Geneva Diary Part 4

This morning it occurred to me that I have taken no photos! And yet, we didn’t really visit anywhere worth photographing today. Oh well.

Today was for shopping.

First stop was Manor, a department store along the lines of Paris’s BHV, with a large food hall on the ground floor. I bought gifts: ten bars of chocolate, a stolen and a bottle of olive oil which I later realised I wouldn’t be able to take back because it is over the draconian 100ml limit – bah!

Compared to London (and even more so the rest of Europe) prices here are quite high and some of the weirdest things are ridiculously expensive. Food probably balances out in the sense that some things which are expensive in the UK are cheaper here and vice versa, but I was shocked to see a packet of J-cloths going for more than 12F (about £8). Souvenir items are also extremely expensive despite being worse tat that you’d find elsewhere.

In the afternoon we visited Rue de Paquis in search of more exciting shops, but the area turned out to only have African food shops, brothels and hookers marching about the streets in search of trade.  

I insisted on visiting a charity shop we passed. It was full of shoes, knitwear and underwear – thermals I’m guessing. Amongst the small selection of books I found both volumes of Les mandarins and flipping through discovered a love note left there by some previous owner.