess Mary and Prince Frederick and the stories of Hans Christian Anderson. Is it a failure of the education system, or an indication of just how wide the cult of celebrity dominates our media, that they had both heard of the former but neither of the latter?

Scandinavia was an entirely new part of the world for all of us, but we showed we had been learning from our previous experiences in other places by at least getting to the airport on time to make the plane. The weather forecast for England was predicting snow on Sunday into Monday, but the weekend in Copenhagen looked to be cloudy but otherwise ok. This proved to be the case when we touched down at Københavns Lufthavn and went to collect our baggage. Flying in, our overwhelming first impression had been just how flat the area was, which is typical of the island of Zealand, the largest island in Denmark (excluding Greenland, which is a Danish territory) because the highest natural point on the island is only 121.3 metres above sea level.

Unfortunately, because of some problems with the computer systems, there was a delay in collecting our bag but this did give us an opportunity to look around the airport a little. The site has been used for this purpose since April 20, 1925 (which makes it quite old) and in 2006 it handled more than 20 million passengers for the first time. There are plans to complete a new low cost terminal in 2010 but the current one is lovely and clean with lots of wood featured throughout. Eventually we found our bag and made our way down to the Metro Station (completed in 2007) to catch a train into Copenhagen Central station. Because of the hour time difference between England and Denmark, by the time we reached the city centre it was already 10:30pm.

Another thing we have learned from our previous trips is that it is very useful to have a hotel near to the centre of the city if you don’t have ready access to transport. Fortunately, the Norlandia Star Hotel was only a couple of hundred metres from the station although, once again, we found it was in the red light district of Copenhagen. Brock and Quinn commented on the ladies standing on the street corners but, as with Madrid, we were all pleased to observe that at least they were warmly dressed. Inside the hotel we received a warm welcome from the staff, who informed us that their monarchy was one of the oldest in the world, but also one of the poorest [hidden message: don’t try to sponge off Mary just because you are Australian]. We made our way up to the rooms, then the boys and Wayne went for a quick walk to the 7/11 to grab some drinks before we went to bed for some well earned sleep.

The next morning we awoke to find an overcast but otherwise nice day (however, a little on the chilly side as a large thermometer on the side of a building showed the temperature to be a fraction under 0°C) and we walked out to find some breakfast. Our plan was to take a guided tour of the city and we were pleased to find the central Tourist Information building not far from the station, and opposite the famous Tivoli Gardens (one of the ‘1000 Places to See Before You Die’ by Patricia Schultz). The very helpful staff member that we talked to (and one of the many wonderful things about Copenhagen was that everyone that we talked to spoke excellent English and was concerned to be as helpful as possible) told us that the tour we wanted was to leave in half an hour, a short walk away next to the City Hall in front of the Palace Hotel.

The buildings we saw around us were fabulous architecturally, but we were all somewhat surprised at just how many neon signs there were, advertising everything from bacon to airlines. One of our favourite buildings was the cinema just off the main street which was brilliantly painted in bright colours, the predominant one of which was pink. Another thing we noticed, which isn’t really surprising given how flat the area is, is how many bicycles there were in the city centre. In fact, most of the roads had sizeable cycling lanes and wherever we looked there were people riding all sorts of bikes. In front of the city hall is a lovely square, the Rådhuspladsen which was emptier than usual, largely because of the breeze coming up H C Anderson Boulevard, which was somewhat brisk.

We have really enjoyed the bus tours we took in Belfast and Madrid, and were unsurprised to find that this one was also positive. Our tour guide was a very funny older lady who wasn’t above a little name dropping but who knew her city. We started off doing a drive around the Rådhuspladsen itself, before looking a bit more at the old part of the city to the north of the Tivoli. In much of Copenhagen, different areas owe their existence and form to various kings from the cities history and the number of monuments to various Kings from the past bears this out. In this case it was King Christian VIII who, in 1841, disturbed by civil unrest said, ‘When people amuse themselves they forget politics’ and so commissioned the Tivoli Gardens from Danish architect George Carstensen. When it was first built it was in the countryside on land that was once part of Copenhagen’s foundations. With the passage of time and the expansion of the city, it is now right at the centre. Indeed, during WWII the invading Nazi’s, angry at the resistance from the local population, burned the Concert Hall to the ground. Within a week the Danes had erected a tent to replace it and the current, permanent hall was completed in 1956.

