JulietJFall, to geopolitics
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Want to see atmospheric yet often really mundane border photos? My online 🇨🇭🇫🇷 walking journal is moving here, as I’m enjoying this new online atmosphere. (I’m freezing new posts on Twatter & just ‘name-holding’ my account.)
Link to last post on one of the longer earlier threads:
https://twitter.com/julietjfall/status/1571476764269871104?s=46&t=9RfIT2qARWZk8ZBEIES9Vw

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Most of our walk followed the Allondon river that was used to define this stretch of 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, a beautifully wild valley with sunny dry prairies and woods. There was fabulous moss and lichen all around, glistening in the sun.
The second 1818 border stone we encountered was incongruously in the middle of a Swiss campsite, no. 136. A few caravans were occupied, with families enjoying sunny picnics, perhaps just there for the day.

Border stone 136, in the middle of a campsite with ramshackle caravans behind it.
Moss on a tree trunk
Moss and lichen on a twig in the sunshine.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

In a howling north-east wind (“la bise” but not the kissing kind!) we continued our erratic multi-day ramble along the🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, from border stone 123 down to 99, in Meyrin, starting near the CERN (European nuclear research centre). Only dog walkers and keen runners were out, braving the near-freezing sudden return of winter temperatures. We’ll need to gain access to the closed cross-border CERN campus if we want to walk along that stretch.

Border stone 120 on the right, with a path between fields and sparse forest. The landscape is wintery, with no leaves yet on the trees.
A waist-high border stone, with number 108, with a large G on one side, carved on the broadest side, next to a wooded path. There is spray-painted graffiti on the lower part of the stone showing a bright pink heart and some faded letters, including an N.
A border stone with the date 1818 lies next to a field, with bare trees next to it. The sky is blue with a few clouds. The photo doesn’t accurately show how incredibly cold it is.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

This Treaty of Paris 1818 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border stretch followed historical field & parish lines, leading to a convoluted boundary with many stones demarcating the changes of direction. Lichen-encrusted border signs were slowly going feral; border stones stood to attention covered in beautiful moss, others restored & scrubbed clean: standing stones for modern political rituals not ancient religions, yet imbued with curious magic.

A French border in a field sign reads “Attention douane passage interdit” but is covered in a multitude of clumps of lichen. Perhaps it looks as though vibrant nature is replacing stark human politics?
A border stone covered in moss, with 1818 on one side and a French fleur-de-lys on another, in a wooded location next to a path.
Three moss-covered border stones stand guard along the edge of a field. The date 1818 is just visible on the side of the closest one. The furthest one is barely visible.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

A different border, close by, built of fear, determination and some hubris. Now mostly associated with a chocolate bar: the line of toblerones near Gland, built during WWII to slow down a feared but hypothetical foreign attack. Now preserved as heritage. Look closely at the Maison Bleue — the blue house. It’s not a real home but a fortified and camouflaged gun position. Borders disguised as rural idyll. Somehow chilling.

The same location as the previous photo, framed so the onlooker can glimpse between two blocks onto a green field beyond
The same location as the previous two images, framed to show the line of blocks on the edge of a woodland, on the right. A green field is to the left of the image.
image/jpeg

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Back to border-hopping after a long summer of heat and travel further afield. Yay for restarting mini-adventures close by, hopping back and forth in time with many archival photos stored on my phone! We haven’t walked all the way round the Canton of Geneva yet: endless little treasures to find, and new places to explore.

A sign banning dogs from a square, across the border in France.
A sepia photo of the Swiss border post house, with old-style cars in front.
The same building as the previous photo, today. The building has been extended on both ends. An ugly covered portico covers the road, providing cover for the Swiss border guards. The photo is taken from the French side.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

It’s surprising to me how many border stones are carved erroneously. It’s almost embarrassing — but perfectly delightful too! — how much time and money must have been invested to lay this one with an S (for 🇫🇷 Savoie) carved backwards (🇨🇭was G for Geneva on that one). Or maybe it was done on purpose as a subtle insult?
(One advantage of my mini-border-crossing adventures is that I get to visit French boulangeries. For research purposes, obviously.)

