Geneva and the Reformation

So apparently in Switzerland you actually eat meals at reasonable times (unlike everywhere else we have been in Europe). We had noticed this is Bern when we were trying to find something for lunch and only just found a restaurant with the kitchen still open at 1.45. However, it hit us a bit more this morning when we actually had to be downstairs and ready for breakfast before 9am as the kitchen closed then. This did mean that we were out of the hostel earlier on in the day and could see more of Geneva.

When we were in Bern, you could see how the cities history had been shaped by the reformation (well the small bit we saw in the museum anyway). Here in Geneva the history has been influenced even more so. Today was a day of Reformation history.

The first thing we did was wander (quite slowly) towards the town centre and the park which contains the Reformation wall. It was quite an impressively big wall in a nice park. The words 'Post Tenebrus Lux' were written across the top of the wall and there were the statues of Farel, Calvin, Beze and Knox in the centre of the wall. On either side there was a bit of a timeline (mainly in French) of the Reformation and separate from the wall there were monuments for Luther and Zwingli.

From there we found some food (which happened to be a whole chicken from the market which we shortly demolished in a very messy manner) and made our way to St. Peter's Cathedral which is the church where Calvin did most of his preaching. It was a pretty impressive church with two towers open for the public. We climbed up to them (and up LOTS of stairs) and enjoyed the view which was really great... in one direction we could see Lake Geneva and in the other direction we could see the mountains.

We also found a museum which was all about the Reformation. Even though it was really full of information it was really interesting to read and learn more about the history of our Church and the history behind what we believe. Most of the museum was dedicated to the 16th and 17th centuries but there was also some of it that contained more recent history.

Tonights a bit of an early night, Jemma has had a headache all day so she's gone to bed nice and early and I'm sitting in the main area so that I have internet and drawing a picture of the alps that we drove through coming into Switzerland.

Thats all for now... photos will come later when we have the connector for the camera

xxx