29-SEP-2006
City Streets.
This is a good representation of what I see as I walk around Geneva. Almost all of the buildings are as old as those in this picture, and many of them have beautiful intricate iron railings on the balconies and gates. Overall the streets are very clean, the sidewalks are wide (unlike Paris) and the drivers always yield as soon as you put your foot on the crosswalk. The standard layout seems to be: shops and/or restaurants on the first floor, with apartments on the upper floors.
28-SEP-2006
Port des Eaux-Vives.
This is a typical view as you walk along lake Geneva on any given day. There are a handful of small ports like this, close to center city. France lies beyond the horizon and slightly to the right in this picture, the main fountain is out of frame on the left. The sailing season seems to be coming to a close as the weather is starting to get a bit cooler. There really isn't that much activity on the water any more. A few large restaurant boats live close to this port, and these are often cruising around the lake in the evening. I haven't observed any small personal watercraft (like sea-doos and the like) or speedboats cruising around, I would imagine they use the larger part of the lake away from the city. Around the heart of the city, the majority of boats are small sailboats like these.
27-SEP-2006
Beer.
As many of you know, I greatly appreciate the fine beauty and subtle flavor ensemble of a good beer. My friend Omar knew of this place, close to where we live, that has a seemingly endless selection of international beers. This place isn't called the beer garden, or beer oasis, it is called the "Beer Palace". Nice. The two coolers on the right house about 50% of the choices, the other more popular choices are kept behind a counter in a larger cooler to the right of this picture. They have brews from all of the European countries, many Asian and even Australian beers. There was also a nice selection of Canadian, and even Mexican, beers. Guess which country was not on the list? It is a shame though, because breweries like Red Hook, Sierra Nevada, and even Riverhorse could give some competition to these other international brews.
So, Omar (who is fluent in French), agreed to help me study the language. I brought one of my French books and we were planning on having a beer and going over the language basiscs. We got to this place a little too late though, and since they were getting ready to close, we just bought two beers for the road. I tried a Spanish brew and Omar had a Bavarian Grand Ale. I think I'll be visiting this place again in the weeks and months to come.
26-SEP-2006
The View.
While standing at my bench, if you look to the right, you'll see my lab desk and my window. We're on the third floor, which is really the fourth floor (Here in Europe, ground floor is 0 and the second floor is called the first, etc), so we are high enough to get a decent view. The lab building is built in the heart of the city, so there are apartment complexes all around this side of our lab. I find it quite amusing that people can sit on their balconies and watch me do my work in lab - maybe I'll make some new friends that way!
The window directly to the left of the one in the picture opens completely inward, and it it is possible to climb out and onto the narrow balcony that lines the perimeter of the building. Given this decent view, when the rest of the lab arrives, I plan on moving all of my paperwork to this desk. It will be much more efficient to have my bench very close to place I do my computational and book work.
26-SEP-2006
My Bench.
The layout of the lab is very open and well-planned. This is my little bench, I took this one because the view is quite nice from the window that is to the right of this workspace. Currently I'm doing my desk work across the hall in another room since the other two people in lab are working there as well. In a few weeks I'll move my things and set up my desk next to this bench, as the remaining three members of our lab start to settle in.
Our lab is actually the first group to use this space, so my boss was able to plan the floor layout to suit our needs. This room is where most of the molecular biology is done. We have 5 other rooms that hold fume hoods for tissue culture work, offices, storage, incubator and large equipment rooms, etc. I guess there isn't much to look at now, but over the next few weeks I'll be ramping up my experiments, and will be spending much more time here at this bench.
25-SEP-2006
Cash.
Well, I guess there are the beautiful vistas and landscapes and grand scenes here in Geneva. But I feel that details matter as well, so today you get to see what our bills look like. Go ahead and try to counterfeit this money... Most people around here say that the Swiss Franc is represented by some of the most colorful and stylish notes around; I'm convinced this is true. There are also 50's and things upwards of 100, but this is all I had to showcase for the time being. There are no bills smaller than 10 Francs, and if you take a look at the two coins on the bottom left, these are 5 Franc coins, with a few 2 and 1 and 1/2 Franc coins (all silver - quite confusing since all of the "cents" are silver coins as well). The bills are loaded with holograms and watermarks and cool pictures of famous people in Swiss history.
