#17 From Boston to Geneva and the Psychedelic Toilet - October 1, 2004
Curious now, after that headline, eh?
I thought so. Well you have to wait a little, we are starting this week's report in Boston where I spend a busy weekend prior to my departure to Europe. This past Friday I attended, once again, the Beacon Hill vs. Back Bay baseball game at the Boston Common - this time Beacon Hill barely squeezed out a win, with a 1-point difference. I met up with my former Chiron colleague Allen Izu and his daughter Alane, who is attending Harvard, after the game, and we had a nice get-together at the Cheers Bar (http://www.cheersboston.com/).
On Saturday, I headed down to Cape Cod to Yarmouthport to see my cousins who were visiting from upstate New York. I got to meet the newest member of the family, an absolutely cute little guy named William Henry, also known as Liam, and I got to see my favorite dog Stanley - we renewed our friendship with a nice walk around the local cranberry bog (For a nice photo of a bog see this website (http://gonewengland.about.com/library/users/uccranbog.htm). My cousin Barbara and I headed for the Edward Gorey Museum, which celebrates the life and works of American author, illustrator, playwright, set and costume designer Edward Gorey. The man was a truly prodigious and original artist, but also a packrat, which makes for an nice museum (http://www.goreyography.com/west/west.htm). We had to rinse the dust off afterwards by going for a frappe at famous Captain Frosty's. Yumm!!
Sunday morning, I participated yet in another race, this time the Four Seasons Run for Hope, which benefited the Massachusetts Cancer Center Pediatric Unit. Thanks to many of you I raised $500 (exactly my fundraising goal). Merci Bien!! I also put on, as promised, a stunningly stellar performance with a solid 27.4 minutes for 3 Miles. In addition, I also won a lobster dinner from Legal Seafoods at the raffle (they are going to ship some live lobster to me - I generally prefer my food dead, I am not certain how to deal with this.......). And then off I went to Geneva on Sunday. I slept on the plane, wonder why....
What can I say about Geneva - absolutely stunning city! Overlooking a lake, with the Mont Blanc in the background (http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/), home of the United Nations, very international, everyone speaks English (phew! my French is rather rusty at this point). My hotel is brandnew (actually they had their open house this week - I had to prevent folks from trying to see my room...) and is located two short blocks from the lake front. Very modern, the Swiss love modern designs, and it took me some time to figure out all the conveniences in my little suite. As stunning as the city is, so are its prices - dinners on average run at least 30-35$ a person, and I am not talking about a swanky place. Of course the first thing I had to do is to visit the chocolatiers, and sample the absolutely phenomenal chocolates. After I recovered from the diabetic coma that followed, I decided to explore the old city with its wonderful cobblestone streets, quaint restaurants, galleries, antique shops and the Cathedrale St. Pierre (interestingly enough there is a porn store right next to it). The cathedral was built in 1160, and affords a stunning view of the lake and surrounding mountains (Jean Calvin preached here!)(http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-cathedral.html).
I ended up meeting my new friend Matt Leese, a chemist from Bath, UK and fellow conference attendee, on top of the cathedral, and together we did explore the Old Town (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-old-town.html), had some fondue and had a look at the flower clock (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-flower-clock.html), as well as the famous 140-meter-tall "Jet D'Eau" (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-jet.html).
Tuesday I had to show up for the conference at the PalExpo, where 2200 cancer specialist congregated - I quickly made some new friends, and we braved the event together. Generally the conference is well organized, our conference badges allow us to take buses and trains in and around Geneva for free (which is good considering that a cab from my hotel to the conference center would go for about 30$ one way (not because it is far, mind you). The bus ride every day interestingly enough goes by the United Nations with its famous "Broken Chair" - a massive sculpture of a chair that is missing a leg, which is a strangely poignant memorial to the victims of landmines that was erected to mark the banning of those horribly indiscriminate weapons. Interestingly one of my stops along the way is "Vermont". The conference has been great, but exhausting - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, plus lots of networking.
The weather has been very pleasant and sunny all week - today I ended up having the first roasted chestnuts, fall is in the air here as well!
With a whole set of new friends, among them Rashmi, who has for the first time in her life left India and got on a plane, we have been exploring the city in the evenings. Tuesday night was quite exciting, as the whole conference posse descended on the Old Town to find something to eat. We ended up inviting a group of folks to join us at a place called "Mortimer" - we assumed they were fellow oncologists - only to discover that they were all Canadian diplomats (each one lived in a different EU city) attending a migration conference. They were quite a funny bunch, and it was an unforgettable evening. The best thing though that Mortimer had to offer was the "psychedelic toilet". After several people emerged from the restrooms giggling, I decided to explore the place myself. At first the restroom appeared quite normal, and matched the French feel of the place, however the water tank featured a panel with flashing lights and "options". After I curiously pressed "veuillez rinser" or maybe it was the disinfection button, the toilet got psychedelic on me. I swear, I had only one beer and nothing else, but the toilet began to shift shapes - the seat went from round to oval to round, kept moving around and making noise. I just about fell over laughing - I have never seen anything like it! I was too afraid to push any other buttons fearing the whole thing might do even weirder stuff. If you ever come to Geneva, you have to stop by Mortimer. Their food is not too shabby either.
Well, the conference will end tomorrow, I just got back from a reception at the very futuristically designed Crowne Plaza Hotel next to the Conference Center, had dinner, and now am heading for a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow I will catch a train to Germany to visit my brother, and celebrate his birthday with him on Saturday.
Return to Boston on Monday.
Au revoir mes amis, je vais retourner la prochaine semaine!
