Geneva — small animals

Saturday, 8 September 2012

Arrived in Geneva fairly early, about 7:15. It takes no time to get through the overhead in Geneva, so I was at my hotel by 8, which of course had no room ready for me. Dumped off my luggage and went out to enjoy the day. Sunny, a cool day to start with, but promising to be quite warm later.

The hotel (Admiral) is at the edge of the red-light district, and as I left the hotel — and again over the subsequent days — any number of nice young women invited me to be their friend. Well, maybe not necessarily that nice, and maybe not necessarily that young, but as far as I know, they were all women…

If I’m interested in finding and photographing small animals, the greenery along the shore is probably the best place to go, with the botanical gardens as perhaps the most likely to be fruitful. Lo and behold, the first small animal I found was a harvestman! In Geneva, of course, it needs a French name: un faucheur (thanks, Sylvain!).

Cool! Over the course of the next few hours, I actually found four more harvestmen. Nice to see them flourishing here.

Who would photograph a fly? Well… I would, I guess. If we hadn’t seen so many of them, we would think of them as complex and interesting animals in their own right.

The botanical gardens include a strip along a little stream, with tiny falls and rills and ponds. In the ponds, we find frogs…

And frogs that have not yet developed fully…

And water boatmen.

Not a whole lot of dragonflies, but I found one that was willing to pose briefly for pictures.

It was getting on into the afternoon, so I went back to the hotel, got my room, took a short nap. My friend Shan arrived mid-afternoon; it’s her first time in Geneva. She’s staying at a hotel called f6, which seems pretty nice.

We walked (again) through the park and botanical gardens, then checked out the old town. The high point was getting into the cathedral just a few minutes before the conclusion of an organ concert. Great sound!

We shared entees at a Lebanese restaurant and called Saturday complete.

Tags: Frogs, Geneva, harvestmen, small animals