The U.N.

Today we had a tour of the United Nations in Geneva. We had some trouble finding the entrance to tours, but eventually found it. We had to go through light security and then my mom had her picture taken for a visitor's pass. My mom is known to have...not the best pictures of herself, but even she herself thought that was the worst picture of her. But it was funny. So anyway. We passed this small gift shop and when my mom asked in French if she could speak English, the lady was like, "Of course," which pretty much all the other employees here said when we asked them. We walked down this sidewalk to another building and sat down in this area that reminded me of an airport. The next tour was in 10 minutes. So we just sat and waited. There was a gift shop in a corner and a few people. I took some pictures outside. It was raining today. Supposed to rain for like 3 more days or so. But anyway. Then this black-haired guy called out, "English tours over here please" or something. So we, with a whole bunch of other people, got up and followed him. He explained the rules: no eating/drinking, using a cellphone, etc. during the tour. We also couldn't take any videos inside the building, which really stank. I wanted to take at least one and put it on facebook or something. Oh well. So yeah. He said the tour would take about an hour.

It was pretty interesting. We got to sit in a few conference rooms (just like we saw on TV!) and see the cool rooms and stuff. I took lots of pictures. There were a lot of paintings and murals and stuff, which were quite cool. We also got to go through this tunnel thing, and the guide explained about the park in the UN. There was this guy that donated the park or something, with 3 requests. He wanted to be buried in the park, which he was (the guide was about to say "parking lot" when he explained this -ha) and he also wanted there to be peacocks. I didn't see any though, but the guy claimed there were some. He also wanted the park to be open to the public, but they couldn't allow this now. The security is really tight and the public can't go in the park, which stinks. But yeah. It was really cool to sit in the conference rooms- it seemed so real. Ok, it was real, but I mean, it's different to see pixels compared to actually being there.

There weren't many questions asked, but my mom did ask the guy two questions. He explained that the UN isn't a global government, and it can only do what the people inside it can do or something. He made it sound just so...convenient and perfect. Well, not really. I couldn't blame him. But I do like the idea of the world being united. I mean, seriously, who gives a care what frickin' country you're from? Aren't you kinda, uh, all humans? And all, um, living in the same world? Whatever. War is seriously stupid. The tour guide said that in war there really are no winners, it's just who loses less. I agree.

After the tour (it didn't seem that long at all) my mom and I went into the gift shop. I got a cool poster showing a dove flying up with an "A" in the mouth, going towards the word "PE CE", filling in the A. And then at the bottom were the letters "W R" for a space for A, except the A was going to make peace. I also got a few postcards. Then Zach went home by himself, and my mom and I walked out and went to the Gare Cornavin (train/tram/bus station). I bought some valve/slide oil for my trumpet at this music store and then I took the bus home. I was so darn hungry. I didn't really have lunch because I had such a big breakfast (my second crepe). I listened to my iPod on the way home and then uploaded the pictures on the computer. I'll add those in the next post. It was fun I guess. Nice change from spending the whole day on the computer.

Crap, only 2 weeks until school...