Lately it has been raining throughout the day, so I haven't been very thrilled about running around with the camera outside. I brought my camera to lab today, so expect a few snapshots of my work environment in the days to come.
24-SEP-2006
Other end!
I'm sure you will all be excited about this one..! Here is the other end of my lab building, Sciences III, here at the University. The location of the main entrance is pretty obvious. The main foyer has a very "industrial" appearance, built mainly out of concrete and stone, it feels as if it could double as a World War II bunker. The interior architecture, though, is pleasant, crisp, clean and tastefully done. This week I'll try to put up some inside shots of my building and my lab rooms...
23-SEP-2006
Lake Geneva.
Well, around here, the French refer to it as Lac Leman. This name is apparently carried over from the ancient Roman name "Lac Lemanus". The tip of this rather large lake seems to be the central focus here in Geneva. The banks of the lake are lined with very old buildings that now operate mainly as banks.. (Yes, the banks are lined with banks). One can definitely see and smell the money while walking around this part of town. Although touristy (lots of tiny carts and stores selling "Switzerland" tee-shirts and mugs and such), many of the locals pass through these parts in a typical day. On the average, people are much better dressed here than in the states, especially the businessmen and woman who work in this area around the lake. There are wide walkways along the perimeter of the lake, that, in the evenings and on weekends, are filled with people walking, running, biking, etc. I've started running on a regular basis now, and I plan on checking out the sights further on up the lake in the days and weeks to come.
22-SEP-2006
Jet d'Eau.
This is one seriously large fountain; the fact books say it shoots water 140m into the air with the speed of the water leaving the nozzle at 200kph. I took this picture while I was here in the beginning of June (as well as the next picture). Although the weather is not as warm anymore, the lake and the sights around are beautiful. Geneva is a clean and quiet city, filled with gorgeous architecture, monuments and fountains. The weather this weekend was quite gloomy and rainy, and I didn't have much of a chance to walk around with the camera.. I guess that's my excuse for using older pics!
21-SEP-2006
Sciences III.
This is my lab a the University of Geneva. The main entrance is further on up the road. The architecture around here (Geneva) is overall pretty interesting. Many of the buildings seem to be 'dynamic' in that their exterior arrangement can often be adjusted from inside! From inside our labs, it is possible to control the metal exterior venetian blind system - You'll notice in this picture every square seems to have a different setting. You can raise and lower them, and control the pitch of the blades to adjust the incoming sunlight. There are narrow (about half a meter) balconies between the lab windows and the exterior of the building.
The University in it's entirety doesn't really have a nice, manicured campus. Rather, the various buildings are peppered around this part of the city. The Science buildings, however, are in close proximity. The older 'Sciences I and Sciences II' are to the right and behind my building, respectively.
20-SEP-2006
Commute to work.
About 50 meters away from my front door, I cross a bridge (over the river L'Arve) on my way to work every morning. This is a shot looking down the southern part of the river, downtown Geneva is in the other direction. In the morning, the sun rises slightly to the left of the edge of this picture. Since sun glare was an issue, I took this picture around 17:00 (5pm) in the early evening. It is such a pleasure to wake up and walk to lab. The air is so fresh and clean, and the weather now in the morning is cool and crisp. The people here are plesant in the morning! No "one-finger" salutes from the motorists, and you very rarely hear horns blowing or people shouting.
19-SEP-2006
My View.
This is my early morning view from my room, before the sun has a chance to rise over the alps. Things are pretty quiet in the morning, even though everyone is commuting to work. The city-proper would be to the right of this picture, but from my temporary place, it is hard to see. I went and saw my first apartment last night, and given that it is a fairly decent place, I'm walking down now to the agency to apply for it. Since there is such a fast turnaround, there is a good chance that I won't get it anyway - But apparently the thing to do is to apply for as many as possible, hoping that you'll be accepted for one of the apartments that you really like.