Geneve

After my long day on the train yesterday this morning started a bit slower. Eventually I got on the train to Geneve but first I stopped off in Lausanne. My intent was to take the boat to Geneve but I didn't realize it was going to take 4 hours... I should have checked that out before I left. I checked out public transit in Lausanne because I will be back on Tuesday and then caught another train to Geneve. Then I found the hostel which took a bit of looking because I didn't have the address. I should have checked that out before I left also.

Anyway, I checked into the hostel, so far it is full of teenage girls which hopefully means no snorers. I'll udpate about that later. Then I left to wander around Geneve. Well, talk about the ugly big cousin of all the other cities I've seen in Switzerland. I realize it's supposed to be international, but it looks like any big city in the world transplanted. I'm sure it has it's charm somewhere, I just didn't know where to look. Of course, it doesn't help that I got into town after the museums have all closed so I just wandered the streets. Plus the fountain wasn't running. Downtown Geneve was interesting for about 10 minutes (oh, look, they have Chanel here too). So I decided for an adventure in public transit and caught the buses (2) out to CERN.

CERN, the home of antimatter and apparently Popes, was everything I was expecting and it was fantastic! It is a big campus that seems to combine all the ugliest elements of UBC, even the public art is ugly. It was way out of town which was nice, I like taking public transit as a way to see the layout of the city. I wandered around the buildings for about half-an-hour. I even got the English tour I so wanted. I followed these two guys into the campus as one was explaining to his guest:

"The synchrotrons are on the left and the *mumbles* are on the right"
"Where's the big one"
"Right under our feet and heading off into France"

I left at this point, there is a limit to my stalking behaviour, though I still wonder what was on the right. Despite the empty campus maybe I should have walked closer to my unofficial guides.

In my wanderings I found the vineyards that CERN is next too and I also found the cafeteria! I think anyway. If I wasn't so chicken I could have maybe had dinner inside. I was wondering why campus was so busy on a Sunday but I had forgotten it is Monday already! Time is going quickly here!

Finally, I am posting this right now on a lovely terrace overlooking... some rather bland escarpment with ...holy crap that's a lot of a paragliders. Anyway, posting this as the village of Geneve provides free WiFi! Now that's some charm.