I See Your Veal and Raise You a Foie Gras

The Frommer's guidebook to Switzerland and the poorly-written website of Lac Leman's biggest boat service can suck it. I was led by both to believe that, if I woke up at 6 and headed down to the quayside, I could board a paddle steamer for an all-day cruise around the entire lake with stops in Lausanne, Montreux, Evian, etc. Needless to say, that's not the case, and I was hours too early for the first cruise of the day. To calm down, I headed to the original Davidoff store on Rue Rive, (Geneva's version of 5th Ave., Newbury St., what have you), where they had a selection of their own Dominican cigars as well as boxes of Havana Cohibas. Ignoring the US embargo on Cuba, (which, as we all know, led to Castro's downfall mere weeks after it was implemented in February 1962. Score one for America!) I feasted on the forbidden fruit on the lakeshore while pretending to understand the day's issue of le Monde. Needing to get the taste of socialism out of my mouth, I hiked out again to Vielle Ville (Old Town) to scout out the cafes.
On the way to lunch I stumbled on the house of Albert Gallatin. The plaque on his birthplace sure sounded impressive and, one Wikipedia search later, I learned that he was a Swiss emigre to the US way back in the day, had a hand in crafting Pennsylvania's Constitution, was a US senator, held the job of Secretary of the Treasury under Jefferson and Madison for 12 years (still the longest term ever - that's his statue outside the US Treasury in DC), helped found NYU and plan the Lewis and Clark expedition, and essentially created the field of Native American studies, all while being decried by politicians and the public as a shifty French-accented foreigner. Of course, with these modest achievements it's no wonder every American schoolchild knows the name... Gallatin.

Settling down into a table in Cafe Papon, I noticed that the menu advertised that the cafe had moved to its 'new' location in 1617. I ordered le menu (a three-course meal), and drowned myself in a meal of sea bass, creme brulee and foie gras. The foie gras (illegal in several US states/cities - sorry, animal lovers) was amazing, and the fact that it was made from geese, the birds from the 5th circle, made it all the sweeter.
Then it was on to more sightseeing. I hit up the austere church where John Calvin preached against the Man and Indulgences. Off to the side of the pews was a special roped-off section reserved for Calvin's chair, from which he fought the Power while resting his dainty feet.

... and then off to the Musee d'art et d'histoire, which had a huge ancient Egypt section as well as its fair share of van Gogh, Rodin, Renoir, Monet and Cezanne. Although the museum itself seemed to be feeling its age, every room had brand-new temperature, humidity and earthquake monitors - the museum may be falling down around them but the caretakers will never be taken surprise by a sudden 2 degree humidity spike, I'll tell you that much.