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GENEVA<br />
ime and Geneva are<br />
inexorably linked. The<br />
city is home to the world’s<br />
finest watchmakers,<br />
their horological feats only deemed<br />
worthy to bear the coveted Seal of Geneva<br />
if they have met strict parameters.<br />
Naturally, then, the city shouts of this<br />
proud heritage from its rooftops, on<br />
which advertising hoardings bearing<br />
manufacturers’ prized names (Patek<br />
Philippe, Vacheron Constantin and all)<br />
are loftily positioned so that they are<br />
visible from the beautiful Lac Léman.<br />
Time would also define our stay in<br />
Geneva. At two weeks we had too much<br />
of it, said some of our friends; former<br />
residents of the mountain-backed city.<br />
Yet with only a window of six hours per<br />
day to explore, we also had too little.<br />
Their belief of the former was built on<br />
the fact that as a relatively small city<br />
(just over six square miles), Geneva<br />
is easy to explore over the course of a<br />
weekend – particularly as every hotel<br />
guest is given a complimentary Geneva<br />
Transport Card when they check in,<br />
which permits a free ride on the city’s<br />
public transport network (bus, train,<br />
tram and boat) for the duration of their<br />
stay. The latter thought was expressed<br />
because of Geneva’s enviable location,<br />
which puts France and Italy within<br />
easy reach, not to mention Mont Blanc<br />
and the wider, ample attractions of<br />
Switzerland. As such, day trips from<br />
the city are ripe with adventure.<br />
So why did we only have six hours?<br />
That was on account of the reason we<br />
headed to Geneva in the first place:<br />
our eldest daughter had won a place at<br />
Juilliard’s Summer Performing Arts<br />
programme, which meant we had to<br />
be in the small town of Pont-Céard<br />
(a train-ride from Geneva) at 9am<br />
each morning to drop her off, and at<br />
5pm each afternoon to collect her.<br />
When time is of the essence, it<br />
certainly helps that Switzerland’s trains<br />
run on time. Growing up in the UK you<br />
come to believe that scheduled train<br />
times are a simple matter of guess work,<br />
a wild stab in the dark at when the train<br />
will likely roll in, if it actually rolls in<br />
it all. Here, they leave on the second.<br />
It also helped that our first hotel, Swiss<br />
Luxury Apartments, stands a mere 600<br />
metres from the city’s train station,<br />
worldtravellermagazine.com 37
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