SWITZERLAND
SCHWEIZ - SUISSE - SVIZZERA - SUIZA

GENEVA - L'Athenée - Palais des Nations - Mount Saleve - Rhone River - Chateau de Bossey - August 1 National Day)

GRINDELWALD - WALENSEE - VALAIS - CAUX - JOUX - EINSIEDELN - BASEL

In addition to my international travels, I am trying to get to know more and more of my country of adoption, Switzerland. The omnipresent mountains give it a three-dimensionality and beauty that is hard to match. It is the one country I have seen that looks like its postcards.

Switzerland is also a country of amazing diversity that is culturally very enriching, not only with its German, French, Italian and Romanch national languages and cultures, but also with people from around the world. I was amazed to learn that it is the first country of Europe for its level of immigration, well ahead of many countries where this has become a political issue. 24% of the people living in Switzerland were born somewhere else, and half of the foreigners in Switzerland are second generation immigrants born here. Assimilation has in general worked well. Geneva is really an international city, and its population has been about 30% immigrants for four hundred years. My own commune of Vernier is about half foreigners, another quarter Swiss from other cantons, and only a quarter Genevois. You can literally feel the diversity during the European football cup. When the Portuguese make a goal, a roar rises in my neighborhood and flags appear; then an Italian goal brings another roar, etc. It is easy to feel at home here. On the Swiss National Day in 2010, my municipality of Vernier chose Portugal as the guest of honour, with Portuguese music and dancing, to celebrate its diversity, since more than 10% of its population is Portuguese. In 2012, the national day celebrated Kosovo, from which one of the most recent waves of immigrants has come.

GENEVA

Le Jet d'Eau With its quays lining the end of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman), with the Alps and Jura mountains as a backdrop, Geneva is a beautiful city, rated at the top of world cities for its quality of life.

harbour

With my work with the United Nations and the international community, it is the perfect place to be.

The Jet d'Eau in the lake has become a symbol of Geneva.

The city is wrapped around the end of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman)
Quai de Mont-Blanc

Le Jet d'Eau
Quai de Mont Blanc

The Palais Wilson on the lakeside, was the first seat of the League of Nations. It is now the Human Rights House occupied by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. There had been plans to make it the Environment House where I should have had my office, but with the move of the Climate Change Convention to Bonn and the Biodiversity Convention to Montreal, the Secretary General decided to use if for human rights, and the Swiss Government purchased the present International Environment House in Chatelaine, where I was one of the first to move in for UN Environment.

Geneva is a city of parks and gardens, often very large for an urban area
Park

Clock in the English Park

The lake empties into the Rhone River, which divides the city in two, with some islands such as Rousseau Island, named for the philosopher who was from Geneva.

Rousseau Island in the Rhone River - Ile Rousseau dans le Rhone

The Rue de Rhone is a main shopping street

Rue du Rhone

The old town, up on a hill and formerly surrounded by walls, is dominated by the cathedral of St.Peter. There are also the main government buildings like the old Armory

Cathedral

Armory

The original building of the University is in the Bastions Park, where people often come to play chess

University chess in Parc des Bastions

In 2009 I took my Dutch intern Lieuwe Vinkhuyzen sightseeing in Geneva and up Mount Saleve
Lieuwe Vinkhuyzen at Palais des Nations

In the 19th century, many beautiful homes were build along the lake shore, set in magnificent gardens. Today many of these homes have other functions as centres for international studies or the Museum of Science.
house

Museum of Science View from the museum across the lake

The lake is known for its swans, which nest along the shore
Swan nest

The lake is an important transport artery, with both paddlewheel steamers from a century ago, and modern boats for public transport
lake steamer

La Savoie

L'Athenée

ebbf - Ethical Business Building the Future, Geneva, held its commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh in 2017 in the beautiful Salle des Abeilles (room of the bees) in the Athenée, the elegant home of the Geneva Society of Arts (see separate page)

Athenéé Salle des Abeilles, with its beautiful ceiling

Palais des Nations

The Palais des Nations, built in the 1930s to be the seat of the League of Nations, helps make Geneva the most important world centre for intergovernmental conferences.

Palais from Place de Nations .
Palais from Place des Nations Place des Nations

Palais des Nations facade towards the lake

The Palais is set in beautiful gardens overlooking the lake and the Alps. On a clear day you can see Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe, in the distance.

General Assembly Hall The Secretariat

Salle des Pas Perdues Corridors to the conference rooms

There are many conference rooms

Council

The Council Chamber is used for the most important diplomatic events. All the walls and even the ceiling are covered by murals symbolic of the roles of international diplomacy.

One conference room was recently renovated by the Spanish government with a dramatic ceiling
Conference room ceiling

Mount Saleve

Geneva is dominated on the south-east by Mount Saleve, a favourite place for day outings. There is a telepherique (cable way) to the summit, with spectacular views over Geneva and its lake, and the Alps.

