Mont Blanc

Another must see in the vicinity of Geneva: the Mont Blanc! the highest mountain in Europe. What best way to climb is on foot. Can you spot me there...? Look carefully.
OK, fine. I did take the cable car...
Finally, a close-up view of the top. Not even chilly there.

real tennis

Another year, another pilgrimage to Roland Garros. There are old faces and new ones. As every year, there are surprises and confirmations. Will Federer finally come into the light? We will know shortly. Will the swiss "number 2" - Wawrinka - manage to win a big match?


Will Del Potro be the next main challenger?Or will it be Verdasco?

tennis

With the long week-end of Ascension, the temperature reached record levels here in Geneva with 33.8 degrees. At the club, we got some tough games and a lot of sweat. The tournaments so far went really well for me with a semi-final and a quarter-final. Am I ready for Roland Garros?

I am certainly ready to watch it. It started today on TV. And then on Friday, I am off to Paris. Hopefully, I will carry high the swiss flag. More about this in my next entry. And hold your thumbs!

Athens

Time for a little excursion? What about simply catching a flight to Athens? Indeed a great idea. Two hours later: a hotel by the sea, nice weather. The only problem is that on this May 1, the trams are not running...The city has had a major lifting since my last visit. It has become a nice capital far from the previous chaos and smog. The town center is made of a maze of little pedestrian streets dotted with numerous little shops. The buildings have been renovated and are bright white. The public transport system is also much improved with a modern subway. The stray cats have almost disappeared from the streets, but there are now more dogs.
But more seriously, Athens is known as the birthplace of democracy. So a little stop by the national Parliament is a must. However, there one cannot smiling at the guards and their attire. Look at their shoes... A huge pompom on the shoes.
For the tourists, it is certainly the Acropolis and the Parthenon that caracterise Athens the most. It is indeed very impressive to climb this hill and to walk around this magnificient building. The most celebrated monument of this civilisation. We can be proud to have part of our culture originating from here.

Maths competition

Once in a while (actually, a lot of times...), there is something way off the beaten track happening in Geneva (ok and for once in eight other places in Switzerland): this time, the International Mathematics Competition. After having brilliantly managed (at home...) to overcome the qualifying quater-finals, it was time to go back to the school benches for the semi-finals. There were around 60 people ready to give a good work-out to their brain.At 2pm sharp, we all started thinking, scribbling, counting, checking, double-checking, sweating. It reminded me of the good old days at school. The 16 questions were increasingly difficult. Thankfully the first ones (as show below) were manageable and gave me a confidence boost. However, I must admit there were two questions I did not even understand what was required of me. And of course, there is one question that made me go into so much calculation, whereas the solution was so easy... In the end, I managed 10 correct answers. Quite proud of my performance. Before you start thinking that you expected better from me, try it yourself and we will talk again. Good luck!And if you feel like a real challenge, let me know and we can register for next year's competition.

Life in the city ...

Fantastic to stay in town. For once, instead of living in the suburbs, I enjoyed the city life. And it is so simple to do, one can just walk to a coffee place or even to the work place. A very unusual feeling for me to experience in Cape Town. And I felt safe, probably because there are many visible security guards.
I have to admit that not always things work according to plan, as on this on this one Monday. Starting at 9am, I went to the hairdresser to find out that it is closed on Mondays. I walked then to the Natural History Museum to watch their special exhibition on wildlife photographer of the year, but the museum opens only at 10am. After a little wait, I very much enjoyed the pictures but walking through the aisles I came accross this strange looking white rhino: where are its horns? A little sign explained that the museum had a break-in before Christmas and that the thieves robbed the horns!! I guess the thieves figured out that it would be easier that way than to kill a wild rhino in the bush...

Then I headed to a specialised shop to have my tennis racket restrung. But I was told that the machine is broken and that it would take more than a week for the missing spare part to be installed. So I drove to my favourite shopping mall but the sport shop there did not even have the necessary equipment. So I walked upstairs to buy some children's clothes, but on the main window there was a sign "closed due to water leakage" and I could see a lot of buckets dotting the floor.Do I need to mention that my friend was then seriously late for lunch... Thankfully, the afternoon went much better. Still Cape Town is a great city and I am not the only one saying so, as its current Mayor was voted "world mayor of the year". Congratulations!

... and nature is not far

Indeed from anywhere, the mountain can be seen. It dominates the city and it is a must to climb it. This time, we chose another route, which was equally challenging and beautiful. On that day, the swiss-made cable car did not function (too much wind), so there were not many people on the top, but we did come accross numerous climbers. Nice to see that locals from all races are motivated to do such a climb.
The other big drawcard of Cape Town is its beaches. At this time of the year, the temperature is nice (even for me...!), especially in Gordon's Bay.And if anyone needs another sign that the environment is of good quality in the area, these seals enjoying their swim close to the Waterfront are a very good sign.