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| Brian and I decided to not drive into Geneva’s town centre. The camp was about 3 to 4 miles from south tip of the lake, so walked it. Both Brian and I wanted to go to Geneva for a couple of reasons. The first was that we are both fans of The Champions (the 60’s super powered spy show). The shows characters work for an organisation called Nemesis, which has it’s head quarters in Geneva. The show’s credits has the three main characters against a blue sky with the Jet d’Eau (Water Jet) in the background. The white of the jet against the strong blue sky was a very effective visual. So, we wanted to see the Jet for ourselves. The second reason was that Geneva is obviously famous as a neutral place for diplomacy and Swiss banks. The walk into Geneva was quiet and uneventful. Like most cities, until you get to the tourist area the city is mostly apartment buildings, shops and office buildings. Once you get to the river Rhône (at the south end of the lake), Geneva changes to a posh tourist haven, with high end shops, hotels and kicking marina. Most of the shops are south of the river and continues along the lower edge of the lake. The Jet d’Eau was first built in 1886 as a pressure release system for the water pumping company located therer. To celebrate the 600 anniversary of the Swiss confederation in 1891, the Jet was moved to it current location and the press increased to send the jet to around 300 feet. This is the height seen in the credits to The Champions. In 1994, they changed the jet was again pimped to send the jet higher (now over 450 feet). Unfortunately the cloudy skies detracted from the impact of the water jet. Viewing a white jet against a white sky was a bit of a let down, when our expectation was a view similar to the TV show’s credits. |
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