10 reasons to visit… Geneva
When I tell people that I lived in Geneva for five months during my Erasmus year, most say ‘Geneva, yeah…I’ve been to the airport,’ and I have to confess that I was once amongst them. The city as far as I was concerned was a necessary stop on the way towards my most adored pastime (snowboarding), and little else. Although not high up on most students’ list of places to spend a considerable amount of time, due to its costliness and largely conservative culture, I managed to find a host of affordable enjoyments in which you can partake, if ever stuck on a flight transfer or, you know, you actually decide to visit.
Switzerland has three official languages – French, German and Italian. The language predominantly spoken in Geneva is French – don’t forget to learn a little before you go…
1. Lac Léman (pronounced “lemon” in a French-sounding accent)
A beautiful body of water 73km long that is flanked by the Jura mountains to the North and the Alps to the South. On a clear, crisp, winter’s day you can see the snowy summit of breath-taking Mont Blanc, which I can assure you, is the best cure for any heaviness of heart. If you buy a transport pass, it includes trips from one side to the other (at the narrower, city end) – just imagine if that were your daily commute! The lake is great for running around, swimming in and looking at from a variety of locations. Parks worth a visit along the banks are: ‘Mon Repos’ and the ‘Jardin Botanique’ on the Rive Gauche, or ‘La Grange’ on the Rive Droite.
A view from the Rive Gauche over to the snow-capped Alps
2. Buvette des Bains des Pâquis, Quai du Mont Blanc
It is here that you can combine two of the most Swiss of pastimes: the eating of fondue, by a lake. Although the summer menu doesn’t offer this cheese and wine based delight, the atmosphere of the place is still something to enjoy. If you don’t fancy eating, you can also indulge in a Hammam or massage, or depending on how brave you’re feeling, jump straight in the lake. I went in in December, which I would highly recommend!
3. The ‘brocante’ at Plaine de Plainpalais
Every Wednesday and Saturday, and every first Sunday of the month, the Plaine de Plainpalais holds one of Switzerland’s largest flea markets. From old postcards to candelabras, fur coats to vintage skis, treasures abound. Food stalls selling many different international delights of various savoury and sweet description, and you could easily spend a whole morning trawling through the crates of CDs and photographs. Bargain brocante hunting!
4. The Palais de Nations
The UN offer tours in 15 different languages, through the hallways and into the conference rooms where the world’s wrongs are put to rights. The complex is centred around President Woodrow Wilson’s ‘League of Nations’ building from the 1920s, and the view out onto the lake is in itself pretty inspiring. All in all, a worthwhile experience.
Conference Room XX designed by Miquel Barceló
5. International Red Cross and Crescent Museum
The Red Cross was founded in Geneva in 1863 with a view to offering support and relief to wounded soldiers. Since then, the organisation has grown to protect victims of international and domestic conflict. This museum was harrowing and heart-warming at the same time, with so many first-person sources, and an impressive interactive learning facility.
6. Proximity to ski resorts
Ok, arguably this isn’t a reason to visit Geneva, but it’s definitely something that’s great about the city. There are 23 resorts within an hour’s drive, making a weekend break in the mountains a perfectly viable option. If you’re wanting to go further afield, many companies run regular bus services from the airport, which is only a ten-minute efficiently-run Swiss train ride away from the centre.
7. Cathédrale St. Pierre
Situated on the hill of the beautiful old town of Geneva, this Cathedral has a spectacular panoramic view of the city and the mountains that lie beyond. The cathedral itself is an impressive structure, and inside lies the chair of Jean Calvin, one of the pivotal figures of the 16th century Protestant Reformation.
8. CERN
Whilst living in Geneva, I was lucky enough to attend a CERN open day and it thoroughly amazed and confused me. The European Centre for Nuclear Research is a complicated network of warehouses and research buildings that give the appearance of a large village, oh, and there’s a 27km underground Large Hadron Collider too. The visit was more science than I have learnt in my whole life, squished into an afternoon, and I left frazzled but fascinated!
The Compact Linear Collider
9. Ice Hockey
I will confess that I was already an ice hockey fan before moving to Geneva, but watching Genève Servette play really entrenched my love for the sport. The atmosphere at a game is instantly electric because not only are the fans excited, but also cold, so everyone shouts and jumps right from the get go. The team are definitely worth watching too – this last season they made it to the semi-final of the Swiss National Championships where they had to play ZSC Lions seven times, and unfortunately lost out on a finals place only in the last game.
