CARTIER CHRONOGRAPH ROADSTER

Geneva (Arpitan: Geneva, IPA: [d?z?n?va]; French: Geneve, IPA: [??n?v]; German: Genf, IPA: [???nf] ; Italian: Ginevra; Romansh: Genevra) is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland (after Zurich) and is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhone River exits Lake Geneva (in French also known as Lac Leman), it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva. While the municipality itself (city center) has a population (as of 31 December 2009) of 185,958, the metropolitan area has 1,240,000 residents, according to a 2007 census. The Greater Geneva Bern area has 2,800,000 residents.

Geneva is a global city, a financial centre, and a worldwide centre for diplomacy and the most important international co-operation centre with New York because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations and the Red Cross. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.

Geneva is located at 46°12' North, 6°09' East, at the south-western end of Lake Geneva, where the lake flows back into the Rhone River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains, the Alps and the Jura.

The altitude of Geneva is 373.6 meters (1,225.7 ft), and corresponds to the altitude of the largest of the Pierres du Niton, two large rocks emerging from the lake which date from the last ice age. This rock was chosen by General Guillaume Henri Dufour as the reference point for all surveying in Switzerland. The second main river of Geneva is the Arve River which flows into the Rhone River just west of the city centre. Mont Blanc can be seen from Geneva and is only an hour's drive from the city centre.

view from the top of Geneva Cathedral

Geneva is the great French city of Switzerland. Situated at the west end of Lac Leman, it juts out into France - indeed, Geneva airport has customs exits into both countries.

I expected Geneva to be beautiful, and it is. It reminded me of Belfast: a large, elegant, predominantly 19th century city surrounded by mountains and giving out onto a lake. And that wasn't all: Geneva was the birthplace of Calvinism, and it is still the capital of western European protestantism. Among the fashionable boutiques and restaurants are bible study shops; the churches are plain and empty, a contrast with neighbouring France.

Geneva Cathedral is probably the most dour and austere large urban church in western Europe, a great, ugly, heartless building staffed by serious men in black suits. Where the altar was is a stand holding a huge Geneva bible, on this day open at St Paul's Epistle to the Romans.

My abiding memory of the city will be the way that people waited to cross the road even if there was no traffic. They stood at the pedestrian crossings and waited for the little man to go green, even if it took several minutes and no car had passed.

It summed up the spirit of the city for me, and it was a relief to drive over the mountains back into shabby, chaotic Catholic France.

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