Amicalement,
Pet:)
I thought so. Well you have to wait a little, we are starting this week's report in Boston where I spend a busy weekend prior to my departure to Europe. This past Friday I attended, once again, the Beacon Hill vs. Back Bay baseball game at the Boston Common - this time Beacon Hill barely squeezed out a win, with a 1-point difference. I met up with my former Chiron colleague Allen Izu and his daughter Alane, who is attending Harvard, after the game, and we had a nice get-together at the Cheers Bar (http://www.cheersboston.com/).
On Saturday, I headed down to Cape Cod to Yarmouthport to see my cousins who were visiting from upstate New York. I got to meet the newest member of the family, an absolutely cute little guy named William Henry, also known as Liam, and I got to see my favorite dog Stanley - we renewed our friendship with a nice walk around the local cranberry bog (For a nice photo of a bog see this website (http://gonewengland.about.com/library/users/uccranbog.htm). My cousin Barbara and I headed for the Edward Gorey Museum, which celebrates the life and works of American author, illustrator, playwright, set and costume designer Edward Gorey. The man was a truly prodigious and original artist, but also a packrat, which makes for an nice museum (http://www.goreyography.com/west/west.htm). We had to rinse the dust off afterwards by going for a frappe at famous Captain Frosty's. Yumm!!
Sunday morning, I participated yet in another race, this time the Four Seasons Run for Hope, which benefited the Massachusetts Cancer Center Pediatric Unit. Thanks to many of you I raised $500 (exactly my fundraising goal). Merci Bien!! I also put on, as promised, a stunningly stellar performance with a solid 27.4 minutes for 3 Miles. In addition, I also won a lobster dinner from Legal Seafoods at the raffle (they are going to ship some live lobster to me - I generally prefer my food dead, I am not certain how to deal with this.......). And then off I went to Geneva on Sunday. I slept on the plane, wonder why....
What can I say about Geneva - absolutely stunning city! Overlooking a lake, with the Mont Blanc in the background (http://www.geneve-tourisme.ch/), home of the United Nations, very international, everyone speaks English (phew! my French is rather rusty at this point). My hotel is brandnew (actually they had their open house this week - I had to prevent folks from trying to see my room...) and is located two short blocks from the lake front. Very modern, the Swiss love modern designs, and it took me some time to figure out all the conveniences in my little suite. As stunning as the city is, so are its prices - dinners on average run at least 30-35$ a person, and I am not talking about a swanky place. Of course the first thing I had to do is to visit the chocolatiers, and sample the absolutely phenomenal chocolates. After I recovered from the diabetic coma that followed, I decided to explore the old city with its wonderful cobblestone streets, quaint restaurants, galleries, antique shops and the Cathedrale St. Pierre (interestingly enough there is a porn store right next to it). The cathedral was built in 1160, and affords a stunning view of the lake and surrounding mountains (Jean Calvin preached here!)(http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-cathedral.html).
I ended up meeting my new friend Matt Leese, a chemist from Bath, UK and fellow conference attendee, on top of the cathedral, and together we did explore the Old Town (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-old-town.html), had some fondue and had a look at the flower clock (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-flower-clock.html), as well as the famous 140-meter-tall "Jet D'Eau" (http://switzerland.isyours.com/e/guide/pictures/geneva-jet.html).
Tuesday I had to show up for the conference at the PalExpo, where 2200 cancer specialist congregated - I quickly made some new friends, and we braved the event together. Generally the conference is well organized, our conference badges allow us to take buses and trains in and around Geneva for free (which is good considering that a cab from my hotel to the conference center would go for about 30$ one way (not because it is far, mind you). The bus ride every day interestingly enough goes by the United Nations with its famous "Broken Chair" - a massive sculpture of a chair that is missing a leg, which is a strangely poignant memorial to the victims of landmines that was erected to mark the banning of those horribly indiscriminate weapons. Interestingly one of my stops along the way is "Vermont". The conference has been great, but exhausting - 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, plus lots of networking.
The weather has been very pleasant and sunny all week - today I ended up having the first roasted chestnuts, fall is in the air here as well!
With a whole set of new friends, among them Rashmi, who has for the first time in her life left India and got on a plane, we have been exploring the city in the evenings. Tuesday night was quite exciting, as the whole conference posse descended on the Old Town to find something to eat. We ended up inviting a group of folks to join us at a place called "Mortimer" - we assumed they were fellow oncologists - only to discover that they were all Canadian diplomats (each one lived in a different EU city) attending a migration conference. They were quite a funny bunch, and it was an unforgettable evening. The best thing though that Mortimer had to offer was the "psychedelic toilet". After several people emerged from the restrooms giggling, I decided to explore the place myself. At first the restroom appeared quite normal, and matched the French feel of the place, however the water tank featured a panel with flashing lights and "options". After I curiously pressed "veuillez rinser" or maybe it was the disinfection button, the toilet got psychedelic on me. I swear, I had only one beer and nothing else, but the toilet began to shift shapes - the seat went from round to oval to round, kept moving around and making noise. I just about fell over laughing - I have never seen anything like it! I was too afraid to push any other buttons fearing the whole thing might do even weirder stuff. If you ever come to Geneva, you have to stop by Mortimer. Their food is not too shabby either.
Well, the conference will end tomorrow, I just got back from a reception at the very futuristically designed Crowne Plaza Hotel next to the Conference Center, had dinner, and now am heading for a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow I will catch a train to Germany to visit my brother, and celebrate his birthday with him on Saturday.
Return to Boston on Monday.
Au revoir mes amis, je vais retourner la prochaine semaine!
Amicalement,
Pet:)
posted by My Boston at
2:43 PM
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