More on Geneva

After lunch, i walked down to the shore of Lake Geneva and watched a bit of a water skiing show and some dragon boat races. There actually was a bit of a crowd but i take that as more due to the unseasonably warm and humid weather than the excitement of either particular event. (For those of you who thought the dresses could stay home, I am glad I brought both as the jeans and the tops I have for dinner when we start hiking are way too warm in this weather!) Spent the afternoon walking more of the old city and came upon a monument to Protestantism I am still the puzzling over. It is a three city block long wall with all sorts of what I guess are Protestant milestones. There are smaller figures, including Roger Williams one of the early American church leaders, carved in concrete about twice life size and then there are four figures four times lifesize, including Calvin and Knox.



The really confusing part is that the Mayflower charter is on the wall (in English) and is next to a motif of John Knox lecturing Mary Stuart. History must be taught differently here because I thought that the Mayflower charter and the religious freedom sought by the first colonists were rather universally acknowledged as something good and the jury was still out 400+ years after the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Finished up the day with both a carillon and an organ concert. Seems the Cathedral has weekly guest cariolineers who perform starting 5 pm and then guest organists who start at 6. As a cariollon is best heard outside, everyone gathers in the square sitting and listening for 45 minutes and then moves inside for the organist. The week's cariolineer is Japanese and is not the first Japanese citizen I have heard perform on a carillon. As carillons are definitely European, this is a bit strange. He performed music from The Nutcracker and finished with the Can-Can. The organist was from Montreal and played a series including Bach and Schumann. Both concerts were very well attended.