Geneva, city of contrasts? No, undisputed champion of paradoxes. On the second day of the beginning of the year, the opposites are already evident without leaving the surface of the road. The hypercentre is at the time of its annual clearance sale. This Thursday, at 9 a.m., the Rues-Basses are filled with a clientele that has set its alarm clock before the sun.
The sidewalks are well occupied. Of the world, but without effervescence. Late risers are expected for the afternoon. They arrive, without running. Only the brand with both feet in the generation today is sold out. Salespeople work on walkie-talkies with back office window dressers to catch the right shoe sizes as soon as possible. This connected virtuosity drives sales up. Each client – girl or boy – leaves with their pair of designer shoes.
Inanimate showcases
And all around this commercially active islet that stretches to the shore, how is it? Desert. Inanimate shop windows, empty streets, pedestrians crossing the road like a car-free Sunday. Are we exaggerating? Barely. For those returning from the mountains and its crowded resorts, Geneva is discovered in the almost summer manner of a totally uncluttered city.
To see traffic jams this week, you have to climb more than 1000 meters. In central Valais, between Nax and Anzère, we have never had to manage so many cars at the early hour of the opening of the ski lift facilities. Everywhere queues and parking lots too small to absorb demand. It’s the Paléo des skiers, without the pastures to park your machine.
This brothel in altitude contrasts with the sweet harmony that reigns in the urban plain. Here, on each bank, free places with a shovel, large holes, lonely cars, surrounded by nothing, as if we had removed the hazelnuts from the Ragusa one by one.
“For those returning from the mountains, Geneva discovers itself as a city without cars”
“I have just returned from a day of snowshoeing between Combloux and Megève,” recounts this 50-year-old crossover on Place Neuve around 5 p.m. I just dropped off my friend, who lives like me in the Plainpalais neighborhood. Usually, we make sure to come home early to avoid having to turn for hours looking for a place around the building. There, it’s dark and I could almost park under my balcony, ”she notes, while taking advantage of this providential availability.
Unhindered mobility
She adds, smiling, “The ski vacation is good for city dwellers, including myself, who have only one or two days off available. This Friday, I’m doing it again: one last little pleasure in unhindered mobility before the weekend returns. ”
This default pedestrianization will not last. It’s now and no longer tomorrow, the lady in the city center is right. Traffic will resume its rights. For the time being, it is limited to the laborious surroundings of the Parc des Bastions. The Christmas market is disappearing, swallowed up by heavy trucks that don’t look like sleighs on the snow. The golden balls hanging from the branches of the plane trees fade in turn. They will be missing under the January stratus.
Created: 02.01.2020, 20h53
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