. telepherique

Views of Geneva and the lake are spectacular
Geneva . Geneva

Lake . lake

.
View southwest View northeast

golf golf course

The Rhone River below Geneva

The lake empties into the Rhone River which flows through France to the Mediterranean. The dam at Verbois is an important source of hydroelectricity for Geneva, which obtains 100% of its electricity from renewable sources. The river is also used to bring wastes to the big incinerator where it is burned to the highest environmental standards to produce electricity. At the same time, the natural ecology of the river is respected and habitats for wildlife are being restored. Fish are able to migrate up a fish ladder around the dam.
Rhone River River shoreline

habitat Natural habitats like reed beds are being restored along the shores to provide nesting places for birds. Rafts have been added to give the sterns a safe place to nest away from predators. Shallow basins have been added to provide a haven for fish when the dam below has to be emptied of its accumulated sediment.

The waste incinerator is just above the dam

Verbois Dam and hydroelectric plant Fish ladder below the dam

The electric utility is developing solar power. Renewable energy sources provide all of the canton's electricity as of 2017.
Solar panels Solar installation

Chateau de Bossey

The Chateau de Bossey in the countryside north of Geneva above the lake is now an Ecumenical Centre belonging to the World Council of Churches and the University of Geneva. The courses in Environmental Diplomacy that I coordinated for 5 years were held in this beautiful setting.

Environmental Diplomacy course 2009
Environmental Diplomacy 2009

Chateau de Bossey Bossey terrace

Bossey Bossey and pond

The Chateau is set in beautiful gardens with a view over the lake to the Alps beyond, including Mont Blanc

view in different light view

Below the chateau is a traditional Swiss farm producing milk and wine.

Cows

Cows are after all a symbol of Switzerland, which has maintained its rural traditions in harmony with its advanced state of development.

Belle Ferme

August 1 Swiss National Holiday

August 1 is the national holiday, commemorating more than 700 years of the Swiss nation. It is a time to listen to speeches, blow alp horns, toss flags, parade with cow bells, light bonfires, and celebrate all things Swiss.

The celibration ends with a traditional bonfire and fireworks displays

GRINDELWALD

I was invited to the alpine village of Grindelwald to speak at an AIESEC national seminar in June 2006. It was the perfect time of year to appreciate alpine meadows, farms and lakes nestled between the mountain peaks.

WALENSEE

In June 2006, I spoke at an International Peace Education Seminar at Walenstadt on the Walensee, another alpine area in eastern Switzerland near Liechtenstein, with mountains surrounding a beautiful lake.

VALAIS

At the end of March 2012, AIESEC again invited me to speak at their national conference, this time in Leysin above Aigle, in the Valais, the upper watershed of the Rhone River. From Aigle, a cog railway winds up the steep valley side to the ski resort of Leysin.

. vinyards below the railway
View down to Aigle in the Valais; looking down from the railway carriage on the steep vinyards below

CAUX

In July 2012, I was invited to the Caux Forum on Human Security, at Mountain House, the conference centre in the village of Caux in the mountains high above Montreux at the eastern end of Lake Geneva, and reached by a funicular railway. It was built over a hundred years ago as one of the world's most luxurious hotels, the Caux Palace, but since the end of World War II it has been run by Initiatives of Change as a meeting centre for peace and reconciliation. The view is spectacular.
Rhone River Valley, Valais

The views from my room of the valley of the upper Rhone River in Valais, Lake Geneva and the towns of Montreux and Vevey

Rhone River valley, Valais

The mountainside at Caux, Mountain House, the 110 year old conference centre, now a registered monument, and the view at night

The main hall during the conference, with two spectacular fireplaces at either end

JOUX VALLEY - VALLÉE DU JOUX

The Jura mountains form the western border between Switzerland and France. They are not as high or dramatic as the Alps, but are covered with forest with longitudinal valleys. The Joux Valley in the Canton of Vaud has a large lake in its centre. Steel was made there in the past using charcoal from the forests, and watch-making is still important in some towns.

The town of Le Pont at the southern end of the long narrow Joux Lake

Lac du Joux

Joux Lake, with a statue of Pegasus

EINSIEDELN, SCHWYZ

Schwyz is one of the founding cantons of Switzerland over 700 years ago, and Einsiedeln (850m) is both a mid-altitude winter sports centre and a pilgrimage centre on the route to Saint-John of Compostella, with an imposing Benedictine Monastery. We held Swiss Baha'i Winter Schools there in 2012 and 2013.

First snowfall

Views from the hotel; view towards the lake Sihlsee

view

Views from around the town
Einsiedeln

Ski jumps beyond the town; the town centre; views of Alpine peaks

Einsiedeln Monastery

The Benedictine Monastery

BASEL

Basel is in the north of Switzerland on the Rhine River in the corner between Switzerland, Germany and France, with near suburbs in both countries. It is the main port city of Switzerland, wth access to the sea down the Rhine River. It is an important industrial city (chemicals) and is famous for the arts. The painter Mark Tobey lived there the last sixteen years of his life. In June 2017, I visited an exhibition of his work at a gallery in the old town (see separate page).