The other side of the same border stone, with a large G carved in it.
A field, blue sky and the silhouette of the Salève mountain, with a flock of pigeons in the sky. They must have been picking over the freshly-harvested wheat field. The back of the field is actually the border.
The author’s bike on a messy street dug up by roadworks, but the photo is taken sitting on a pleasant wooden table in front of a boulangerie in France, with two baguettes steaming hot peeking out of a shopping bag.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

A walk of contrasts today, with many brambles, some light trespassing into a gravel quarry, pretty countryside and industrial stretches between Bardonnex & Croix-de-Rozon.

The author’s spouse is disappearing into a ditch of nettles attempting to get close to an invisible line in a rural landscape.
The photo is taken from the opposite bank of a river, in France, looking through dappled light on wooded trees onto a field and border stone. A person is gazing through field glasses at the following border stone.
The author’s spouse is walking along a very busy road.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Anyone care to sponsor me to buy this abandoned border post? This would be my dream drawing studio for finishing my border comic! Maybe I need a fundraising project here, or a spare 450’000 Swiss Francs, or a real bestseller? Hmmm…

Walking under the watchful eyes of security cameras.
The international border was moved to accommodate this new motorway.
image/jpeg

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Sunday morning wandering and cycling around between past and present, in slight drizzle, chasing border stones & French boulangeries.

In case you missed it, a short comic stemming from this walking & drawing border project is mentioned here: https://mastodon.social/@JulietJFall/111427226794927481

The same place as the previous image, only photographed today.
Swiss/French border stone 62A at the Bardonnex motorway border passage point, photographed close up, showing the card Geneva flag on one side.
Swiss/French border stone 61A near to the Bardonnex motorway border passage point, in the woods, covered in light lichen. It dates to 1993 when the border was moved to allow for the construction of the new motorway. The side showing the letter S, for Switzerland, is visible. Autumn leaves rest on the ground.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Term-time is ended, the archives are closed, and we are back outside celebrating the beginning of the holidays by walking! Walking the wiggly borderlines along the Foron river, where the border is unusually not in the middle of the stream but along the right (Swiss) bank. France has full rights over the water. Interestingly, 🇨🇭and 🇫🇷 haven’t formally agreed on the exact location of the border here and discussions are ongoing.

Birderstone 99 on one side of a bridge, with a wiggly line on top indicating that the river follows the stream.
Information sign about the practical effects of the border on local farmers
French sign saying “Service Fiscal attention passage interdit” and assorted barriers stopping vehicular passage, but open to pedestrians

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We wandered on along a charming path in the evening sun, enjoying the usual mix of contrasting landscapes on either side of the line: small villas on the Swiss side & rather charmless apartment blocks in France. I love spotting the immediately-recognizable former border posts, often now converted, built in the 1920s & mostly designed by Marc Camoletti: the architect who built the Musée d’Art et d’Histoire.

A big G for Geneva on borderstone 100, on the Foron
Former border post architecture, now converted to a private house.
Borderstone 101 in a thick mess of brambles and trees, close to the river

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We ended up in Thônex, just after a beautiful borderstone showing the Sardaigne/Savoie arms, and the Geneva key & eagle. Home for tea!

Borderstone with Geneva flag carved in stone, outlined in black paint, on a busy border crossing, on a main road.
The other (now French) side of the border stone, and the date 1975
A smaller stone, also from 1975, laid following a small border change linked to the construction of the large border passage point. A key point for commuters from France, coming to work in Geneva. Urban landscape, next to a metal fence, with the Salève mountain in the background.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

My, my, guess what we’ve been doing today for a blissfully sunny & warm Boxing Day? Unseasonably warm, but just perfect for hopping across and along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border, this time near Jussy. Four hours to walk from border stones 120 to 155, and back to the starting point, with two extra bonus old ones incongruously moved from elsewhere & reused rather oddly to mark the entrance to a property.