Just to the south of the Tivoli is a series of art galleries and museums which was the next part of our tour. The first of these was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek which the guide spoke about so favourably that we decided we would do our best to get to it on the next day. On the next block was the Conservatorium of Music and a couple of blocks to the east was the National Museum. At the back of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek was a cast of Rodin’s famous statue ‘The Thinker’. While the original is in the Musée Rodin in Paris, there are over 20 different casts made from the original displayed around the world. Denmark is very pleased to have one of these.

While lots of the impressive sights in Copenhagen are aged, one of the most striking features of architecture in the city is much newer. In 1999 a fourth site for The Royal Library, the National Library of Denmark and Copenhagen University Library was opened at Slotsholmen overlooking the water. It was constructed of black marble and glass and is known as the Black Diamond for it’s impressive appearance. As well as housing part of the library, it also houses a concert hall and has a series of bridges which link it to an older part of the library. It certainly makes a very imposing sight.

Interestingly, our guide also related to us the story of one of the largest book thefts in history. During the period between 1968 and 1978 around 1,600 historical books (worth more than $50 million), including prints by Martin Luther and first editions by Immanuel Kant, Thomas More and John Milton, went missing from the library. After 20 years some of these books worth some $2 million began to be sold at various auctions. The case was finally solved in September 2003, after a stolen book had surfaced at Christie's auction house in London. The thief turned out to have been a head of department of the library's oriental department, one Frede Møller-Kristensen. He had died in February 2003 and his family then became careless in selling the remaining books. When the family's homes in Germany and Denmark were raided in November 2003, some 1,500 books were recovered. Ultimately, his wife, son, daughter-in-law and a family friend were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 months to 3 years; the friend was acquitted on appeal. It was all a laugh for the guide, because at least they had got the books back.

Opposite the Black Diamond are a series of old warehouses and other buildings that act as a reminder that Copenhagen achieved it’s prominence in the region because it is a port city. It is through the access to the sea, and therefore to other parts of Scandinavia and the world, that Copenhagen gradually became the economic, cultural and political focus of Denmark. Otherwise, it is situated well away from the rest of the country, on an island rather than part of the mainland. This was also emphasised by the number of bridges over which we passed during the tour, because Copenhagen is crisscrossed by numerous canals.

Another feature, which our guide made particular mention of, is the extraordinary architecture which you see as you travel around the city. For the Danes, we were told, architecture is more important than life. One of the elements of this that drew our attention was the particular emphasis on spirals within and upon buildings. The Church of Our Saviour in Copenhagen has a spiral tower which can be seen from many parts of the city. Another building with a spiral tower is the Børsen, which houses the Stock Exchange along with other financial institutions, however the Børsen tower spiral is composed of the tails of dragons. While striking, this was also the basis for another sad story for the architect who designed it is said to have committed suicide when he realised the building had been completed with the tails twisting in the wrong direction. They do really take architecture seriously here.

Nearby is the Christiansborg Palace, a large and impressive series of buildings which now stand on a site that has been used as a palace for centuries. In 1167 Bishop Absalon of Roskilde built a castle on an island outside Copenhagen harbour surrounded by a wall of limestone from Stevns Cliffs (remains of this wall and other parts of the original castle as still able to be seen in the basement of the current building). While that castle stood for 200 years, it was eventually destroyed by the Hanseatic League, covered with earthworks, and built over with another castle. It was used as an imposing prison for some time before being knocked down and rebuilt by Frederick IV in the 1720’s. However, his castle was too big for the foundations and the walls began to crack. Christian VI (Frederick’s successor) had this castle completely demolished and began building the new Christiansborg. Unfortunately, this castle also suffered a serious fate, burning down in 1794, at which point the Royal Family had to find a new place to live (firstly at Rosenborg Castle then later at Amalienborg). Once again it was rebuilt only to suffer the same fate in 1884. The next version of the Castle was begun in 1907 and completed in 1928. The palace now houses the Royal Reception Rooms, the Queen's Library, the audience chambers, the Sovereign in Council rooms, the Chapel, Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's Office, and thus has the distinction of housing all of the country’s supreme powers, judicial, executive and legislatial.

