Carouge

With our house move only three weeks away, the four of us went out yesterday to get a few things done. And with two Formula One fans in the family, we had to get out and back before the 'qualifying' so time was of the essence!

The first stop of the day was a bit of a wild goose chase. When we did eventually find the offices, it was closed and the opening times rather bizarre! Geneva is very French and I gather doing business at times to suit yourself and not your customers is par for the course. One of the restaurants in Veyrier closes over the weekend!





















Next stop was to Carouge. This is a lovely part of Geneva with lots of tiny specialist shops. I read that there is an artistic community here and you can see this along the Rue Ancienne with gorgeous little shop fronts selling furniture, artworks, designer shoes and clothes etc., and the occasional glimpse of an artist at work in their studios.

What I didn't know until yesterday is that on Saturdays the town is alive with street markets!




















We didn't have time to hang around but I had my camera with me and took a few shots as we passed. The first thing we saw was an area selling only second hand toys. It must be great to bring your kids out to play here and meet other Mums and Dads.




















Further along, there were the strangest things for sale! I could have spent the whole day here with my camera (and sketchbook?!) It's definitely on my list of things to do. (And to think I was worried about running out of things to photograph!) Aren't platform boots great? I'm probably the only one who thought seventies fashion was great. I was a teenager in the seventies so I regard it as my era! Wish I was young enough (and brave enough) to wear platforms now!

Carouge also has an industrial area and we were off to look for a Migros superstore. Migros and Coop are the two main supermarket chains but they are much larger than than the big names in the UK. They're involved in a lot of other business as well like banking and schooling.

We were checking out garden furniture and looking for new beds. (Those the quaint little specialist shops are beyond our reach!) We could have been in B&Q or any garden centre in the UK - it was packed with people buying plants and DIY equipment!

Walking through the rows of aisles with plastic hoses, wardrobe doors, tool boxes and the like, we reached the outdoor furniture and plants. It was just great to be doing this again! Suddenly I felt really impatient to get into our new house and start making it our own! I've been very good at not thinking about it but after today, the wait is going to be unbearable. Certainly, we will have no shortage of tempting things to buy!




















There were orchids in abundance, perhaps for Mother's Day?




















Is it cheating to take shots of flowers in a garden centre! The thought never occurred to me before, but what a great opportunity to get some unusual blooms!





















I don't know the name of this one but it grows up to nine stems with flowers and only one leaf.




















Even with a little enhancement in PhotoShop, the photo doesn't capture the colour and the subtle shading of this plant. Some of the others had reds and yellows so bright I thought at first they must be fake.





















One of the cactus stems, great patterns and subtle colour changes.




















All shopped out (window shopping IS exhausting, especially for men!) we had a pit stop in the cafe to recharge the batteries before heading for the supermarket. I sat in a corner next to a potted palm and noticed this wonderful looking bark. Ironically, as the gaudy plants turned out to be real, this turned out to be plastic!