A Swiss spring break with friends TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/27 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
We made our way down to the waterfront of Lake Geneva and it was just a perfect day for taking photos.
In truth, this was one of the reasons why I wanted to come back here, as the last time we were in Geneva on our first visit to Switzerland in 2010, it wasn’t a good day weather wise and we ended up with rain and wind. I didn’t want to remember the place like this, and now I won’t!
We were heading for this – the Jet d’Eau or jet of water in English. I think the French sounds better. It’s located on a jetty on the south bank of the lake and is the world’s highest fountain, shooting its plume of water nearly 500 feet into the air. You might think this was planned, but it came into being almost by accident. In the late 19th century, a fountain was first put in to relieve the excess water pressure while a reservoir system was being installed. It became so popular that it was decided a permanent one would be built and it became more and more powerful, as more powerful pumps were developed.
Now remember I said about the last time we came here? Well, then the wind was blowing it towards us and we could barely walk out on the platform – we were getting soaked and blown back. What a pleasant contrast today. We could get all the way out. As we walked along, I took lots and lots of photos, as it was such a lovely day…
Mark thought it would be funny to have the water coming out of his head! The only shot we got all weekend of the four of us together…
We saw this dog out paddling with the ducks!
And look how clear and beautiful the water is! It’s because it’s essentially come from the snow on the mountains, so it’s very pure.
Beautiful. "Wish you were here" kind of beautiful! The dog swimming is so cute! Amazingly clear, much like Lake Tahoe. Tahoe is really deep so it's hard to tell how clear it is - only in a few spots. But I know what you mean about the pureness.
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Tanya
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Saturday 5 May – part six: I think we need to visit that!
As we’d got here, I’d noticed a magic word – “gelateria” or ice cream shop, so as it had been a long time since breakfast, I suggested we pay it a visit…
I got the melon and coconut ice creams and they were wonderful…
Everyone else agreed that their flavours were beautiful as well, so I think it was a great stop. From there, we walked back along the lakeside…
As it was such a beautiful day, it was busy, but it was also busy because it was the Geneva marathon the next day and they had an expo and lots of food concessions around as well, which made the place seem even more vibrant.
We headed over to the see the Floral Clock in the Jardin Anglais (English Garden). It was first created back in 1955 as a tribute to Switzerland’s clock-making tradition. It has eight intersecting wheels and a total of 6,500 flowers.
Sadly it was mobbed. Graham was having issues with his hay fever (thankfully I wasn’t!), so we left there quite quickly and wandered back to the car…
Look what I found on the way!
We made our way over the Mont-Blanc bridge across this end of Lake Geneva…
…and along the lakeside…
… and into the United Nations quarter. It was originally built in the early 1930s as the headquarters of the League of Nations, which was founded in 1920 to preserve world peace after the end of World War I. That didn’t work so well, did it? After the Second World War, the complex became the European headquarters of the United Nations Organisation. Now it’s home to 3,000 employees and the whole building is an international complex.
Yes that is a knot tied in that gun – we think it’s to represent the need for peace From memory, this is again about peace – that’s why the chair only has three legs…
It was here that Graham’s camera decided to die, which was really frustrating for him, but I’ve learnt a lot about dealing with unruly cameras over the year and eventually my suggestion of turning it off and taking the battery out before putting it back in solved the problem. Phew!
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You might think this was planned, but it came into being almost by accident. In the late 19th century, a fountain was first put in to relieve the excess water pressure while a reservoir system was being installed. It became so popular that it was decided a permanent one would be built and it became more and more powerful, as more powerful pumps were developed. 
We could get all the way out. As we walked along, I took lots and lots of photos, as it was such a lovely day… 
That is an interesting story about the Jet D'Eau which I agree sounds better in French!! 
After the Second World War, the complex became the European headquarters of the United Nations Organisation. Now it’s home to 3,000 employees and the whole building is an international complex. 
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