Fireworks

For the past 2 weeks Geneva has been celebrating the Fetes de Geneve, meaning the area near the base of the lake has been surrounded by carts and kiosks with different kinds of food and alcohol, a stage with local live music playing, and even some children's rides like a huge ferris wheel and such. We haven't taken part in it too much since a) the Austin music scene has completely spoiled us on live music (one night we stopped by the festivities, and there was a swiss country band playing), and b) endless advertisements for caipirinas and other alcoholic drinks aren't that appealing to a pregnant woman who misses her wine.

However, Saturday was to be the big fireworks display, and from what I'd heard, this was not something to be miss. So Zach and I headed into town around 7:30ish and met up with Colin, one of Zach's coworkers. We had a yummy dinner of chinese food before heading down towards the water to try to find a spot for the fireworks. Apparently one of their other coworkers was camped out at the Parc des Eaux-Vives, which is a ways up the shore, and we were just debating whether we wanted to walk all that way when I spotted a familiar face in the crowd-- and sure enough, ran into Cathy and her husband Cary, walking by us the other way. They were on their way to meet up with Serena and Darren, who were by the water fountain in the Jardin Anglais, so we went ahead and joined them.

The fireworks themselves were truly spectacular. Unfortunately our view was partially blocked by some trees, but you still got an idea of the grandiosity of the display. The fireworks were being set off on the water, and felt so close-- the fireworks often filled up your entire line of vision in the sky, and at times we could feel ashes falling down on us. The show went on for about an hour, I think-- the theme was the 4 seasons, and they had the fireworks set to music using Vivaldi's 4 seasons along with other, contemporary music, with a "finale" at the end of each "season." The amount of fireworks they used was spectacular. I've never really been one to get excited about a fireworks display (partially maybe b/c 4th of July was often spent watching them from afar, little colored balls of light that were too far away to be that impressive) but this was truly amazing.

You can see my other fireworks photos here. I also have a video I want to share, but at the moment I've got to run off to meet some friends for a late lunch, so I'll have to upload it and share later.