I guess we can finally say that winter over le Reculet is finished. It took some time for a spring to push through, but now snow in the mountains is, let’s say, occasional. In the past few weeks I went to climb that mountain a couple of times but each time is different so I really don’t mind following the same route repeatedly. I also like observing my form getting better and better, now it takes me much less time to reach the top than it used to.
So, this time on Le Reculet slopes:
– fields of daffodils replaced by fields of marsh marigolds
– Le Reculet cross no longer frosty
– wildlife safe and sound on the rocks and ready to pose for pictures as usual.
Today we went for an absolutely awesome visit of CMS detector of Large Hadron Collider. But before I start with the description and pictures, a short YouTube video in order for you to understand the title of this post.
I love this video, it’s funny and it conveys surprisingly a lot of science knowledge going on in LHC.
So back to our visit – CERN is a place where the scientists from all over the world look for the principle of our world. But that’s not the only thing in CERN’s strategy. They also try and spread the knowledge about physics, educate people etc. That is why they organize free trips, exhibitions, lectures etc. I really appreciate that and we could benefit from that not for the first time.
We enrolled for a visit to CMS – one of four detectors in LHC. When I was at CERN 3 years earlier it was impossible to visit the cavern because the beam was in and detectors were closed for public. This time, with long shutdown and maintenance phase, going to a detector was first thing we thought of.
Our visit started with SM18, a place where the magnets and other elements for LHC are assembled.
For me it was a very interesting tour because the guide explained everything we saw and added some interesting stories on top. i was aware of some facts, but more or less half was new to me so I was pretty content to have that tour.
Then we went on a shuttle and drove to Cessy, a small French village where CMS detector was build only 15 years ago. It really makes me breathless to think that all of that was constructed only within 15 years. They started with a flat ground, dug a shaft of 100 m. underground, build the whole infrastructure around and constructed the detector which, for me, is like a masterpiece of science. Seriously, when I saw this I was simply awestruck. It’s so enormous and complicated and makes you respect collaborative work because such things can only happen when people unite and act together in one cause.
How cool is that?
It takes a lot of champagne to celebrate all the days of success of LHC/CMS.
And at the end check out our short movie from the visit to the cavern:
Finally, clouds that had been covering the Geneva sky decided to give us a break and unveil the sun. Therefore we took the occasion and went out for a walk down the neighbouring vineyards. We started off from Challex, a quaint village on the French side. There is really something charming about those lovely little dots on a map, life seems so peaceful there, everything is neat and tidy and there are tiny offerings at every corner. What do I mean by offerings? Things that you watch with pleasure, that sometimes trigger your thoughts on different subjects like history, human mankind, even our lives. Such things make you stop for a while and absorb the beauty of being. Ok, maybe that description is a bit flamboyant, I admit, but if you once see those petits villages you will understand what I mean.
We found ourselves almost immediately on the vineyard trail and we made our way to Dardagny – a Suiss village of wine makers. The grapevinewe passed by were not yet in full gloom, well, not even in partial gloom, I would say – they were just waking up from winter. I guess these hills must look spectacular in summer, we will definitely visit the place again when they start to flourish.
From Dardagny we followed the trail back to Challex. It was even more spectacular and, as the sun went higher, hotter than our first part of the trip. First we passed by the village, watching the wine-vaults, stopping by a chateau and admiring the flowery mansions scattered all over the place. Then we turned right, off the beaten track, through yellow fields and vineyards again. When we reached Challex I was already pretty tired, not used to the sun and a bit rusty in joints after winter, so we went back to Saint Genis for lunch.
The weather was awful today, so when in the evening the sun pushed its way through the clouds, we went for a short walk in Saint Genis. You can’t imagine our astonishment when it turned out that just a few meters away from our doorway we had camels, donkey, horses, lamas and various other creatures that came here with the circus. We could actually touch them, though they didn’t reciprocate our interest and were utterly involved in nibbling at grass. Anyway, for me – a city dude, as well as animal fan – such proximity of oriental creatures was awesome.
The weather is not very favorable for me during my stay at Radek’s. Today was more or less the first day with the sun shine long enough to actually get out somewhere further, so we set off to Geneva for a walk. The city itself is not new to us, but you can always discover something unexpected in large places like that.
We started from the old city of Geneva, with its St. Pierre cathedral. We also strolled through the narrow, cobble-stoned allays and enjoyed the first breath of summer.
Old town, although very nice, is not a very extensive one, so after a while we moved to Les Pâquis, the lake side district. First we passed by a must-see in Geneva – a flower clock. It seems like it looks differently in every season, always spectacular though.
Then we moved to the lake side, with an emblem of the city – jet d’eau – a water fountain of 140 m height.
First we marveled at it from the distance, but when we saw the impending rain clouds, we sped up a bit and walked close to the fountain pump. After a short discussion what would happen if someone pulled his hand over the pump, we rushed to the car, as the sky turned pretty gloomy.
Last week I has a guest. Her name is Pinot (from the name of wine sort: Pinot Gris). It’s a cat of Ania’s colleagues from french classes – they were travelling on holidays for a week and were looking for someone to take care of their lovely cat.
So, for a week I had yet another flat-mate: Pinot. She is a very adorable cat who likes a presence of people. She also always reacts to her name. On top of that, she is very pretty – a bit grey, a bit ginger, a bit white.
I’ve wanted to make some photos of the night sky for long time. First I did’t have lenses bright enough, then I did’t have any opportunity to be in a remote place at night. I hoped to do the photos when I arrive at CERN. I live in a very small town close to the mountain so in a few minutes I can reach a place with no light pollution. But for the first one and a half month of my stay here the weather was awful. Fortunately last week the weather changed and there were two cloudless nights.
So at 19:00 I drove to a place that I spotted earlier and waited until the sun set. While waiting I made a short TimeLaps:
After 10 pm I started shooting and I think that this photos were worth all this waiting. Enjoy:
One again I hit the track of Le Reculet. This time the whether was better, snow was less slippery and I had trekking bats. But once again I didn’t reach the top. During the trip I had a few nice encounters, though:
Also there was a lot of spectacular views, without the mist 😉
Unfortunately not so far away from Le Reculet top I was forced to turn back because there was too much snow. When I fell into snow up to my chest and I needed to dig myself out I decided that this was time to go back home. Nevertheless, because of beautiful weather and spectacular view, this day was totally successful.
