John Calvin’s Geneva, and boat rides.

When I got to the top of the hill that houses Saint Pierre cathedral in Geneva, and discovered that the museum of the Reformation is closed for “transformation” and that Calvin’s auditorium was also closed, I was thinking , well this will be a short pilgrimage in Geneva!  Not so fast!

After I went to church at the Cathedral, toured the archeological excavations under it, which show the development of at least six different churches on the top of this hill between the first century and today, toured the cathedral and walked down to the Reformation Wall, it was only about two o clock in the afternoon, and I’d done everything on my list. 

Now before I go on, let me talk about Reformer’s Wall.  It is a huge memorial dedicate to the Reformers (primarily the reformed ones) starting with Calvin, Knox and a couple of their cronies.  But there are also options of it reflecting some of the more implicated history.  Jan Hus is mentioned, Luther and Zwingli have their own memorials right next to the walls.   Important events from the Reformed saga of the Reformation, including our Pilgrims are included.   

But it is big an a little bit cold, kid of like the memorials in socialist countries, like the ones in Havana and Berlin. Even though it is not propaganda, it has a little bit of the feel of that  kind of thing.  It also lines a park, and I saw it on a Sunday afternoon while children plate in the playground, the outdoor restaurant served brunch, people rented lawn chairs to sit in the sun, and both young and old people played chess with the huge lawn size chess pieces.     In this context the wall certainly loses some of it’s institutional quality.  And it is mighty impressive.   I went back Monday. 

So I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening in the Park by the lake, taking pictures, writing in my journal, talking with a guy from Côte d’Ivoire who happened by, to the extent we could as we kept our distance and contended with not having a common language.

I ate a salad in the park - big, meal type salads are rare in Italy, at least without having some kind of meat on them, so the salads I had Sunday night (with cheese and falafel on it and Monday afternoon wtih olives, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes) were a real treat.   I took the ferry boats all over this end of the lake, as they are included in the travel pass that the hostel gave me.   At the end of the day I played pinochle online with my sibs, four of us in three countries.   

After pinochle I researched walking tours in Geneva.   I knew there was a Reformation walking tour, but my notes said to get the brochure from the Reformation museum, and it was closed. Online I found a walking tour of seven historic churches in Geneva, and I used that to find out a little more about the development of church, and especially of freedom of religion, in Geneva.   

And I scored the Reformation walk brochure from the main TI in the English Garden, near the floral clock, although in German.  That works, I could read it (looking up a good Number of words) and followed it to a number of other sites including the local Lutheran Church and the site of the original Reformation School - because of course teaching children to read is essential if they are going to read the Bible. 

By the time i was finished, it was after 4, and I still had laundry and packing to do for tomorrow.   Off to Zurich and the story of Zwingli!