Geneva Local Customs

Summer here is so short that dozens of festivals are organised end to end so it's like one long party from June to August. The lakeshore is abuzz almost every evening and there is always something to do outdoors. There is outdoor cinema, fairgrounds, concerts, fireworks displays, and just plain revelry. If you're out with your kids at dusk, put name tags and beepers on them so you can find them in the crowd!

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When I think of Switzerland, I think of mountains, cows with bells, and chocolate! This country is a chocolate lovers paradise. Not only are there numerous speciality chocolate shops to browse and shop in, but pop into any supermarket, food hall, tourist shop etc and you will be confronted by a massive display of tasty Swiss chocolatey goodness.

I have a soft spot for Lindt chocolate, and didn't bore of looking at the large selection on offer. I may have sampled a few varieties you can't seem to buy in the UK, and bought a few blocks home too. We did taste some other brands of Swiss chocolate, but none of them compared to my precious Lindt.

My favourite purchase was a blue Lindt tin with a picture of the Matterhorn on the top, which was filled with chocolate. I bought it at a souvenir shop in Zermatt, expecting that I paid way too much for it. I saw the exact same tin at the Geneva airport on our way home, and it was double the price that I had paid! Lesson for the day - souvenir shops aren't always a rip off.

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Even though a country since 1291, with its larger and more influential (now or historically) neighbours Germany Italy Austia and France, there are a lot or imported tastes, including the beer - Heineken and Kronenbourg , even Fosters are staples, as well as lots of German beers not familiar to me.

Feldschlosschen is a German company with Swiss brands and my favourite Swiss lager, Cardinal. I always make a point of seeking out the local brew.

I was impressed that in a January with temperatures just below freezing, the hardy Genevans were outside at the tables on the terraces and street in front of the cafes.

Upon closer inspection, that tea is vin chaud - (very) hot wine served in a glass teacup, with perhaps a slice of fruit and sugar to add to taste.

Different!

Geneva Festival take place end of July until mid-August every year. You will enjoy:

*Fun fair, food stands and artisans
60 different amusement attractions extending around the harbour, 80 food stands offering thousands of 'taste treats' from around the world, 15 handicraft stands, «Terraces of the Lake», serving specialties from the lake and the region and Geneva wines.

* Free concert on the Clubs stage - English Garden
The Club Podium offers a programme of free concerts and shows, from 6 p.m. to midnight, and until 1 o'clock in the morning on Friday and Saturday.

* Air Show of Summits above the harbour, in front of the Quai de Cologny, bringing together parachutists, aerial acrobats, the Breitling Jet Team patrol, the Swiss patrol and Oldtimers.

* One of the world's largest fireworks displays set to music with the theme Music of the Celtic world for 2006 (45 minutes duration).

Enjoy the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Festival from July 20 to August 13 2006.

The Museum of Art & History is maybe the most well-known museum in Geneva. It has over hundred thousand paintings, sculptures and archaeological substance, but the museum itself is not that large. The first floor contains the Fine Arts compilation with paintings by Conrad Witz, Corot, Jean-Etienne Liotard, Calame, Diday, Agasse, Valloton and others. A number of rooms are dedicated to specific painters.

The upper ground floor houses the applied arts and has temporary exhibitions, silveware and pewterware and parts of the Castle of Zizers. The provisional display I saw was an attractive exhibit of contemporary drawing collages.

The only Swiss museum devoted entirely to ceramics, this collection of over 16,000 objects illustrates seven centuries of ceramics in Switzerland, Europe and the East. The Ariana Museum also has examples of 20th C work.

This is the Geneva countryside. Only a few miles from the city’s downtown area you will find quaint villages apparently untouched by the passage of the time.

A landscape of vineyards breaking with the traditional picture of cosmopolitan city makes of the countryside a unique setting. You will continue you excursion with a stopover in a typical wine cellar for wine tasting.