Sunshine! Pigs! Football! Music! Whales!

This weekend I felt as though I had been transported to an entirely different city. As it turns out, summer Geneva is a million times better than regular Geneva (which is also not bad). Friday night I went to a BBQ by the lake, and it was warm for the first time since I've been here. It was gorgeous.

Saturday, a couple of friends and I spent most of our day at the Bains de Paquis, which is basically a concrete pier that you have to pay 2 francs to lie on. It was fabulous!! All sorts of people that you didn't know existed come out of their houses when the sun appears and transform Geneva into a really interesting place. On my way across the lake to watch the football match Saturday night, I was walking across the bridge when I heard oinking. I turned to my left, and there indeed was an adorable little pig wearing blue yarn around his neck, trotting across Pont Mont-Blanc. He followed his owner, a man pushing a baby carriage full of straw, and I learned that the pig's name is Pancetta (only later did I found out what this means...it doesn't bode well for Pancetta). I was a bit disappointed that I didn't have my camera on me at the time, because how often does one see a pig in Geneva? As it turns out, fairly often. As I crossed the same bridge Sunday morning, I half-expected to see Pancetta, but he was nowhere to be seen. Until I passed through the English Gardens, and there he was chowing down! I expect we'll see each other frequently and become friends. After the football match (where my streak of always rooting for the loser continued, sorry Holland), we passed by the Parc des Bastions where the annual fête de la musique was going on. There were more people in the park than I knew lived in the city, all dancing and listening to the different kinds of music on the stages all over the park.

Sunday, however, was the highlight of the weekend. Ever since we spotted them on Saturday from the shore, we knew we must have the whales (pictures to appear soon). The whale boat is a circular motorboat for 2, controlled by a joystick. Also, it looks like a whale. Its basically the coolest thing ever. Saturday afternoon, me and my friends Leah, Philip and Nick (aka Maverick) fulfilled our daylong dream of driving whales around the lake. Even Philip, still recovering from the Dutch loss the previous evening, admitted that it is just not possible to be sad in a whale. We had a great time, until the whale-owner chased us down in his (non-whale) motorboat to yell at us for going outside of whale territory. He was also pretty angry that we had engaged in a brief bout of bumper whales, even though the boats look like they are made precisely for this function.

The lowlight of the weekend was probably also Sunday, Genève Plage. It sounds alot better than it is. In fact, it wouldn't have been so bad (it does have diving boards into the lake, a 50 meter pool, and a big waterslide) if it weren't overrun with families and if more than one lane were devoted to lap swimming. At least one member of the group, Nick, loved Genève Plage, which is not very surprising given his earlier admission that he has not only been to, but thoroughly enjoyed, EuroDisney. His spirits were brought down quickly enough at the football game later that evening where he stupidly allowed me to cheer for Italy, thus causing their demise. (Nick is actually Maltese, but since his country doesn't have enough people to field a football team, he sides with Italy.) I now have my hopes pinned on a secret comeback by the Austrians, who, while already having been eliminated in the 1st round, will have the element of surprise on their side when they show up for the finals.