Geneva - Founts of Water and Theology. Tall and Wet , to Deep and Dry

From the Tall and Wet to the Deep and Dry.

Geneva Offers Both, but Humorlessly.

I. Fountain Jet at Geneva

Tall and Wet

Le Jet d'Eau - Water Fountain, Geneva, Swizerland

This is the tallest fountain in the world. Hoo, thought we, but we did enjoy a fast and legal parking spot (still, watch for the meter demon, and take no chances) and a stroll by the water at Lake Geneva. Get a fine overview of Geneva at ://www.geneva.info/ The fountain is a drive-by attraction, broadly visible, and no real need to get out. So we aimed for the Old City, and found an unexpected hassle to find a parking lot there.

Why is the Old City not better marked for tourist cars already in the downtown, and going in ovals and circles and trapezoidinal helixes with the one way boulevards and other turns, and yearning to breathe free by finding the right access street to find the history. And once in some big underground garage, there is a goodly walk, and it is hard to keep bearings. Not car-friendly, and the Old City is elusive. Hard to hone.

II. Theology at Geneva

Deep and Dry

Oh my.

Reformation Wall, The Four Reformers, Bastion Park, Geneva CH

Geneva,  like many modern places, has an odd, disembodied relationship with its religious past.  Here are the Great Reformers, in an outdoor park, Le Parc Bastion, and the geneva.info site does not even name them.  We will.  May we introduce, here at the Reformation Wall, ://www.sacred-destinations.com/switzerland/geneva-reformation-wall.  The task was re-forming Christianity from the elaborately constructed Roman Catholicism it had become, to another, less dogmatic, less riches-focused, etc. form, while demanding deep sacrifice in fluff. Is that so? What happened then?

Guillaime (William) Farel, First Preacher

John Calvin, Leader of the Reformation Movement, see ://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REFORM/CALVIN.HTM

Theodore Beza, who succeeded Calvin

John Knox, friend to Calvin, and the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland

This is very austere stuff.  Here is an advance look at St. Peter's Cathedral, once Roman Catholic, then purged of most of the fancy, and Protestant. From one extreme to another. Both, and a mid-ground, unstable against those who foist.

St. Peter's Cathedral, John Calvin's Chair

Sit. Up. Straight. Don't make me tell you again. Hiss.