Climbing a cathedral spire

Another cathedral

Geneva also had a cathedral. It was big and nice. We went inside and took a look around, and then went out  again. When outside, I noticed that there were people up in the tower, so it seemed possible to climb up. And then the view of the city would probably be great.

Inside the cathedral

A huge organ.

My professor asked if we should go up, and I said I wanted to. Then he decided to climb the stairs too, which turned out to be quite tiring. I am not in great shape, but he seems to be in much worse shape. I was tired and my muscles were in pain from climbing down the stairs, so I can imagine he was in some pain too. He did not seem happy afterwards. My second bad judgement call (the first one being walking to our first dinner in Lausanne) in three days... Though I think he could just not tag along when I decide to do something tiring, so from a personal perspective I think it is not my fault. Not that that would help if I got fired, but my conscience is clean :-)

Apparently this is one of Calvin's chairs.

Me, outside the cathedral.

My colleague outside the cathedral.

There was a special fee to climb the cathedral spires, and a surprisingly high tech  barcode scanner keylock to get access.

The huge water plume as seen from the first tower of the cathedral.

After climbing endless stairs, we reached a room with windows overlooking the city.

The stairs were very narrow, so there was a red light/green light system for indicating if you were allowed to go up or down. This was meant to make people not meet in the middle, so one would have to go back the way they came. This did not work that well and we met a woman that obviously had not respected the red light at her end... which led to some complications in trying to pass each other.

Another surprisingly cool tech solution inside the cathedral. A light shone on the floor in the shape of an arrow pointing you on to your next stop.

Me after climbing up one tower, down again, walking across the cathedral and climbing up another tower.

The water plume and the city.

Another part of the city.

My colleagues.

This bell tower starting ringing quite loudly and for a long time.

"Where can I find more pizza..."

A cathedral inside a cathedral.