Border stone 132 in a field
Border stone 137, sawn down to ground level to allow the road to be widened. Field next to it, Jura mountains on the horizon, capped in snow. Sunshine.
Border stone 147 by a brook the marks the border, low undergrowth. Sunshine. Moss covering the stone that is lit up by the sun.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

This stretch of our long ongoing border walk saw us traipsing along paths, mostly on the Swiss side, and sometimes crossing muddy fields, digging in brambles looking for border stones and wandering in unexpected stretches of mossy woods as we traced our way along the 🇨🇭🇫🇷border. This was an old section of the border of what was the Mandement de Jussy, belonging to the city of Geneva before the canton was made into one contiguous unit in 1815.

Borderstone 154 seen in close up from above, with sinuous border line and the author’s hand resting on it.
Low sun on the horizon illuminating moss growing on trees
The borderline follows the brook, with sunny moss growing on fallen logs

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Yesterday, we got chased down the mountain we were staying on by a blocked toilet (not fun in an isolated chalet in a snowstorm!), so back to walking the 🇨🇭 🇫🇷 border. A lovely but VERY muddy walk today, back near Jussy.

First: a curiosity. A house built using recycled 1754 border stones, removed in 1798 (thank you French Revolution!) during the short-lived creation of the French Département du Léman.

Photo a window in an old stone house using border stones, with the G for Geneva clearly visible
Facade of an old stone house, showing that all the windows are made from border stones, showing the G for Geneva or S for Savoie/Sardaigne. Lovely old golden stones.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

The border first followed a stream, then a series of extremely muddy canals dug through the boggy forest. We walked very slowly, hopping from log to log, as the paths turned to brooks and the stones became islands, fired on by our delightfully pointless quest to find all the stones. Geneva felt like an island surrounded by boggy lands.
A lovely day in the sun with three of us walking for a change, fired on by biscuits and chocolates.

Another border stone by a path of water in the winter woodland, with number 168 on one side.
Yet another stone by a stream, with a large S on one side (Savoie). The stone is standing in water, as the whole landscape is boggy.
The border stone is actually surrounded by water on all four sides, as the river has carved around it. The border passes through the middle of the stream.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Sometimes, my walks lead to unexpected marvels. It started out today as a quest to find old border buildings near Moillesulaz (🇨🇭) / Moëllesulaz (🇫🇷) but they were all apparently flattened & replaced with a shiny new (& super useful!) cross-border tram & modern blocks of flats or administrative buildings. So, a frustrating start if nostalgia is your thing. But what happened next will surprise you, as they say...

The same location as the previous photo, in which the road has been hugely broadened with new tram lines separated from the road traffic
Same location, on the Swiss side.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Smile moment last night as we hopped into France to celebrate my lovely father-in-law’s 80th birthday, crossing by car at a place we have walked. I know all the slightest details of the borderline there, and the location of every stone. But politics also has daily rhythms that we forgot. When we wanted to go home, the border was shut. Ha! My daughter took one look at me and said “Ah, yes, Captain Geography…” 😂 I now have a new ironic title!

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Another Sunday exploring. No snow on the mountains, so the family isn’t skiing as much as some winters. Time to border hop!
We connected back with where the photo above — showing a border that closes at night — was taken, and tootled on. I love spotting all the infrastructure connected to the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border. I now have an official list of it all from the Office du Patrimoine but it’s usually pretty legible.

Man tapping his gps watch at the exact border. A Swiss border crossing station is behind saying Douane de Croix-de-Rozon, 1960s architecture.
Phone map screenshot, from Swisstopo app, showing that the border follows a tiny stream along this stretch. The French side of the map is blank.
Former 1920s border post, now converted to private dwellings. Probably designed by Marc Camoletti.

