Geneva fever.

Geneva this July is hot. If it were a human body it would be running a fever of over 38 degrees Celsius! And there was me thinking places like Morocco had a monopoly on sweltering temperatures. Clearly a myth. What makes it especially like an oven here is the lack of wind – plus the lake doesn’t seem to help out cooling the place either; that doesn’t stop folks gathering on the beaches along its shores…

Even the swans are overheating – here they are doing somersaults in the lake to cool down:

The Jet d’Eau is just what’s needed on a day like this. Tourists are attracted to it in droves – just as I always seem to be: I’ve been here many times, but always want to check out the fountain. Such a simple thing, but so central to Geneva’s identity!

That’s all from Geneva folks!

And that was how the last business trip of the first half of this year ended (I hope).

Really rather a busy H1 this year:

• 75 flights;
• 28 countries (33 if we include repeat visits);
• 6 countries visited for the first time (bringing my total up to 90).

Phew. But now – time to lay low for a couple of weeks in Moscow in the run-up to our b-day shindig, and to pack my backpack ahead of my summer holidays!

PS: On the flight back home, I was checking out all the different French, German and Italian cities on the map on the screen in front of me. Of course, many of these – in English – are written the same as they are in the original languages, but still – it felt like I was reading the place names in French, German, Italian… So when I came to Black Forest I was rather taken aback: why the sudden very Anglicized place name? Ah, of course: the map is in English, that’s why! If it was the original, German, Scharzwald, the predominantly English-only-speaking Brits wouldn’t be able to work out that it is indeed the ‘Black Forest’, as it’s known in the English language. Ok that bit’s straightforward; but, then, why are some foreign (to English) place names ‘translated’ into English, while others aren’t – like, say, Bois de Boulogne? Come on, you budding etymologists – what’s the story?