The steamship Savoie and Geneva views

Dwight Peck's personal website

A low-cost present for Kristin's birthday

A relaxing boat ride on the Belle Epoque steamer the Savoie, an excellent shawarma at Abdul's, and a Schumann lieder recital (ooof), 17 June 2013.

You may not find this terribly rewarding unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Our adventure begins in Nyon, Switzerland, waiting for the paddlewheeler to arrive with just time to photograph the lovely Dotto Train, an older F87 model, that's been making the rounds of Nyon for many years.

A great tourist train. Here comes a boat.

It wasn't our boat -- it's the bateau-bus Valais, built in 2008 to replace an earlier boat of the same name.

Here comes ours, the paddlewheel steamer the Savoie (built in 1914, the fifth of Lake Geneva's eight ship steamship fleet)

We've never been on the Savoie, though we admired it at the naval parade off Morges in 2012.

'Savoie' refers to the region of France on the southern side of Lake Geneva (Lac Leman). All of the Lake Geneva boats that ply back and forth across the lake fly the French flag on the bow, and a (gigantic) Swiss flag off the stern.

Leaving Nyon

The Château de Nyon on the hill

Getting settled on the front upper deck

Passing Coppet

Kids on the Coppet pier

Imagine the maintenance and cleaning bills

Approaching Geneva, with the famous Jet d'eau in the centre

The Savoie's first class dining room

The steam engine

The first class lounge

The Salève, the "balcony of Geneva"

The Henry-Dunant making local stops

The Eaux Vives neighborhood of Geneva

Almost there

Passing the Paquis Jetty on the right bank

Swiss radar

The captain and first mate

The second class dining room

Tying up at the Paquis pier

The Simplon is docked alongside

One of the Geneva mouettes (seagulls), frequent ferries around the local docks

The Paquis Express

St-Pierre Cathedral on the far side of the Rhône bridge

A zoom

The Emmanuel Episcopal Church -- we're here for the lieder recital, but we're early.

The Emmanuel church offices. The American church was founded in 1873 and inaugurated by President U. S. Grant in 1877.

Since 1930 the church has hosted the "Library in English" (formerly The American Library), and Kristin was volunteer Chairperson of the Board when I was working here in the early 1990s.

Brings back memories, many of them good.

Time to kill before the recital . . .

. . . but not at the Funny Horse. The Paquis district of Geneva is the "bohemian" part of the city (read "red light district"), but Funny Horse sounds like a misfired attempt to be trendy.