Health and Fitness in Geneva (LingoMap)
Bonjour tout le monde!
Je m’appelle Lauren et I have been living depuis quatre mois in Geneva in Switzerland and so I thought it was time for me to write my first blog about Health and Fitness here.
The world is becoming de plus en plus interested in la santé and fitness each day, but chaque pays seems to deal with this craze differently. Geneva is an expensive city, which means that gyms are impossible to join, unless you are a millionaire! However, it is certainly not impossible to keep fit here. La course à pied is free and le lac is the perfect location, especially on a sunny day. This is very popular among the locals, because you can escape the chaos of the city and enjoy the beautiful view, whilst exercising.
Le lac also provides another form of exercise, which is la natation. There is a designated area for the public to swim in the lake for a small fee pendant la journée and gratuit at night. Although this seems like a great way to get fit, the lake is often très froid, so maybe try this during the summer. During the celebration of Escalade (une fête in Geneva, which celebrates the protection of the city against an invasion of the French), there is a swim in the lake on around le 17 décembre. This swim is a race to achieve the quickest time ever, whilst swimming in freezing conditions. Also, this festival is very similar to the extent to which the British celebrate Noël. In fact, it is said to be the largest celebration in Geneva!
En Genève la natation est très populaire. En effet, il y a une piscine près de l’université. The abonnement for this pool is 10 Swiss Francs par mois, which is bon marché in Geneva, parce qu’un sandwich peut coûter 10 francs. La natation is a good way to rester en bonne forme but also to have fun avec tes amis.
Il y a beaucoup de parcs dans la cité, where a lot of exercise classes take place. At first, this seemed a little strange to me, because I would never think of doing a yoga class in the middle of Singleton Park. However, après plusieurs semaines, I realised that les parcs were easily accessible, peaceful and take place in l’air frais. But also, Geneva has many parks, which means that they’re never overcrowded, which is great for escaping la vie citadine.
J’ai parlé a lot about the fitness in the city, but I will now talk about la santé in Geneva. Premièrement, in terms of health care, there are lots of pharmacies, mais les médicaments sont très chers. Deuxièmement, on the majority of days, il y a un marché, où on peut acheter les légumes, les fruits, la viande ou les autres produits qui sont bonnes pour la santé. En Genève, il y a beaucoup de magasins, which sell healthy foods.
Aussi, if you have some temps libre, you can climb up Mont Salève. This hike takes around 3 hours through les forêts. There are different paths depending on your ability, but you can take the cable car up the mountain too. Les vues sont incroyables! On peut voir toute la ville de Genève, including le lac et la cathédrale. On peut visiter la cathédrale Saint-Pierre. En montant les escaliers dans la cathédrale, you can have une vue panoramique de la ville.
Merci for reading my first LingoMap blog! I hope you have enjoyed it and learnt a lot about la belle ville de Genève.
À bientôt!
