40 - Week 6 3ieme: Fruits of Labor - Genève & Nyon

Wednesday, April 2

Today featured even more face à face discussions, overall I was very pleased with how it all went.  Today's cast of characters featured a huge spectrum of personality types; I was surprised to find that the guy everyone had warned be could be abrasive was more than happy to break out his English for me.  

Twice today, I was asked when I entered a new lab "how is that you came to speak French so well?".  Both times I responded about having already spent months in France for work.  The next question was, do you want to continue in French or English?  Again, both times my answer was, let's start in French and if I really don't understand, maybe we can switch.  So the first time it happened, we continued on to conduct the whole lab tour in French; the 2nd time, he agreed but switched to English as soon as we sat down 😆 honestly, I think he was just excited to talk to an American about his post doc in Scripps.  

I feel we had just started to get into the flow of an organic conversation when I had to sadly cut things short: I had to catch an early train this afternoon to join a friend for a hike in Jura.  Through some winding roads, we eventually reached a trail that made its way to a good viewing point across Lac Leman, called Les Fruitieres de Nyon.  I don't know what flower but it's crazy little heads were popping up along the trail.

Small smatterings of wild crocus dotted the fields and embankments.

I'm pretty sure I spotted a similar plant (not sure if these qualify as flowers) in Corsica last year.  These weren't too plentiful but they certainly stood out.

Aside from a bit of ice, the path was in good condition: not too much mud, well marked, and (above all) interesting!

There was an actual building at the top where I suppose people once finished making cheese, I was more interested in the view out to the horizon.  To make it out to the stone wall, we had to pass through a ridiculously squeeky turnstile, which felt really out of place in the middle of nowhere.

While munching on slices of sausage and chouchou (peanuts roasted in sugar), I got to enjoy the fruits of this labor: a nice sunset view over Jura and out to the Alps.  I could just make out a globe/dome observation station off on the distant peak to the south.  We turned back before the sunset went into overdrive: there was a good amount of hiking to return to the car and then a windy descent down the mountain too.

Whoever carved it must be a fun guy.

The Jura mountains remind me of the Pyrenees a bit; they're big but still human sized.  I don't think any parts of the Jura remain skiable at this time of year while the Alps will likely continue for a few weeks more still.  But, hey, size doesn't matter; it's what you do with it, right?

Per our understanding, these places were called fruitieres because people would make and age cheese there, so instead of a fromagerie, they were named fruitiere due to the cheese being the fruits of their labor.  I don't know why cheese is the only subject to which the French ascribe a special name for the work put in, but such is life.  It was really cool of her to let me tag along and see the sights; the idea of a weekday hike is blowing my mind.