Happy Swiss National Day!

Tonight I went to the Swiss National Day celebration down in Bastions... it was a lot of fun!

The park entrance was decorated with Swiss and Genevan flags:



There was an area where you could set off your own firecrackers:


The main action happened in front of the Reformation Wall. About halfway through the ceremony, some protesters unrolled banners supporting Geneva's squats, but they were taken down pretty quickly.


There was an orchestra playing:


Excerpts from the Pacte were read in Switzerland's four official languages, and the mayor gave a speech inciting his listeners to take care of the city and the environment and to welcome immigrants. Then four recently naturalized immigrants gave short speeches.


Today was also the 100th anniversary of the Scout movement, so the Scouts lit their bonfire after the fireworks.


The fireworks were really cool, but I didn't get any good pictures of them. They were launched from those metal stands you see in front of the Reformation Wall. (IE waaaaaaay close.) It was a little scary, but a lot of fun. Their choice of music was a little odd for a Swiss national celebration, though--they played songs from American musicals like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.

There were also lots of rides for little kids and food and drink stands... I bought some "red" sausage (I can't stomach the veal sausage that most people around here eat). It was fun to eat fair food, and the whole park was basically one big party.

Yeah, I had way too much fun. :)