Easter is huge here, with the holiday beginning on Good Friday (a bank holiday) and running through Monday (another bank holiday). With the institute closed for four days, the other researchers either scattered or had their partners visit here. I took advantage of the free period -- and brilliant, sunny weather, with temps in the 70s -- to make three excursions, meet up with close friends of my cousins Caryl and David (from the days when David, who worked for the UN, was posted to Geneva), and further explore the city. The excursions were to the small French medieval walled village of Yviore (in France, just north of Hermance), which I reached by boat, to the also medieval city of Montreux at the opposite end of the lake from the city of Geneva, where I met with a psychologist colleague, Henriette, who lives there in a 16th-century farmhouse and has written a book on the local history of one of its villages (the photo to the right of the one with Henriette is the view through her front door), and to Sion, in the Southwestern canton of Valais, a city famous for its vineyards, irrigation canals, and impressive hilltop castles. Today (Monday), I finally made it to the junction of the Rhône and Arve rivers in Geneva: https://www.spottedbylocals.com/geneva/pointe-de-la-jonction/. It was so warm that there were several swimmers as well as kayakers and paddle-boarders in the water and, along the riverbank, many sunbathers and families picnicking. (I'm only wearing a jacket because I'd left the Brocher in the early morning when it was still cool and didn't want to carry it).

On Saturday, I took the train to Zurich to get together with Heidi Landry, who was spending a few days for work in nearby Zug. As this was a day trip, and Genève and Zurich are more or less at opposite sides of the country, this only gave us an afternoon -- but it was a magical, if slightly chilly, one. We had an excellent lunch, walked the old city, and visited the Fraumünster to see the Chagall windows -- and while there, did the interesting audio tour: https://www.fraumuenster.ch/en/

I was a busy weekend. Saturday was the trip to Zurich, and Sunday was a pot-luck (no meals are served on weekends here) followed by guitar-accompanied singing. The group that arrived at the beginning of April includes a Norwegian, Oddgeir Synnes, who brought his guitar, and several researchers with very fine voices. So we followed-up an impromptu song fest the week before with a more planned event, where we each chose a song in advance and also made a favorite dish (with our young French colleague Zöe making pasta from scratch).