Nearby to Christiansborg is one of the more exclusive suburbs in Copenhagen, Christianshavn, though this one is named after a different King, Christian IV. He had been reponsible for having the port and naval yards upgraded and needed somewhere to house the workers responsible. He employed Dutch engineers (because of their experience working with reclaimed land and among canals) and they built a suburb on what is essentially an artificial island. Nearby is the Free City of Christiania, a partially self-governing neighborhood which has established semi-legal status as an independent community in an area of abandoned military barracks. Among the houses we saw was the home of Hans Christian Anderson, suitably marked with a plaque.

Not far away was one of Quinn’s favourite sights in the centre of Kongens Nytorv, a square constructed on the former ramparts of the city. There was an outdoor ice skating rink built around the central park and loads of people of all ages skating around on it. This is a feature of this part of the city during the winter months and locals and visitors alike take advantage of it. Around the square are some very impressive buildings, especially the headquarters of the Royal Danish Theatre where, on opening nights, the whole square can apparently be filled with people. Other buildings are the Thotske Palace (now the French Embassy), and the department store Magasin du Nord, the most beautiful department store in Scandinavia. Even the statue in the centre, of Christian V, is impressive.

Embassies were becoming a big feature (although we didn’t get to see the Australian one) as the buildings in this part of the world were obviously more upmarket. Seeing the Theatre however, didn’t quite prepare us for the much more modern building which is the new Danish Opera House, which is one of the newest in the world and one of the most expensive ever built. Like the Black Diamond it makes effective use of water frontage and glass. What is amazing is that the funds to build it were donated by the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation (a private organisation) and it was officially opened on January 15, 2005.

Opposite the Opera House was one of the highlights for all of us (and the first place we stopped) the Royal Palace at Amalienborg, which is the Winter home of the Danish Royal family. Although we didn’t get to see Prince Frederick, Princess Mary or even Queen Magrethe II, we were treated to the spectacle of a changing of the guard. Like the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace this involved lots of people marching around in precision groups while a band played, but they were impressive at how they maintained their lines. When they had finished there was no problem with talking to the guards nor of having photos taken with them.

The palace itself is very impressive, being made up of 4 smaller palaces which originally belonged to 4 separate families but which were incorporated together after the fire at Christiansborg Palace in 1794. In the middle of the central square is a large equestrian statue of Frederick V which is aligned with the Marble Church at one end and the Opera House across the river, so that a person standing in front of the Opera House can see all the way through to the Marble Church.

Next up we journeyed the short distance to Churchill Park. Surprisingly (given that the British have not always treated the Danish well) it is named for former English Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, of whom there is a statue in the centre of the park. The World War II War Memorial also stands here, as does the Resistance Museum. At the centre of the park is the Anglican Church of St Albans built in the 19th century for a growing British population in the city. The Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) was married to a Danish princess. An interesting juxtaposition is the statue alongside in the middle of the Gefion fountain. Gefion is the Norse Goddess of unmarried women. Her four sons (just because she was unmarried didn’t mean she didn’t have fun) took the form of oxen and she put them in front of a plough given to her by king Gylfi of Sweden. Gylfi had told her (not expecting her to take him up on the deal) that she could have the land she could plough. This turned out to be such a chunk that it left a great hole in Sweden, today known as Lake Vänern (Sweden's biggest lake), and this chunk was dropped into the sea and created Sealand which is the island on which Copenhagen is situated.

