Geneva (And Europe’s) Cold Weather

It is the middle of winter so I wasn’t expecting warm weather in Geneva, but I wasn’t really expecting this either.  Europe is experiencing extremely cold temperatures.  The weather forecast: more severe cold.  The bitterly cold weather will continue  through the weekend thanks to a dip in the jet stream that has allowed a large area of high pressure to move west from Siberia.

freezing in Geneva

Cold weather gear, check.  Hats, scarves, sweaters, coats, gloves, mittens, long underwear, wool socks, boots, I have been wearing it all.  At once.  While drinking hot tea.  Sitting underneath a blanket.  With the radiators blasting.

The Jet d’Eau is off until further notice for obvious reasons

This weekend,  it was -12 C (10.4 F) when we got on the chair lift to head to the much colder mountaintop.  While the chair lift wasn’t warm, we are lucky because the cold snap hasn’t created major problems for us.  Others have not been so fortunate:

• Occupy Geneva has been disbanded, not because the government is broke it up, but because someone froze to death.

A Death In The Stronghold Of Occupy Geneva

An Eccentric Distantly Related to Occupy Geneva Dead At The Camp

• In Eastern Europe, people got snowed into their cars and almost froze to death on roadsides.  Entire villages and regions are inaccessible.

Courtesy of World Bulletin.net

• In Hungary, people combed through a disused mine’s refuse pile with their bare hands to get coal.

Courtesy of MSNBC/AP

• Hundreds of homeless across Eastern Europe and in Russia have also frozen to death.
• Greece and Bosnia have declared states of emergency.

Courtesy AFP/Getty Images

• London’s Heathrow Airport cancelled half its flights on Sunday.

There have also been some more (and some less) humorous stories about people’s experiences with the cold.

• Our friend from Poland told us that they are leaving their cars running overnight because temperatures are so cold that they won’t start.

• Bosnian snowboarders took advantage of a record snowfall and snowboarded down the streets of Sarajevo. People also snowboarded next to the Colosseum.

• When I opened the paper yesterday, I saw a story about someone who went swimming in Lac Leman (Lake Geneva)!

courtesy of You Tube

• In Belgium, temperatures of -10 C kept intoxilyzers, machines to test motorists’ alcohol levels, from functioning.
  

  courtesy of BBC and AFP

• Cars parked by Lac Leman (Lake Geneva) have frozen in place.  They are stuck because scraping ice off can take the paint with it.  Today, someone told me a story about this happening to an expensive sports car.  The owner elicited professional help to melt the ice so he could get his baby to a garage.

 

Padlocks of Love – “Luccheti d’Amore”

When we were in Copenhagen, Denmark, we walked across the Brygge Broen, a bicycle and pedestrain only bridge.  When I saw these locks, I had to stop and look. I’d read a story about padlocks from the Pont de l’Archevêché on the Seine in Paris. They disappeared in the middle of the night after the city of Paris said they were concerned about their effects on their architectural heritage. People were upset over their disappearance and the locks “magically” reappeared.

Although this custom has allegedly been around since before WWI, it has become much more widespread. An Italian book that was made into a movie Ho Voglia di Te (“I Want You”) was released in 2006 featured the “Luccheti d’Amore”. In Italy, the movie became like Twilight in the U.S. increasing the padlock’s popularity. As the locations for and numbers of padlocks have risen, their notariety has grown. They are now widespread and getting media attention. Some are even listed in travel guides.

Other places where this occurrs include:

• Rome at the Ponte Milvio (Italy)
• Hohenzollern Bridge in Cologne (Germany)
• Ucluelet on a fence of the Wild Pacific Trail (Canada)
• Ponte Vecchio in Florence (Italy)
• Venice’s Rialto Bridge (Italy)
• Luzhkov bridge in Moscow (Russia)
• Pécs (Hungary)
• Mount Huang (China)
• Volodymyrsky Uzviz Bridge in Kiev (Ukraine)
• Tumon Bay (Guam)
• On the Measarski Most in Ljubljana (Slovenia)
• Hiratsuka-shi (Japan)
• Warsaw (Poland)
• Brooklyn Bridge in New York City (USA)
• Fountain in Montevideo (Uraguay)
• Kelvingrove Park, Glascow (Scotland)
• Tower Bridge, London (England)
• Bridges in Riga (Latvia)
• Nomasaki Lighouse on the Chita Peninsula (Japan)
• N Seoul Tower (Korea)
• Wine Train Station in Napa (USA)
• An Overpass in Fengyuan (Taiwan)
• Umeda Sky Building, Osaka (Japan)
• NoDa?

Some people decorate or write on theirs.  50 years!  Everyone should be so lucky.I don’t think that I am a particularly romantic person, but seeing 50 years written on one is really touching. Who knows, maybe we will put one up in our travels? On the other hand, this seems to be the new trendy thing, so maybe we won’t.

I don’t think that I am a particularly romantic person, but seeing 50 years written on one is really touching. Who knows, maybe we will put one up in our travels? On the other hand, this seems to be the new trendy thing, so maybe we won’t.

International Run in Geneva

I found a running group that meets several times a week.  I went for a run yesterday morning and it was delightful. It was also VERY international.  I ran with people from Haiti, the UK, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Hungary, the states and Switzerland.  I’m sure there were more nationalities present, I just didn’t have time to talk to everyone about where they were from.The run was a very nice and varied run through different parts of the city.  We started at the lake, went through a park, passed fields with cows, ran around the UN (as usual, protests were in full swing), in front of embassies, by the train station and back to the lake.  It was a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning.

It is becoming clear that just by virtue of living here, we will be exposed to and have the opportunity to be enriched by people and things from all over the world.