Geneva and Bern

I visited Geneva at the weekend, a very short trip to stay with Schweiker on her residency. I really like Switzerland and I thought I'd share a few small things with you.

Starting with the house

It was a big, posh mini-chateau with a lovely alpine feel - but in the middle of an industrial estate.

And it had a winter garden: a big glassy room for being 'in the garden' in the winter. And the decor was all sparse and a bit european designy mixed in with some contemporary art stuff . . . which is ugly stuff, let's face it. I really liked the shutters on the house and the pillars and the general feeling of functionality: a house that stands strong through harsh winters.

And I found a few thoroughly frosted toms in the garden which I fried for dinner and ate and Rosalie casually pushed aside.

I really like the feel of Switzerland: the mountains really help. Also everything is clean and organised and it's cold and crisp and Christmassy! This is the view from the lido on the lake, that we didn't swim in but had a fondue at the cafe instead! Whoever invented fondue is amazing. I went and collected my spirit burner then a man came around with a whole saucepan of melted cheese, so delicious.

We took a day trip to Bern, which is doubly like Christmas town - apart from with a few gargoyles strangling mermaids . . .

Luckily the beautiful golden haired maidens made up for that.

There was just a sprinkling of snow that day which made it look as if someone had icing sugared the place like a big cake. It was almost too much and I kept saying to Schweiker 'this place is too much!' over and over, which probably got to be a bit much after a while.

There were about a million markets and I invested in the worlds most expensive dolly. The perfect velveteen yellow though right?

And finally I'd just like to share with you the worlds most amazing logo. I can't find anything wrong with it: the swoop, they suave eyes, as if coiffure wasn't an amazing enough word already.