Marvel at the architecture

I decided to get lost in Geneva again...I mildly succeeded.

This past Friday, while on our way to the restaurant/back-end-of-an-alley/guys apartment, we passed by this grungy looking place, covered in graffiti. I didn't get too much of a good look at it as we passed by, but Nadia pointed it out and mentioned that it was a 'bad' part of Geneva. It had a couple of good bars, but was pretty dirty, had shoes hanging off wires, etc. It was interesting, but essentially, a 'different' part of Geneva.

I told her that she pretty much had me at hello and that it was my life's mission to go there. And seeing as how this weekend was shaping up to be a bit of a bust, I decided to check it out today. The first time, I got lost. I took the bus to the stop where we got off for the Eritrean food, and started to walk down. However, I kept stumbling upon all these great little nooks and crannies along the way - ie. a great view of the river, a wall of awesome art/graffiti, a quaint little garden (all pictured bellow). At some point I made a wrong turn, or didn't hang right or left, or whatever I was supposed to do, and surprise surprise, right when I thought I was totally lost I wound up at the same bus stop from the beginning. Seems about right.

Now I had to two choices - go home (which was about 5 minutes away) or take the bus (which was going to be there in one minute) and try again. I took the bus, got off a stop early, and found it.

This place...whatever it is...is amazing.

Now I know that when in Europe you're supposed to marvel at old architecture and historic buildings and yada yada. But honestly, when you find something like this...you just scrap all that history and dive in. Essentially it looked like a small abandoned part of town that got turned into a semi skate park. However, that might not be the right description for it at all. The place is covered in graffiti, every building, every garbage can, every car, just everything. There is an electrical line with shoes thrown over it, however, unlike the ghettos/suburbs in North America there isn't just one shoe thrown over the line, but almost 100 pairs on one line. I was taking a picture of a childs high top converse, and I looked up, and there it was. It was so striking to see all those shoes. Every car or van parked there is long past dead - totaled, spray painted and rusted, gutted, demolished. There is a make shift grave yard for dead skate boards. The place is so much bigger than it lets on to. It has so much potential for great photographs, but I was in just so much shock by the ... ... beauty of this place, that I couldn't do it any justice.

I know that after I described what sounds like a desolate punk rock meets gangsta ghetto, I would refer to it as beautiful, but honestly, while walking through it I marveled at everything as if it was a small piece of art contained inside an even bigger piece. Like it was some kind of political art work with all these social connotations that my brain just couldn't process. That there was this subculture of skate boarders and bmxers who had developed this place as their home, and that some kind of anthropologist could come in and study it and never really understand it. I loved it. It was a perfect example of- what Laura uses as the definition of punk culture - the clash between beauty and ugliness.

Photos + Video from my day bellow:

Frankie tells me "when you take pictures while traveling, make sure you're in the shot" .. but as you can tell, I frequently fail at either a) looking at the camera or b) actually getting the background in the shot.

At the quaint little garden I found while walking around.

Me and the river (not sure which one).

At the garden, standing backwards on a ledge - THE THINGS I DO FOR YOU PEOPLE

A wall with really terrific art on it that I passed while looking for the land of graffiti / getting lost. (it was here I realized I had gone the wrong direction)

In the land of graffiti - one of the first things you see upon entering.

The skateboard grave yard. Behind the gate fronts / ends of skate boards are burried and stick up like tombstones.

These bikes were above a skateboard ramp.

art attack.

for more photos, and larger sizes, go to my flickr page (its in the links)

Video:

(I'd like to say, that if you intend to visit me, and this seems like something you would like to check out, then whatever you do - do not watch this video - i don't get to go through the whole area, and this bumpy walk through does not do it justice - this is really something you have to see up close and personal - so if you want to visit, if you ever plan on going to geneva, if you are ever going to see this in real life - then i don't want this video to be your first glimpse...that said, enjoy)