10-DEC-2006
Done.
Well, at least with one wall. I'll eventually take some pictures in daylight so that you can see the real colors. Hopefully I'll finish the kitchen this weekend, and I'll have something nice to show you next week!
09-DEC-2006
Kitchen, again.
So, this is what I had finished as of Monday. I finally had the time and energy to tackle the rest of the mess over the kitchen sink. Again, I spent some nice, quiet time with a tube of spackel and a few sheets of sandpaper to make the walls nice and smooth. Then, since I chose to keep the original color on the shleves, I used a good amount of time to mask every edge of the shelves touching the wall, above, on the sides, and below each shelf. After the masking, I then had to apply three coats of paint with the brush along the edges (since the original paint is slippery enough and glossy enough to ice-skate on), which I then followed with three coats of paint with the roller. But, in the end,... time well spent.
08-DEC-2006
Lights.
The Swiss really like to light things up. Apparently, they like to light up trees. This was a particularly cool 'light sculpture' I found while walking around the streets of the old city. I'll have to grab the tripod and start snapping some pictures of the lights around my neighborhood - it is quite beautiful this time of year.
07-DEC-2006
Shops.
Very, very expensive shops. The stores around this part of the old city are filled with museum quality artifacts, paintings, artwork and furniture. Even though the stores were closed at this time of night, it was still enjoyable and entertaining to window shop. The small bars and cafés, on the other hand, were quite warm and reasonably priced, with delicious local foods and wines.
06-DEC-2006
Buildings.
Old buildings, lights, flags - overall, a pretty nice atmosphere...
05-DEC-2006
Old Streets.
Just a view of the buildings and streets around the Cathedral...
04-DEC-2006
Cathédrale St-Pierre.
Many of the buildings in the older part of Geneva are typically showcased with lights quite nicely. As we walked around the running course for the Escalade, we took some time to check out the sites. Here is some info (shamelessly stolen from the web) about this church:
The Cathedral of St. Peter in Geneva is best known as the church where John Calvin gave his inspiring sermons during the mid-16th century. The imposing, Romanesque and Gothic Cathédrale St-Pierre dominates the center of town.
The site of St. Peter's Cathedral has been occupied at least since the 4th century, which you can see for yourself by touring the archaeological site underneath. Construction on Geneva's cathedral began in 1160 and lasted 150 years, by which time the towering Romanesque cathedral had acquired Gothic accents.
The Catholic cathedral of St. Peter became a Protestant church in 1536. Like reformers all over Europe, Calvin's followers stripped Geneva's cathedral of its altars, statues, paintings and furniture. Only the stained glass windows remained. John Calvin preached here from 1536 to 1564, and the cathedral became the guiding center of Protestantism. Calvin's seat outlasted him and still sits in the north aisle. The original Gothic façade of the Cathedral was modified in 1750 to its present Neoclassical style.
Today, Protestant worship services are still conducted at the pulpit from which Calvin had declaimed for hours on end against "idolatrie." Sermons are significantly more moderate these days, but amid the soaring austerity and the singing of old hymns, one can still feel the texture of an important history stretching back 450 years.
03-DEC-2006
Old City.
The running course snakes through the very narrow cobblestone streets of the old part of the city near the cathedral. It was quite chilly last night, but I'm sure the runners were happy to have cool, dry weather. It seems the entire course is lined with observers and supporters, cheering on their favorite runners and keeping warm by sipping on the very delicious vin brûlé, hot red wine steeped with oranges and cinnamon... mmmm!
02-DEC-2006
Mens Elite.
This is the class of guys that can run the 7+ Km course in 30 minutes or less. This is fairly difficult to do on a flat surface, let alone over some very steep terrain.
01-DEC-2006
Escalade!!
This is one very interesting city-wide celebration. The Escalade seems to be "THE" place to be in Geneva at this time of year, and to better explain exactly what is being celebrated, please read the details by clicking on this link:
Details about the race:
However, I don't quite understand the connection between the Escalade and running, but this is the biggest running event of the year as well. As a runner, I was very much looking forward to participating; but difficulty with registration (missed the deadline) and fighting a cold, I took the role of photographer instead.
This is the starting line for only ONE of the many, many classes of runners throughout the day (divided by age and sex). The course is a little more than 7 kilometers long (3 laps through the very steep parts of old-city). It is a carnival atmosphere, and at the end of all of the running heats, there was a huge parade along the course. Can't wait to run in this next year.
30-NOV-2006
The Kitchen.
I'll spare you the gory details of this project, and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to put up a picture of the finished product. These two walls are located on the edge of the building, and given the age of this place and the location of the walls, the natural movement and breathing of the building created some nice cracks and bubbles in these walls. So, after hours of spackeling, sanding and masking, I was able to start applying some paint. The last owner painted the entire kitchen with this ultra-high-gloss yellowish enamel, and it looks quite horrible. I can't wait to get this place up to my standards.