Tuesday in Geneva and a selection of photos

R and I decided to start our exercise regimen this week. It's hot and dry in the afternoons with the hottest period between 13:00h and 16:00h. As a result, we start our days early with a morning hillside walk and then end the day with an evening walk after dinner. Besides fresh air, the walks up and down are good for digestion and toning up the legs and thighs.

TUESDAY
While R visited with former colleagues in Geneva, I took a guided tour at Palais des Nations. The tour was excellent—our tour guide holds a Master's in international relations from Tufts. What a small world! He led us through as much of the tour as he could...though many conference rooms were off limits because the UN was hosting labor conferences over the next three weeks. We visited the General Assembly Hall (see photo with flags) and another conference room where a meeting on labor issues was taking place. We observed/listened to the conference proceedings from atop the public observation deck. I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned a few things too.

• The UN has six distinct bodies
• UN has 72,000 civil servants worldwide. That number only accounts for the people who are responsible for getting things done and for carrying out its duties...it doesn't include diplomats or delegates.
• Six official languages are used at the UN for its intergovernmental meetings and documents: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. If a delegate does not speak/understand any of these languages, they may bring their own interpreter who will interpret from that delegate's language (let's say Portuguese to English). Then the UN interpreters will translate from the standard, which is English to each of the other 5 languages. Although there is sometimes a lag, the interpretation is pretty much simultaneous. Our tour guide explained that there are three Chinese interpreters..and they each take turns speaking and writing down what is said
• Taiwan and Palestine are treated as special entities (with Taiwan officially being treated as a province of China) by the UN, although certain member countries do recognize Taiwan as its own sovereign country
• Each member state has special missions to the UN which is separate than each member states' embassies and consulates
• Peacocks roam about Parc Ariana at Palais des Nations

WEDNESDAY
The horse farmer erected electric wiring around the parameters of our garden to fence in the areas we don't want the horses to eat. Les chevaux are partial to the bark from our poplar trees as well as to old, stale bread..the harder the bread, the better. It'll take the horses three weeks to mow the tall grass in the front yard. I'll post some pictures of the horses soon.

THURSDAY
I feel lazy today but still went for our morning walk. For lunch, we had grape leaves, marinated olives from the market, and leftover galettes noires. Snacking on cherries from our neighbors right now and contemplating spending some time working the garden. Maybe.

Here are some pictures from the past week.

1 - R at Fort l'Ecluse, after we climbed 1,165 steps
2 - Fort l'Ecluse
3 - Me, trying archery for the first time
4 - Le chapeau de gendarme
5 - R sitting down for cafe au lait at Le Tram Bar in a village nearby. Good coffee, cute dog, great day
6 - Fat content cat sitting on a music box in Geneva, at Rue de la confederation
7 - General Assembly Hall at Palais des Nations, in Geneva
8 - Tree-ripened cherries from neighbors down the street. Everyday, we pass by their house and two days ago, we introduced ourselves and got a gift of cherries
9 - Weekly farmer's market. Today we got 2kg of apricots, 3 kinds of cheeses (goat and cow), and 10€ worth of olives)