u/ramm_jeet

Go to the iron bank and get your gold back, matter of fact, take the rest of their gold too. Burn their ships and make sure they cannot attack you while you sort out your house. Give the realm a common enemy that isn’t you. Get gold without inconveniencing the nobles and merchants.

Of course in practice there are many limitations to the idea but you know, ruling.

https://preview.redd.it/92rjtahxi78h1.png?width=825&format=png&auto=webp&s=32b8db6cf8f91504b90f6bd5c2da9c75564ae448

Looking at Helaena's prophecies so far, it is shocking how little Viserys paid attention to her. Most everyone brushes her off as cooky and pays her no attention. Of all her family members, Viserys would have been the one to understand her. He longed to be a dreamer and thought of himself as one but failed to see the one right under his roof.

I also think about this conversation he has with Lyonel Strong where he wishes he had been tested (great scene). He fails to see that he is being tested in the moment. His family is literally falling apart around his decisions and he more or less ignores them. And throughout his reign, he basically runs away from every challenge he faces until an obvious solution presents itself for him to take.

>VT: Will I be remembered as a good king, Lyonel?

>LS: Your Grace?

>VT: What will they say of me when the histories are written?

>LS: I have neither fought nor conquered, nor suffered any great defeat. Some might call that good fortune.

>VT: It hardly makes a good song, does it? To be sung at feasts in a hundred years… five hundred.

>LS: You have carried King Jaehaerys’s legacy. And kept the realm strong. Is it not better to live in peace than to have songs sung after you are dead?

>VT: Perhaps. But there is a part of me wishes I’d been tested. I often think that in the crucible, I may have been forged a different man.

>LS: Many that are tested, only wish to have been spared it.

>VT: Another lord might assure me that I would rise like Aegon the Conqueror given the chance.

>LS: Your Grace, that is…

>VT: You’re right. You’re right… as always. It is perhaps best not to know.

They speak about two of the greatest Targaryen rulers who were both extremely decisive and were admired for it. Both Aegon and Jaehaerys relied on their family members and dragons and that proved successful for their reigns. Was Viserys more caught up on the outcome of their reigns and not on their process? He never expressed any interest in getting to know his people (or his family for that matter) nor did he want to use dragons even when absolutely necessary. He constantly confided in and took advise from the wrong people while ignoring the people who had his best interests at heart.

In the end, it is tragic how his reign ended but could things have been different if Viserys had been more decisive and open to his family members helping him rule?

I heard this was a thing in the Women’s Euros but perhaps this was just because Suisse was hosting.
Looking to watch the opening by the lake.

There’s nothing as fascinating to me as realising stores that I expected to be present nationwide are not present in Geneva and or the entire Romandie. As a Bern transplant, here’s some of the ones I’ve noticed:

1. OTTO’s -usually for misc. household items that I where I want to find less common brands
2. Orell Füssli - this one hit me like a bullet train, their collection of English books is much more extensive. I still rely on libraries more and know they do deliver but if anyone has recs for a similar store to Orell Füssli…. please and thank you ☀️
3. Müller - this I realised while I was looking for Burt’s Bees in Geneva and couldn’t find any. It occurred to me that I’d often seen it in Bern and this was typically at Müller, which apparently doesn’t exist in Romandie. Not a train smash though, I was getting most other stuff from elsewhere… except Burt’s Bees.
   (In hindsight, the very German sounding names of these stores should have been an indicator of sorts for me )
   * This last one doesn’t strictly count because you hardly get their shops outside of Bern but if anyone knows a gelato place in Geneva that comes close to Gelataria di Berna, give me a shout.

Anyway, what are some of the stores you’ve noticed?