Bear with me. . .

I have found myself reflecting this past week on how my experience has been so far here in Geneva. Walks are a perfect time for introspection and because I do a lot of walking--well, you can see where this is going. I have come up with a list of things that I love about being here. I love the bread. I have not found the need to put butter on any bread that I have eaten here--it can stand on its own merits. Those merits being a hard, crunchy crust with soft insides. We get fresh baked bread across the street every morning when the store opens at 8:00a.m. I love the cheese. I've had to try many varieties to come up with my favorites but that has not been a trial. Obviously French and Swiss cheeses have won the contest for me. I love the chocolate. I'm not talking about the ordinary Swiss chocolate brands that you can buy in the United States, but the "fine chocolates" made and sold in little shops all around the city. Each outing with Steve is an excuse to try a different shop's chocolate. I love the yoghurt. The yoghurt section in a super market can take up what would be the whole dairy case in the States. All I've mentioned so far has to do with food, and from what I've described, both Steve and I should weigh about 400 lbs. by now. This actually has not been the case, so we come to another thing I love about being here. Apparently, eating all these good foods doesn't make one gain weight. Another thing I love about being here is being able to look at the Alps (on sunny days). They are truly magnificent with their irregular jagged peaks. It is spectacular to me when we take off from the Geneva airport and within a few minutes can look down on these gorgeous mountains. I can't wait to go exploring in the Spring. I love the view from our front window of the lower mountains called the Jura with their snow-covered tops. I love the beautiful skies we get to see at sunset. I love meeting interesting people from many parts of the world. Geneva is a very cosmopolitan city which makes it easy to live in. This one may sound strange, but I love not having a car. We do not have to pay ridiculous prices for gas. We do not have to pay huge fees to garage the car. We do not have to spend hours looking for parking places, nor do we have to drive in traffic.

There are some things which I do not find so appealing here. Probably topping the list is smoke-filled restaurants and other eating places. I also find it uncomfortable waiting for a bus when everyone else who is waiting is smoking. Hopefully Switzerland will follow France and become smoke free in all public places. I hate CNN Europe and MSNBC Europe. If someone wants to be tortured all they would have to do is have only these television channels available. In fact, I think that these are the channels that are available in hell.

Geneva shares a curse common to most large cities--pigeons. I have come up with a great idea to rid cities of pigeons. I think that the pigeons should be fed bird feed laced with contraceptives. I wouldn't think it too hard to invent such a thing. As you can tell, pigeons are another thing I find not appealing about living in the city.

Well, I titled this "bear with me" and I hope you just quit reading if you weren't interested. I head for back to the U.S. in five days, and am looking forward to seeing family and friends.

Love, Mary