In contrast to this statue (which is large and impressive) is the one commissioned by Carl Jacobson (the son of the founder of Carlsberg Brewery) in 1909 and which has become the symbol of Denmark. The little mermaid (Den lille havfrue) is only 1.25 metres high, which generally comes as a shock to visitors seeing her for the first time and was so underwhelming for Meg and Brock that they didn’t even get out of the bus. The statue is not even the original (which was kept in an undisclosed location after it was completed) but has become iconic nonetheless. In fact, it is regularly vandalised by people who want to draw attention to a cause. It has been covered in paint, had various parts painted, had the head removed on more than one occasion, been decorated with various outfits and props, and in 2003 was blasted off the stone on which it sits. Like ‘The Thinker’ there are various copies extant around the world, including one on the grave of Victor Borge (a Danish American entertainer who Wayne once saw in concert).

The final part of the tour took us to the Copenhagen University and some of the brilliant museums and buildings connected with that. One of these is yet another building famed for a spiral, although in this case the spiral is on the inside rather than the outside of the building. The Rundetårn was built at the behest of Christian IV between 1637 and 1642 as part of the Trinitatis complex so that scholars would have an observatory, a church, and a library. Instead of stairs, the tower contains a helical corridor which circles the tower to the top. This has meant that various people have been able to ascend in unusual ways including Czar Peter the Great who travelled to the top on horseback, and in 1902 a car was driven to the top of the tower for the first time.

Not far from the tower is the cathedral of Copenhagen, the Church of Our Lady (Vor Frue Kirke) which was the final stop of our tour. This was completed in 1829 and is one of the more impressive church buildings that we have come across so far on our travels. Inside it is fairly stark (compared to some) but around the walls are some amazing white statues of the twelve apostles while a larger statue on Jesus, in similar style, is at the front of the building. There are multiple levels at the entrance with the top floor including an orchestra site (they were practising while we were there). It was so impressive that Quinn decided to use it for his major composition for photography and took many many snaps. Many of our Australian friends may have already seen it if the watched the marriage of Crown Prince Frederick to Princess Mary in 2004, for the ceremony was conducted in this cathedral.

This was our last stop on the tour, which had managed to cram an awful lot into 2.5 hours. There were so many things to see that we were already very impressed with Copenhagen as a location, and we were only half way through the day. Next on our agenda was to find some lunch before beginning the next chapter in our day.

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like... (part 3)

In the past Brock has developed a bit of a reputation for waking up early on Christmas Day, even as recently as last year, 4am was considered by him to be a reasonable time to get up and start unwrapping his gifts. When Meg and Wayne were still undisturbed in bed at 7am on Christmas Day, it was as if a Christmas miracle had truly come. We had made phone calls to Australia the previous evening, to coincide with Christmas in that country, so once everyone was awake it was time to begin the process of removing wrapping paper.

Much to Brock and Quinn’s delight, Wayne and Meg had negotiated with the staff at the hotel to borrow the Christmas tree from the lobby the previous evening, so when the boys entered their parent’s room there were all the gifts spread out underneath a small, white Christmas tree. A highlight among the gifts was Marni (Meg’s Armani handbag, which she had actually made use of the day before) and which can be seen in the photographs of the floral clock in Geneva. Other favourites were a pink scrabble set raising funds for breast cancer research, and a collection of various delicacies from Australia including Cherry Ripes and Twisties.

As it was not snowing in Ville-le-Grand at that stage we jumped into Veronica and headed off for another explore around this section of France. Initially we headed up in the direction of Evian-les-Bains (where the water comes from) via the D1206. This took us through some very picturesque French villages to the town of Douvaine where we decided to stop for breakfast. This is part of the region of Haute-Savoie (which was annexed by France on the 24th of May, 1860) and which has within its boundaries Mont Blanc (the second highest mountain in Europe). This region has borders with Switzerland and Italy and contains some of Europe’s best ski resorts which might have been the prompt for the next change of direction that we made.

You can see from the photographs on our blog that the town was beautifully decorated for Christmas, with the town hall (which we parked outside) being particularly attractive. What astounded us was the number of businesses which were open on Christmas Day. We joined the locals walking to the bakery and, once inside, attempted to buy some croissants. Even trying to speak our basic French proved to be difficult here but eventually we were able to be understood and returned to the car with the sustenance we required.