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

Lots of lovely border stones to keep me happy along the way (left bank 72 to 85 today), large and small, old and new(ish). Some easy to see, some requiring a phone app with gps to find in brambles, some needing repair, and some behind private fences (ahem…).

Modern 1981 granit border stone, by a stream. Large S for Switzerland on one side.
A massive borderstone number 74bis at the tip of a triangle shape. The author stands behind it, looking happy but rather unfocused
Border stone 77 made of limestone rock in low undergrowth. It’s in a terrible shape, so damaged that only half of the number is visible. It’s close to a field so perhaps got hit by a tractor?

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We wore Wellington boots today, which was inspired, because it was muddy in places, we waded through the stream used to define the 🇨🇭🇫🇷 border for some stretches, and it was POURING with rain as we turned back to the car. Home for tea after another lovely walk seeing the superb and the mundane, following an (in)visible line. How much effort goes in to making us believe in the reality of the arbitrary territories we carve out!

A sign by a fence saying Passage Interdit.
A large French road with the Salève mountain in the sun, before the skies opened. The border is along the trees on the left.
A person climbing through brambles and branches to reach border stone 80

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

It’s Sunday so off we go 🇨🇭🇫🇷boundary-walking, through fields & along the river Hermance. We walked from border stones 210 to 216 on the left bank, close to Veigy-Foncenex.
We started by stumbling upon a memorial in Crevy to some of the Righteous among the Nations, i.e. local people who helped Jewish refugees flee to Switzerland during WWII. (We reckon we’ve got about 5-6 stretches left to complete our tour, but we might stretch it out a bit!)

Stone monument that looks like wings
Context of the small monument in Crevy, that shows how it’s a little spot rather in the middle of nowhere, not really at the border nor in the village

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We joined up with the border & continued upstream, along the river Hermance. The border now runs down the middle of it here (here it was formerly along the talweg, i.e. following the deepest bit of the river bed). It is a picturesque and languid river meandering in a rural landscape punctuated by the usual border infrastructure: border stones, disused border guard buildings and rusting signs and fences.

A border stone un the foreground, next to an old stone bridge. The Swiss old border guard’s house is visible in the background
The typical 1910 architecture of the Swiss border post houses, designed by Marc Camoletti
Border stone 2016b, in the mud by the river Hermance

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We found ourselves in formerly Sardinian (!) territory as a splendid crested border stone across the 🇨🇭🇫🇷Hermance river reminded us that this was part of wider kingdoms in 1816, before the same stone was recarved when this area joined France, but maintaining the Sardinian royal flag. On the other side, the Geneva crest was spectacularly inaccurate, and as a result really rather cool.

The Geneva crest of an eagle & key, but carved in such a way as to look like a scrawny chicken with a funny hat
Sardinian eagle crest, with the name France carved below it
The author squinting into the sun next to stone number 214

JulietJFall,
@JulietJFall@mastodon.social avatar

We then got into trouble traipsing across cross-border fields, ending up in someone’s garden, trying to accurately follow the line where it left the river. « We are just trying to follow the invisible borderline» not surprisingly comes across as rather odd to people who are wondering if the walkers wandering into their land are a) lost or b) burglars! To be fair, none of this really makes any sense, does it? Other than as geographical poetry of the absurd.

Another trace of a WWII memorial (on the French side) marking the gateway to freedom during 1943-44, presumably meaning access to Switzerland, but manned by occupying forces.
Man standing at one border stone looking through binoculars at the next one, in a field
A border passage point that is closed with a gate at night, in front of yet another 1910 border guards building

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • JUstTest
  • khanakhh
  • DreamBathrooms
  • everett
  • magazineikmin
  • osvaldo12
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • mdbf
  • slotface
  • rosin
  • thenastyranch
  • kavyap
  • tacticalgear
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • GTA5RPClips
  • ethstaker
  • provamag3
  • ngwrru68w68
  • normalnudes
  • cubers
  • tester
  • modclub
  • megavids
  • anitta
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •