MQFrance: Day 10 - Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thursday morning, we got on a bus and headed to Geneva. I have to say, I am a little disappointed with myself for not having secured a ham hock. There is a line in Stalag 17, one of my favorite movies, which is about a POW camp during World War II. The Genveva man has come to inspect the camp, and the German guard is explaining how "nice" the prisoners have it. He goes to the soup pot and attempts to find the ham hock that should be in the soup, but in reality never is. He states, there should be a ham hock!" One of the prisoners then says, 'When we find it, we'll send it to Geneva." Alas, my opportunity to have a picture of me holding a ham hock in Geneva to be able to send to my brothers and dad never materialized, and I will probably regret it for the rest of my life. But on to more important things! The bus trip was fascinating, with us going through mountains, with an occasional village popping up. Getting through the border into Switzerland was easy, and we arrived at the headquarters of the WTO.

We had a great session that talked about the purpose of the WTO, and having been up early, I admit I was struggling a little, but then the speaker launched into what I refer to as the "economic warfare" phase of the presentation, and I found this very interesting. He detailed the mechanics of voting for various things, sand also the consequences of actions made by various countries, and the types of redress other countries can seek when violations take place. It was inters tin that voting to pass regulations or agreements requires a unanimous affirmation, while sanctions to punish require a unanimous rejection of the sanctions. A very interesting dynamic. We also visited the headquarters of the International Red Cross/Red Crescent Organization. One of the exhibits allowed you to play a game to try and save an island from a hurricane. A game? Yes please. I played it 4 times. At one point I realized I was loudly directing a complete stranger on what to do. What can I say, I'm naturally inclined to tell others what to do. I think it's my parenting skills kicking in. Ask Josh about that trait during our visit to the University. In any case, full points on the island saving.

While spending time walking around Geneva, Marcus and I wandered near the Beax Arts Museum, and I entered looking for a restroom. When we realized the museum was free, we wandered around, and encountered a number of painting by Monet, Renoir, Picasso, and one by Olivier Mosset, which I struggle to find words to describe, and have trouble in locating the part where it belongs anywhere in the same building as previous artists I named. Although, I wouldn't exactly put Picasso with those others either. It's almost as if after Picasso became great, he realized he could put any old junk effort out there and people would swoon over it, which they did. He must have been laughing at us all the whole time over some of those pieces. I also discovered an artist I hadn't heard of before, but really enjoyed his works.