Genève
Ecma’s General Assembly met in Geneva . The meeting was short but productive; Jochen and Samina ran a tight ship and the Secretariat are wonderful hosts. We approved a number of publications, including new editions of ECMA-{74,109,262,402,403,418,419}.
Samina took me back to Monsieur Ador for dinner the first night and, after the meeting wrapped, some of us met up at my hotel’s rooftop lounge before having dinner at Café Papon in the Vieille Ville.
I closed my last night in town at Le Phare, my favorite of the two queer bars in Geneva, which was thoroughly lovely—except for that one fucking guy.
I flew TAP Air Portugal to Lisbon and SWISS to Geneva. Humberto Delgado continues to be on my list of least favorite airports, though I was happy to gobble up a couple pastéis de nata during my layover. I returned to SFO via Dublin on Aer Lingus. This was my shortest visit to the oul’ sod by far—I didn’t even have enough time for a pint before boarding.
When flying to the US from Dublin or Shannon, you pass through the US’s border control and customs apparatus on your way to your gate, while still in Ireland. (This is also the case in many Canadian airports.) This used to just feel like a convenience to me, but this time, it hit different. It really struck me as an imperial extension of arbitrary power onto the territory of another sovereign nation. I suppose it was probably always exactly that, and my obliviousness to that was privilege.
This was my second visit to Geneva and to Switzerland; my first was in March. The city and lake continue to charm me, though the weather was way too hot for this SF girl. I stayed at the Métropole, one block away from the office. Fantastic location, lovely room, broken AC. Would happily stay there again, though preferably when it’s cooler out. ✚