10. Carouge
This little market town, south of the city, is full of boutiques and hosts a variety of themed markets throughout the year. There are the regular stalls selling meat, cheese, fruit and veg, but it’s worth going at Christmas time to get a sense of the community. Another favourite was when I was there in October and they had a sheep-shearing demonstration and a petting zoo, complete with a show where a sheepdog herded some geese. #Switzerweird
Have you been to Geneva? Share your own reasons to visit in the comments – and remember, we’re always open to suggestions for new places to feature!
Lucy
Learning Mandarin: Never call your mother a horse, and other tips
Cameron’s spending a couple of weeks with us here at EuroTalk for work experience. In today’s blog post, he explains why he chose to learn one of the world’s most difficult languages, and gives his suggestions for anyone who’s thinking about taking up the challenge.
Are you learning Mandarin? What drew you to the language? And do you have any tips of your own to share?
Mandarin is recognised as one of the hardest languages to learn in the world, but with great difficulty comes great reward, as Mandarin is also one of the most useful languages in the world. Mandarin is so useful because it is spoken by almost 15 percent of the earth’s population natively, which is almost 1 billion people, and this figure does not include non-native speakers like myself. Also, China is one of the economic and industrial giants of the 21st century, and it’s still growing. Therefore Mandarin is very useful if you want to do business with the people involved in the global superpower that is China. As well as the practical reasons, Mandarin is also a great language to learn for cultural reasons, because, as you probably know, when learning any language, the culture of that country comes hand in hand, and China has a fascinating culture with a rich history.
Furthermore, if you learn Mandarin, that adds an extra incentive to make a trip to China to practise your newfound passion, and what’s a better way to spend your holidays than walking the great wall of China or paying a visit to the Terracotta Army? Additionally, if you’re the kind of person who relishes a new challenge, Mandarin is the perfect language for you, because, as I previously stated, it’s one of the hardest languages to learn in the world. On top of this, Mandarin will also appeal to you arty types out there in the form of calligraphy; this is a form of Chinese writing that involves painting the characters onto special paper called Xuanzhi (宣紙).
The most important thing to remember when learning Mandarin is not to get overwhelmed by the vast number of characters in the language; in fact I wouldn’t even worry about characters until you become more advanced in the language. Instead, begin by focusing on the oral side of the language, in particular, the pronunciation of words. In Mandarin pronunciation is key, for example, the word ‘ma’ can be said in four different ways and means four different things, so be careful not to call your mother a horse by pronouncing this word wrong!
A good thing to use to mark your progress of learning Mandarin is the HSK exams. These exams are held once a month and there are numerous different levels to work through, ranging from beginners exams to exams for people who are almost fluent, as well as the added bonus that they are recognised qualifications throughout China.
Good luck!
Cameron
If you’re interested in learning Mandarin, you can get started completely free with uTalk for iOS. Enjoy!
10 reasons to visit… Kiev
A couple of months ago, I spent a few days in the Ukrainian city of Kiev, which turned out to be a fascinating and occasionally surprising place to visit. So here, in no particular order, are my top ten reasons to go and check it out for yourself.
1. It’s so cheap!
Probably one of the highlights of spending five days in Kiev was figuring out how much we’d just paid for each meal, trip etc… After eating a ridiculously large lunch at the fantastic Vagon, including drinks, appetisers and dessert, we realised it only cost £15 for two people. And even better, you can ride the Metro for about 10p (regardless of distance), take buses all over the city for 10p and ride the Funicular for about 20p. Taxis tend to charge you a flat, tourist rate of 100 hyrynas, which is still only around £5 to get from the airport to the city.
2. Chill out on the beach
Yep, there’s a beach. If you cross the bridge to the other side of the river, there’s a proper sandy beach where locals go to soak up the (surprisingly hot) sun. You can abseil from the top of the hill down to the beach, bungee jump from the bridge, swim in the river, or just sunbathe and eat ice creams that cost you less than 50p.