Rather than continuing up to Thonex-les-Bains and Evians-les-Bains we decided to turn around and head down the A40 toward the Mont Blanc tunnel, connecting Italy with France. Once again the scenery was absolutely breathtaking; we drove along the valley with sheer cliffs leading up to enormous mountains peaked with snow, we passed ponds and rivers with were totally frozen over, while it was at times cloudy or foggy when the sun glinted off the mountain tops or reached down into the valley it was truly majestic. On the cliffs were perched chalets which must have had the most amazing views. The further south we went the more snow we encountered and eventually it was all around us.

As we were getting a little low on fuel we pulled off the road when we saw a service station connected to a McDonalds, however neither building was open. While we were out of the car, however, it began to snow and we were experiencing what we had wanted all along, a White Christmas. Near where the car was parked was a small snowman and this gave Quinn the idea to start throwing snowballs again. After one successful shot we jumped back in the car and drove a little further down the road to the town of Sallanches where we were able to refuel and look a little around the town.

Recent excavations have indicated the presence of a Christian community on the site of the town since the 5th and 6th century. Indeed, the presence of religious institutions dominated the city for hundreds of years, and included a Capuchin monastery and an Ursuline community. It was only with the turmoil of the French Revolution that this began to change and the focus of the town became the economics of spinning, beer and chocolate making. As Chamonix (the town at which the Mont Blanc tunnel begins) began to become a tourist resort, Sallanches benefited as people began to rest on their route in the hostels there. In 1840 (after a succession of floods, epidemics and fires over a number of years) fire destroyed the town which led to it being rebuilt with the assistance of King Charles Albert of Savoy-Carignan. It was in 1921, however, when the town was declared a “station de tourisme” and appropriate facilities were put in place to increase access to the ski resorts in the mountains which overlook the town that Sallanches took on the form it bears today.

There is a river that runs through the centre of the town and we parked beside it to take some pictures of the lovely buildings, the river itself, and the mountains which seem to hang right out over the town. Wayne went for a short wander to see if he could find an automatic teller machine but was unsuccessful. However, he did meet one of the largest dogs he had ever seen licking passers by while its owner chatted with some other people. Given that most of the signs in the town itself pointed up into the mountains to where the ski resorts would be it was decided that this would also be the direction that we would take.

As you might expect, the road up was winding and quite busy. Veronica proved her worth yet again, barely skipping a beat with her 4wd capabilities. Along the way we saw some of the most beautiful chalets; just like you see in the pictures at European ski resorts in the advertising brochures. The snow was thick by the sides of the road and we all remembered the show ball fight and snowman building of the day before. Consequently, when we decided to stop at one of the tourist information and lookout sites, a snowball fight eventuated, with even Meg getting involved. Brock and Quinn also lay down in the snow to make snow angels.

It wasn’t much further up the mountain to the ski slopes and we were all amazed at just how many people were up there. Coming from Australia, and having been part of families that always got together on Christmas Day, the concept of going skiing instead was a complete novelty. For Meg, the fact that it was also so cold would have been reason enough to avoid it. However, at the altitude that we were, we were above the clouds and the sun was shining brightly, making it a beautiful skiing day. We investigated the cost of going skiing ourselves, and then just sitting on a chair lift and travelling up into the mountains, but both were prohibitively expensive.

Two purchases were made, however, the first of these being a small green piece of plastic with a handle. This is a sit upon sled for Quinn, who is going skiing with the school in February. This is yet another point of departure for those of us raised in Australia. Quinn’s ski trip is in the Italian Alps (in fact, not that far from where we were at the time). The second purchase was some lunch, which we sat down to at a little café in the village. While English was readily understood, our understanding of what might be meant by some words in English proved to be inaccurate. When Brock and Quinn ordered hamburgers they did not expect a meat pattie, seared on both sides but still pink in the middle accompanied by lots of chips. We later discovered that they should have ordered from the sandwich menu.

Another interesting aspect of dining here was being able to hear the conversations of other people around us. While there were also lots of French, German, Swiss and Italian people around us, it was interesting to note that there were also a significant number of British people. Indeed, one family group of about 14 represented 3 generations of one family for whom this was a regular Christmas celebration. Should any of you want to participate in such a festivity at some time in the future, we would be more than interested in exploring the idea with you.

After lunch we descended back down the mountain, stopping at one point to allow Quinn to try out his sled. While it worked, it seems he should not be doing it in jeans next time because they got soaked through, however we have chalked this up to experience. Knowing that we had got almost as close to Italy as you can get without actually crossing the border we were happy that Quinn was going to be travelling to somewhere new with the school and we turned back toward Ville-le-Grand.

We had a nap in the afternoon before Wayne went down and set up the satnav ready for our trip back into Geneva that evening. Before we had left for Geneva a concern had been finding somewhere that would be open and reasonably priced for Christmas Dinner. We had the option of looking for somewhere which would do the more traditional Christmas meal, or do something totally different. Unsurprisingly, we chose the latter course once more and with Sally Satnav at the helm giving instructions (she was christened this after Brock found out how to set her speaking to English) we set out for the centre of town.

While Meg and Wayne had both been in cars (or taxis) which used satnav before neither had ever actually driven with one, so it took a bit of adjusting to the way it worked. After a couple of turns where we turned a little early (and faced the wrath of Sally) we soon sorted out everything and easily found the restaurant. Only parking looked to be as issue, as the centre of Geneva was pretty solidly parked out. However, the restaurant had some parking spaces down a very narrow alley, so while Meg and Brock went inside to confirm that we were dining there, Quinn assisted Wayne with parking Veronica (only a mirror was slightly bumped in the process).

The restaurant we had chosen was an Ethiopian and Eritrean restaurant which specialised in pancakes and crepes, which had Brock feeling particularly dubious about whether or not he would enjoy it. When we arrived we found ourselves in a beautiful old building with weathered wooden beams, fabulously decorated in an African style which we could only suspect was representative of the nations whose cuisines were its specialty. When we met the owner, Helena Goodman, our suspicions were confirmed. She made us feel very welcome, produced brilliant food, and heightened our inadequacies about language; she speaks 5 languages French, English, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.

We could not speak more highly of the food. While it was not what we are used to as a Christmas meal it was absolutely fabulous. Meg and Brock shared an Ethiopian dish, while Wayne and Quinn both sampled Eritrean meals. They were very tasty, well presented and left us wanting more. Dessert was also special, with Meg deciding upon an apricot flambéed dish (largely because the Brock and Quinn had never seen a flambéed dish before. Wayne and the boys all had an amazing chocolate crepe with ice cream and cream. If you are ever in Geneva and need somewhere to eat, please go the ‘The Melting Pot’, we can guarantee that you will be glad you did.

After a fabulous evening, with wonderful food and good company, we eventually dragged ourselves out into the cold (it was below freezing) night ready to make the trip back to our hotel. This time, we turned the satnav back off again because we wanted to go back through the city and look at the Christmas lights for Christmas night. It was spectacular down by the lake, with all the lights we had seen the previous day now lit up. The city decorations (which again we had only seen unlit by daylight) were also very impressive and made for a fabulous trip home. Quinn sat in the back trying to take photographs while Wayne stopped when he could to assist this procedure.

By the time we arrived back at the hotel we were all still excited about the day, the gifts and the food. Consequently, even though we knew we would need to be up early in the morning to drive to the airport and drop off our bags before returning to the Car Hire Office to drop off Veronica, we still found it hard to get to sleep. It may not have been anything like any other Christmas that any of us had ever had, but the universal consensus was that it was one of, if not the absolute, best Christmas' ever.

I'm dreaming of a white...(part 2)

It is a lovely feeling to be able to wake up in the morning, look out of a bedroom window and see snow on the mountains just beside you. We had all been excited to see piles of ice (old snow) beside the hotel and in other places around Ville-le-Grand, now we had the prospect of seeing even more during this day. For Meg and the boys who had limited experience of snow before moving to the UK this day promised to be very exciting. The weather was relatively clear and the forecast called for snow in the immediate region. That the alps were so near made it all the more likely.

After the breakfast buffet at the hotel, our next task was to organise our transport for the remaining time we would be here. Because of the disappointment of the hotel not having the complimentary travel pass we had expected, and also because of the realisation once we were on the ground of just how close other parts of Europe now were, we decided to hire a car. This involved Wayne speaking to the receptionist (in a mixture of French, mime and English) and having her call the local car hire places. Without too much difficulty we were able to find a car that would be returned on Boxing Day morning and Wayne and Quinn set off to find the rental office.

This proved easier said than done as the French people we spoke to proved to be very like the Irish people we had encountered on an earlier trip. They were very happy to provide directions, it was just that those directions didn’t always bear very much resemblance to our actual destination. After a few false starts we finally found the office and were able to jump into a brand new VW Touareg, equipped with satnav, and make the drive back to the hotel to pick up Meg and Brock. The car was christened Veronica (because it was a ‘very new car’) and we drove off to explore some more of Geneva.

Wayne had never driven a left-hand drive vehicle before. Nor was he experienced at driving on the right hand side of the road. Consequently, his right leg still has bruises from Meg clutching at it whenever a car approached us in a manner which she found threatening. The trip into Geneva was relatively straightforward (and much simpler than the route that the taxi driver had taken the day before) and before long Wayne was demonstrating that he had been paying attention the previous day as we pulled into a carpark under Jardin Anglais, off Pont du Mont Blanc and within sight (if it had not been too cold) of the Jet d’Eau.

When it is working, five-hundred litres (132 gallons) of water per second are sent to an altitude of 140 metres (459 feet). The water leaves the nozzle at a speed of 200 km/h (124 mph) and at any given moment there are about 7,000 litres (1849 gallons) of water in the air. Unsuspecting visitors to the fountain--which can be reached via a stone jetty from the left bank of the Lake--may be surprised to find themselves drenched after a slight change in wind direction. It is one of the most famous attractions in Geneva, but unfortunately not operating while we were in the city. However, there were many other wonderful things worth seeing.

This included the fabulous Christmas decorations which adorned the Jardin Anglais. There were beautiful spiral, cone lights which dangled from trees and turned in the wind. There were other lights in strips, where the blue glow seemed to fall from the trees like snowflakes and then disappear a metre from where it had begun. Perhaps the highlight, however, was a tree covered in tiny bells. When we first spotted it a group of women were showing a toddler how it worked. The little girl laughed and laughed at the bells as they rang whenever someone ran their hands over the branches. To touch, it felt rough and cold, but the tingling effect that this produced was magical. We stayed and photographed each other, running our hands over the branches before moving on into the city itself.

One of the things that Switzerland is most famous for is timekeeping devices. If we had not realised that before we came, it would have been obvious from all the signage we encountered in Geneva. The airport was full of advertising for various well known brands including Tag Heuer, Swatch, Baume &Mercier, Cartier, Montblanc, Patek Phillippe, Eberhard & Co., Bulgari, Rolex and many others. Steps up from the carpark were similarly adorned and the shops along the waterfront in Geneva represented some of the headquarters of these famous brands.

Another of the famous things in Geneva is 'the floral clock', a symbol of the watchmaking industry for which Switzerland is renowned. Like the Jet d'Eau, it was the wrong time of the year to be visiting the clock, as very few flowers were blooming at the height of winter. In the past the clock was only decorative with its sole dial comprising over 6,500 flowers. At the turn of the century the new millennium provided it with decisive artistic dimensions thanks to the ingenuity of the gardeners of the Service of Green Spaces and the Environment. It is now composed of eight concentric circles, the colours of which vary with the seasons and the plants which make up the display. The seconds hand of Geneva's Flower Clock is the largest in the world (it is more than 2.5 meters long) so we stopped to take some photos.

Even more exciting for Meg than the clockmaking was the presence of other designer stores on what she has dubbed ‘the Rodeo Drive of Geneva’. Even though she was fervantly looking forward to the possibility of an Armani handbag for Christmas the next day, she still took the time to wander inside the Armani store to see if there was anything else worth looking at. Stores for Gucci and Fendi also received similar treatment. On these expeditions she was accompanied by at least one of the boys, while Wayne generally stood outside admiring the lake and the other scenery around him.

