The United Nations and IRCRC Museum

When I decided to move to Switzerland, I was so excited that I would be minutes from Geneva. It is a truly global city that is home to the highest number of international organizations in the world. (It also ranks in the top 10 for financial competitiveness and holds a solid number 5 position for most expensive cities in the world. This means I will probably lose my life savings this year buying $5 bottles of Coke but ~c'est la vie~.)

Last Saturday, I hopped on a train to Geneva with a fellow au pair hoping to take a look at the city and see the United Nations and the Red Cross Museum. I had luckily taken directions for how to get to the United Nations so my first time using the buses wasn't too stressful. The hardest part about public transport here is that it functions based upon the honor system- no one consistently checks your ticket when you enter the station or when you get on the train/bus. (There are random checks on the trains though and if you don't have a ticket it's at least a $100 fine.) There's actually nothing too hard to understand about this unless you happen to be as forgetful as I am and have a hard time remembering to buy a ticket... 

Anyway! We arrived at the United Nations and I realized I have some studying up to do on other countries flags... 

193 nations strong

This was pretty amazing to see. It's so easy to get caught up in our little corners of the world but this was an impressive perspective. The front plaza of the Palace of Nations also features the Broken Chair sculpture which was created to symbolize opposition to land mines and cluster bombs. 

This perspective doesn't quite do it justice but the Broken Chair stands 39 feet tall. Facing the Palace of Nations, it serves as a constant reminder to politicians and visitors of the victims of landmines.

After taking a few pictures, we made our way back to the visitor's entrance for our tour. A security guard from North Carolina checked our passports and gave us visitor's badges. (I tried to make small talk about North Carolina but he was extremely disinterested.) Naturally, the tour started and finished at the UN gift shop. I wanted to buy everything but my favorite item was a canvas duffle bag/sack that featured the UN logo... I had to remind myself that I already overpacked with smaller bags (Dad, you were right about that too) and that as cool as it would be to advertise for the United Nations on all future excursions it wasn't a logical purchase.  

From there, we made our way to the Human Rights Council room. 

Facing the front of the council room

Close up of the ceiling sculpture 

Impressive right? The ceiling was created by Spanish artist Miquel Barcelo and contains multi-colored stalactites that were modeled after the ocean floor. Michael Damiano described it saying "too big to be grasped in its entirety by the human eye, [the ceiling] serves as a metaphor for the world. The spectator can only appreciate the work as a whole by focusing on one section at a time and synthesizing the resulting impressions." Even though your perspective changes as you move around the room, there are many similarities from any angle in which you stand. In the same way, although the people of the world differ in color and perspective, we share some universal values. 

From here, we toured a few other rooms and halls. The campus is quite large and our guide kept reminding us to stay with the group because if we were separated, security would escort us out immediately. One extremely fun fact (brace yourselves) about the campus is that there are peacocks that live there! When Gustave de Revilliod de la Rive bequeathed the land to the City of Geneva in the late 1800s he did so with three conditions: that the park always remain accessible to the public, that he be buried in the park, and that his peacocks could freely roam its grounds. That was pretty cool to see. 

The Council Chamber. Has hosted important meetings including the negations to end the Gulf War in 1991 and the ongoing meetings for the Conference on Disarmament. The gold and sepia murals were painted by artist José Maria Sert to depict the progress of humankind through health, technology, freedom and peace.  

Original symbol of the League of Nations. It contains the 'L' and 'N' for League of Nations and (read backwards) the 'S' and 'N' stand for Société des Nations.

I could go on for awhile about how amazing our tour was but I'm afraid I've already turned this into too much of a history lesson. I would recommend it to anyone though and if you're ever bored, do some research on the League of Nations and it's transformation into the United Nations that we know today. It's really interesting and worth refreshing what you learned in high school... 

After our tour finished we walked across the street to the International Red Cross Red Crescent Museum. The Red Cross was originally founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The main museum is split into three major challenges that the world faces today: Defending Human Dignity, Restoring Family Links, and Reducing Natural Risks. All three were tied together by the Chamber of Witnesses which provided an interactive component in which you would stand in front of or sit with a hologram of one of the witnesses and hear their story. 

Entrance to the Museum

Multiple aspects of the work the Red Cross does were displayed in the three exhibits. It was amazing to see how far their influence extends. My favorite portion of the Museum was the Restoring Family Links exhibit. You walked through rows of cabinets filled with binders and boxes of index cards. The cards included names and information of soldiers and civilians alike that were missing or taken prisoner during wartime. 

Red Cross records

Researching my roots 

The scope of the records they've kept is almost unimaginable. The Red Cross Red Crescent continues to connect missing persons with their families in conflicts that occur today. Also, if you didn't know, the Red Crescent is synonymous with the Red Cross and was included as an official logo when it appeared that the Red Cross might not appeal to non-Christian societies. This organization is another that deserves more research and information than I'm giving it. Again, please do so if you're so inclined :) Also, I promise I'm not getting paid to endorse researching these organizations!

So that concludes the report on my museum visits... All joking aside, I loved the tour and museum visit and was very impressed with both. I had a preference for the United Nations but to each her own :) After leaving the IRCRC Museum, we headed back into Geneva and walked around a bit before grabbing some pizza. 

Jet d'eau in the lake center. One of Geneva's well known symbols that throws 132 gallons of water per second into the air. 

If so inclined, you can walk around the Jet d'eau. Posted signs warn of rapidly changing winds that could send you into the water though. This is as close as we ventured- mostly because it was kind of chilly and we didn't want to finish our evening with wet clothes.

We finished the night with a coffee by the lake. This is a great time to mention that I've become hopelessly addicted to espresso. No one serves drip coffee here and my need for caffeine has forced me to explore the local ways. I have no regrets though, the coffee really is amazing. There are a bunch of small cafes near the lake and we grabbed a free table at one and ordered cappuccinos. Our waiter was trying to be flirty and below is a sample of our exchange:

Waiter: "I like your accent."

Me: "Oh, haha, thanks."

Waiter: "I'm worried about you here, you're too beautiful."

Me: "I'm worried you're trying to steal my money."

Needless to say, I'm making a lot of local friends...

Fancy hotel looking fab at night

Fountain trying to give Italy a run for its money!

We headed back to the train station after a very full day of exploring. I can't wait to get back to Geneva and check out some of the other museums and shops! 

Thanks everyone for reading (hi Mom)!