3. Crazy nightlife
Ukrainians seem to like to party, with lots of booze and dancing! Coyote Ugly is a favourite spot where you can smoke shisha, drink vodka shots, dance on the bar, and still come away with change from £20. However, be warned that if you ask for water in a British accent, you’re likely to come away with yet another (unwanted) shot of vodka! Apparently Arena City (quite central) is also worth a look with several different bars and outdoor seating areas.
4. Maidan square
Maidan is the city’s central square and home to some of the most recognisable statues and monuments. During our visit, it was also home to numerous barricades – many built from rubble, rubbish, tyres and whatever else was to hand. There were also many burned-out cars and even buildings which had been burned out by the police during the recent conflict. People had even pulled up the cobblestones from the ground and used them to throw during the riots. Here and in Khreschatik street you’ll also find lots of memorials to people who died during the revolution.
5. Take a trip to the world’s most famous nuclear disaster site
Admittedly this might not be on every tourist’s to-do list, but it certainly was on mine! You can take a day-trip to Chernobyl for around £100 per person, which includes an extremely well-organised bus trip to the town, lunch, fully-guided tour by really excellent guides and the amazing opportunity to take pictures by the reactor and in the deserted town of Pripyat, with its famous funfair, which was never opened to the citizens of the town before it was evacuated in 1986.
6. Brunch at Koritsa
I don’t know if this place is particularly famous, but it should be, for its awesome brunches with eggs, pancakes, cake and whatever else, plus juice and coffee for less than £15 for two people. Also try Vagon for its fantastic tagines, Varenichnaya for Ukrainian specialities (Vareniky are ravioli-esque dumplings) or Puzata Hata, which is a cafeteria-style chain that sells Ukrainian food by weight.
7. Take the Funicular up the hill
If you read Liz’s post a few months ago about her trip to Naples, you’ll remember she had a trip up the hill on the ‘funicolare’. Well this is pretty much the same thing… A carriage which takes you up the side of the hill for the eye-watering price of 20p. When you’re at the top, you can enjoy an amazing view of the city and river, as well as the park (albeit with very spiky grass) and one of the more surreal monuments – the archway representing friendship between Russia and Ukraine… The less said about that the better, maybe. Try a Kvas which is a really, really strange drink – something like a very sweet, non-alcoholic beer.
8. Beserabka market
This is a covered market just off Khreshatyk (the main street) and is a great place to wander around and see a range of really great quality fruit, caviar, salami, cheese and lard (which is strangely popular here…). Just be aware that the vendors will do the hard-sell on you even if you don’t speak Russian. We walked through with no intention of buying anything and came away with a jar of caviar and a block of cheese without even realising what was happening!
9. Pechersk Lavra
This landmark translates as something like the Monastery of the Caves, and is a particularly unique site, where you can spend at least a whole afternoon. It’s a complex of various different churches, as well as the crypts below where you can see the mummified bodies of saints by candlelight. The architecture here is particularly spectacular, with a myriad of golden domes, not to mention a great view of the city.
10. Sightseeing all the monuments around the city
There are loads of different statues and buildings around the city that are worth seeing. Climb the hill to see the St Andrew Church (and an amazing view), visit the St Sophia Cathedral (one of the Seven Wonders of Ukraine, apparently) and several other cathedrals, churches and more…
Don’t forget to download our free app, uTalk, and learn the basics in Russian or Ukrainian (or both!) before you leave – not many people in Kiev speak English, so you may find knowing a few words can make a huge difference.
And if anyone has any other tips or reasons to visit Kiev, please let us know in the comments!
Alex (with thanks to Gianfranco for the photos)
Which language are you learning? (Win an iPad mini!)
**** The survey is now closed. Thank you so much to everyone who took part. Congratulations to our lucky winner, Konstantia Sakellariou! ****
Calling all language learners, past, present and future! We want to hear from you… Which language(s) are you learning (or would like to learn), and why? What makes people give up? And how important is it to learn a little of the local language before you travel to another country?
We’d love to hear from you; the survey only takes a couple of minutes to fill in (we’ve checked) and to say thank you, we’ll enter you into a prize draw to win an iPad mini, pre-installed with our app, uTalk, in the language of your choice.
This is a two-part research project. Part 2 will be available soon and we’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Thanks for your time 🙂
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10 Reasons to Visit… Pittsburgh
We love sharing our reasons to visit different places around the world, but we also enjoy hearing from you. Is there somewhere we’ve missed that you want everyone to know about?