Another important destination was one of the multitude of chocolatiers that dotted the city. During the trip across we had read, in one of the inflight magazines, about the festival of the Escalade, which had been celebrated earlier in the month. This commemorates the defeat by the Genevan populace of the Catholic troops of the Duke of Savoy in 1602. According to tradition, it was the presence of mind and bravery of a Mère Royaume that prevented victory by the assailants. Legend has it that she threw a cauldron of boiling soup over the soldiers scaling the walls. Today, the people of Geneva remember this event by making chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables, which they smash open while crying "Death to the enemies of the Republic!" We wanted to find one of these cauldrons to have as part of our Christmas celebration, however, they were thin on the ground (possibly because most had been smashed and eaten two weeks earlier) and those that were available were quite expensive. Despite walking into many a chocolatier we had to content ourselves with having lunch.

Before we headed back to the car we visited a wonderful toy shop called Franz Karl Weber which is spread out across three levels in the centre of the main shopping district. This place is huge and has everything from basic handmade wooden toys to all sorts of electronic games, jigsaw puzzles, dolls, train sets, stuffed bears and an enormous range of other animals. At first we were a little reticent because of a bad experience in a similar toy shop in Madrid, but once it was clear that the staff weren’t going to follow us around and shout if we touched anything, we had a ball. While hundred of different toys appealed, in the end we purchased only a Journey Around Switzerland board game marketed by the Swiss Tourism board which we hoped might increase our knowledge of the country.

Back at the car, we decided to head south, back into France, to have a bit of an explore with no fixed destination in mind. We headed back to Annemasse before heading south-west on the E21 (L’Autoroute Blanche) toward Valleiry and Vicy. When we reached the turn off onto the A41 we spontaneously decided to turn toward Annecy and see where the road took us. By this stage there were enormous quantities of snow in the fields on either side of the car and each turn in the road was met with new ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ while Meg tried to take photos from the unfamiliar right side front passenger seat.

At a particularly beautiful stretch of scenery near Jussy we left the main road in order to take some photos and Wayne turned Veronica up into the hills. This led us up through Andilly into an incredibly picturesque village named Charly. The road here was quite narrow but Veronica handled it with ease and we found ourselves up in a farming region above the village. At the first available stop we pulled to the side and everyone jumped out, throwing on gloves, scarves and hats. Very quickly a snowball fight developed, with Quinn proving more than able to outrun his brother but much less accurate with his snowball throwing than Wayne. After some falls in the fresh deep snow (and the initial loss of one shoe) all the boys set to constructing a snowman, with general commentary and instructions being shouted from Meg on the side of the road.

Our snowman was not classical in shape, nor in beauty. We had no carrot to use as his nose, or corncob pipe to stick in his mouth. Nor had we thought to bring balls of coal to use as eyeballs (next time we will plan better) but when the head was triumphantly placed on top we felt a deep sense of pride in our accomplishment. Upon reflection he seems to have been a woefully underfed member of the snowman community, but he was as tall as Brock. By now it was fully 4pm, the sun was rapidly disappearing, and the area was beginning to grow very foggy. As we turned on Veronica’s lights and drove down the road we wondered how local farmers would react coming across him. After doing a u-turn we saw him glowing slightly as we drove past and felt that someone might derive some pleasure from a meeting.

Our drive back initially avoided the main road as we ducked up the D18 before heading toward home on the E21. Because we were coming back from a slightly different direction (and at night) it proved to be somewhat harder to find the hotel than we had previously experienced. However, eventually we pulled into the carpark and were delighted to get inside where it was warm. After some food that we had purchased earlier on we had a couple of games of ‘Voyage en Suisse’ before heading to bed, full of expectation for the following day and what it was to bring.

PS. Meg would like everybody to know (not because she is at all competitive) that she won each of the three games of 'Voyage en Suisse' that we played. Given her sense of Geography, this is indeed a marvel deserving of being recorded.