Au revoir Geneva, Hello Atlanta

The bit about traveling I don’t like is never the being in a foreign city, that part I always love, but the leaving part. The longer I spend in anyone place the more I enjoy it! So, I have a confession, by my final days in Geneva I was really enjoying it and was almost disappointed to leave! This has to be our little secret, but I actually decided Geneva is a lovely place where one could have a very nice and pleasant life! Shhhh, don’t tell my boss! I had my annual performance appraisal with my boss on Friday and you know you have to come up with two personal development objectives for the year. He cheekily suggested that mine should be 1) to learn French and 2) learn to love Geneva. I have always been adamant I had no desire to ever live in Geneva, but I can see that it would be very nice. With the fun friends I was hanging out with I just kept finding lots of wonderful little sides to Geneva, like the hippy bar near my hotel, the grungy Saturday night street party celebrating a 30 year old squatter movement, the little canteen out in the middle of the lake with cheap dinners and carafes of wine, and the street fair where I spent a Saturday morning wandering among all sorts of people, selling all manner of junk, with a different kind of music playing on every corner. Geneva is not all zhi zhi UN workers and fondue after all, although admittedly there is plenty of that too. And I just love the lake, it’s nice and blue and has a lot of life happening on it and around it.

Anyway, despite all that it was however time to move on, and so at 5am this morning I schlepped my suitcase out to the airport and began the journey to Atlanta. Geneva, London, Chicago, Atlanta arriving 20 hours later. I arrived but alas my suitcase didn’t. My turn around in London was so tight I had to run the whole way from one plane to the other to make the flight, but they unfortunately didn’t do the same with my bag! Passed through Chicago very briefly. Having read at least 10 VI Warshawski novels which are all set in Chicago I wouldn’t mind one day visiting Chicago, but for today had to be satisfied with looking out the train window while changing terminals and imagining Warshawski driving around on those big roads and down to the lake. I tell you from the plane window that is one very big lake indeed, more like the ocean with the other shore nowhere in sight even from the plane window.

Finally touched down in Atlanta this evening while it was still hot and sunny, so could check the view on the way here. Strange place Atlanta, I’m really not sure what the main attraction is, I don’t actually think there is one. It kinda has the character of downtown Belconnen on a grander scale, but without the nice lake. Lots of large concrete buildings, a baseball stadium with lots of coca cola neons lights (Atlanta of course being coke headquarters), and some trees which ring the main city. When I checked into the hotel they asked if I’d like a lower down floor or a higher up one. When I said higher she gave me the 25th floor! The view from my window is a strange but nice enough. Directly outside is a big modern black glass building which appears to be the Georgia Power company, but other than that it is just a wide, flat expanse of land with lots of green trees and low buildings scattered among the greenery. Totally flat. The hotel breakfast menu offers Georgia Mountain Grits, though I’m not sure where the mountains are! On the other side of the building, the view is the complete opposite, just a concrete jungle of very tall skyscrapers, but not very glamorous ones, just tall, identical concrete. Anyway, they’re my quick observations of arrival in Atlanta. Time to sleep now and get a bit organised for my last couple of days of work meetings. 3 more days to get through!