Where Hadrons collide

CERN stands for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European Council for Nuclear Research) and was founded shortly after WWII with the target of joint international nuclear science projects for peaceful purposes.

We were lucky enough to get two tickets for a guided tour in Geneva, so we were quite excited!

CERN is famous for a quite a few things, but mainly for
a) the invention of the world wide web (which is NOT the same as the internet; the Americans have invented that!), and
b) the massive, MASSIVE (imagine a Jeremy Clarkson voice here) proton accelerator ALICE, or Large Hadron Collider, that was built with a circumference of 27km, 100m below the surface, covering parts of Switzerland and France.

Protons are accelerated to more than 99.9% of speed of light and then shot against each others. Their collisions are simulating The Big Bang, so the scientists learn a lot about what our universe is made of.

Unfortunately our tour guide spoke English with an extremely heavy Italian accent and was almost incomprehensible. But even if he had spoken German we probably would not have understood a lot.

Still we really enjoyed the tour a lot as they were showing some very interesting movies, we had a chance to see the CERN control centre and we were able to breathe an atmosphere of internationality, science and intellectual freedom that reminded us very much of the Star Trek philosophy.

We would have loved to grasp a look at ALICE, but unfortunately this was not possible. Surely we highly recommend a visit of CERN to everybody who is planning to visit the area!

Welcome to Heidiland!

Think banks, watches, the Alps and alphorns, cheese with big holes and chocolate. People obsessed with efficiency, correctness, punctuality, and cleanliness. A land that practices direct democracy (Every vote counts, really!). Folks, that don't have their own language and hence, speak four different tongues. Rings a bell? We have arrived in Switzerland.

We found a parkade right in downtown Geneva (which was very reasonably priced compared to parking in Calgary or Vancouver), and went straight to the tourist information, where we obtained a self-guided walking tour through the old town.

Public transit is complete electric (buses and trams), so besides enjoying the fabulous weather we got to enjoy the clean air.

The lanes in the historic districts are small, and obviously not designed for motorized vehicles (the four wheeled kind that is).

 An old book store.

This area seems to be dominated by scooters and bicycles. Also, we have never seen more BMW C1 than here in Geneva.

Town Hall

 Armoury

Flags everywhere.

 Saint Pierre Cathedral

Across the church we found a little creperie, where we had delicious... buckwheat crepes.

Swiss outdoor life.

And we said hi to Alonzo's Swiss cousin, which was already pretty dinged after 3,000 km, living the hard life of a commuter scooter.

Torrential Rain and Heavy Flooding

Central Europe has been hit hard with bad weather during May. It was not only the coldest but also the rainiest month since decades of not centuries. In France and the Blackforest area we have seen swollen rivers but so far everything seems under control. In other parts of Europe whole cities have been swallowed by water, such as in Rosenheim in Bavaria.

Picture: Source

We visited Kehl at the French border, a city located at the river Rhine. Everything is prepared for the flood, but the Rhine is still tame compared to other rivers.

The river separates Germany from France, so by crossing the foot bridge (Did we mention that there are no borders?) you enter another country. Isn't that cool?

On the left there is Germany, and France on the right side. Roland is 'cut in half' by the virtual border.

This barge below wasn't allowed to continue its journey. All boat traffic has been stopped for now.

Flooded pathways.

 We hope the vehicles got moved before parking lot got flooded.

At the end of the day the sun came out, looked at the wet calamity, and went back into hiding.

Route des Crêtes (not Crète)

We became terribly aware of how bad our French language skills had become, when we found ourselves pondering about what the Greek had to do with the Route des Cretes.

Crête = Ridge or Crest          Crète = The Greek Island

It's all in the accent.

We are in the French region of Alsace, famous for good wine and rich solid food (that is if you like piles of smoked meat and cabbage...). The French here don't seem to get the point of vegan or vegetarian cuisine. So, if you are wired that way, you better bring your own food along or just for fun try discussing the 'veganization' of the menu with the waiter...

But we weren't here for the culinary experience, we wanted to explore the Vosges a bit more in detail, and the best way to do this is taking the Route des Crêtes, the mountain ridge road from Cernay to Le Bonhomme (on the left). and further to Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines.

Source

The road is usually open between April and November, and closed in winter due to snowfall. 

This stretch of twisty bliss has become ever so popular with all kind of motorists, but also attacts lots of cyclists and hikers.

Most of the almost 90km (ex-military) road is built between 900m and 1,300m elevation, and offers stunning 360 degrees vistas.

Due to high density traffic, and severe accidents on weekends or holidays there have been discussions of temporary closures to motorized vehicles. 

For now the authorities introduced speed limits and put up warning signs to drive carefully (especially towards motorcyclists...).

The Col de Grand Ballon being the highest drivable point (1,325m).

And it's all downhill from there...

A little later we had a classic example of bad motorcycling. A group of three power rangers on their crotch rockets came up from behind, passed us at high speed, and we watched them speeding away imposing their dangerous maneuvers on other motorists and cyclists. A few miles later we found one of them picking up his bike, and parts of the fairing, mirrors and other bits and pieces. Instead the two-wheeler had now grass and mud for decoration... Thanks to his gear he didn't seem to be hurt, however it must have dented his ego quite a bit because he didn't even put down his helmet, probably still beet red from embarrassment... His buddies helped and he seemed ok, so we moved on.

Some old barns.

 We crossed the river Rhine...

 ...and are back in Germany.

A coffee break in Endingen am Kaiserstuhl.

The Stork Tower in Zell am Harmersbach.

And some 17th centrury Swedish cannons, not sure how they got here.

Another wonderful day came to an end, and even better... the local Greek restaurant was happy to veganize Sonja's meal.