Today we’re hearing from Emily Nemchick, who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her top ten reasons to visit the city.
1. The Museums
Although many Londoners might baulk at having to pay to enter Pittsburgh’s museums, they are well worth a visit if you’re in town. Pittsburgh’s Carnegie museums offer a whole day’s worth of fun for art or history lovers. The Andy Warhol museum is also worth looking up for pop art fans, and the Mattress Factory is the perfect day trip for enthusiasts of quirky and imaginative art installations.
2. Mt. Washington
Mt. Washington offers some of the best views of Pittsburgh’s downtown, rivers and gorgeous skyline. Though it has a reputation as a rust-belt city, Pittsburgh’s setting at the confluence of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers makes for some extremely worthwhile vantage points from Mt. Washington’s overlook. Plus, if the season is right, Mt. Washington has some pretty darned good ice cream, too.
3. The Three Rivers Heritage Trail
Anyone who likes to bike or hike should definitely give Pittsburgh a go. Not only does it have trails aplenty, it boasts a biking trail that stretches from downtown Pittsburgh all the way to Washington D.C. For less adventurous bikers or those questing for a quiet stroll, there are also shorter riverside trails, which are a great way to see Pittsburgh whilst enjoying a bit of nature.
4. Local Cuisine (Pierogies!)
Pittsburgh has strong Polish heritage, and as such a local favourite is pierogies. If that isn’t your thing, there are still countless local restaurants offering a range of tasty cuisines. There are great places scattered all over town. Try Primanti Bros for a real taste of traditional Pittsburgh fare – their specialty is sandwiches with chips (French fries) and coleslaw inside the sandwich. It’s pretty decent, actually.
5. Pirates, Penguins and Steel
Not too many actual pirates or penguins unfortunately, but Pittsburgh’s sports teams might make up for the lack if you’re into American football, baseball or ice hockey at all. Pittsburgh’s PNC Park is a huge sports stadium which is a great place to catch a game if you’re in the Burgh during baseball season.
6. The Strip District
This is my absolute favourite place to be in Pittsburgh. The Strip District isn’t as naughty as it sounds, but it’s a great place to spend the afternoon nonetheless. The Strip is a long street boasting specialty cheese stores, coffee shops, fishmongers, butchers, baked goods, spices, open fruit and veg markets and a ton of great bars and restaurants. Anything you want to buy, you can buy in the Strip. It’s also a great place just to window shop and hang out.
7. Phipps Conservatory
Pittsburgh not only has awesome museums but a pretty nifty conservatory chock full of gorgeous flowers and plants. The exhibits change with the seasons, but they are always worth a visit.
8. The South Side
Anyone in search of some nightlife should check out the South Side, home to the happiest happy hours, the hippest clubs (I would assume from their long lines on Saturday nights) and the hoppiest bar hops (I wanted to keep that going there, but seriously, good bars). The South Side is a great place to go out to dinner, grab a few drinks or have a night out on the town affordably.
9. Station Square
Station Square is a fun place to check out some nice boutiques or head to a fancy restaurant. In the summer, it’s also the ideal place to break up a bike ride with a rest and a drink, because it’s right on the South Side bike trail. You can even roll your sightseeing into one and hop on the Incline (cable car) down from Mt. Washington. Pittsburgh is pretty pocket-sized, so it’s a great place to explore on foot, and Station Square is a fun and convenient addition to any itinerary.
10. Breweries
I confess, I saved the best until last. Pittsburgh is the home of many fantastic breweries, and locally brewed beer is pretty epic. Church Brew Works is a must-see as a brewery built inside a converted church, East End Brewing Co. has some tasty seasonal brews, and even whiskey fans can enjoy Pittsburgh’s locally distilled whiskey at Wigle.
It may not be the most glamorous city, but Pittsburgh has tried hard to change its traditional image as a rust-belt city and is regarded as one of America’s most livable cities. It’s guaranteed to keep tourists happy for days too. Stop by if you get a chance!
By Emily Nemchick, English expat and happy Pittsburgh resident.
Website: http://emilynemchick.weebly.com/
Blog: http://londontopittsburgh.wordpress.com/
Do get in touch with us if you’d like to share a ’10 reasons’ post of your own, or you have a suggestion for where we should cover next.
