Wow, Big Bang

Going into the cavern at CERN has to be one of the most incredible sights I will ever see. I really never realized how enormous the actual structure is. To enter the chamber you first put on a hard hat, get a radiation key. Then enter a screening chamber and stand very still. Then to the elevator and go down 100 meters into the cavern.  Traverse a tunnel, up and down stairs and then enter the cavern. CMS has 5 rings of gianormous  size. All the wiring is color coded and makes it very beautiful. It dwarfs you to stand beside it. To think we helped build it is amazing.  This has to be the highlight of the trip, I am awed, so incredible.

The Blue Dot, never knew it could cost soooo much make me feel so not lost.

Few more days of exploring and then we head west. Kirk headed out to CERN and I caught the tram to Geneve in the pouring rain. The nice thing about the tram is that it goes only two directions, to downtown Geneve and to CERN. So real hard to loose track which way to head, in our continued marital disputes I have been ending up in the wrong more than not. So I figure now that I am without Kirk I will just go the opposite way I think and it should be right. love the man!  So hopefully I will be able to find my way back to Myrein, would be helpful if I could spell it. 

Caught the tram and my plan was to go to Starbucks and wait out the rain. So I am pretty sure I got on the right tram, Kirk put me on it, and wa la I got off at Countance and across the road was Starbucks! What luck, soy, wifi, bathroom and comfy chairs perfect.  So I can plan my way to the next stop, I think is Rousseau Island and the Smurf House. 

Here I go, walk in the rain and see if I find anything. Talk about getting lost. Well I decided to turn on roaming, probably a bad idea but I do love blue dots. Wow, boy do I love blue dots. Wow should of thought of this before. Almost broke my ankle on a step while looking at the blue dot. But I found everything from notre Dame, Smurf Village to rRouseaux .... I will never be lost again.

Sun came out and turned out to be a beautiful day. Saw lots of Geneve. And never was lost. But then it happened. AT&T called, over usage of data. Oh no am I in big trouble. Called them up and had over $100 usage in data, said they could change my plan and sell me 110 data plan for the month and be only $30. Since I had only used ten I have a lot of data to use now. Had to take it.  I have so much data, least until the 19th that I will beable to watch blue dots the rest of the way home. Now if you do not know what the blue dot is go to your iPhone map app and walk around and follow your self, boy I love it. 

Got back to the B&B without any trouble and headed out to Gino's for dinner. I have heard he has the fastest Internet on the planet. 

Best and Worst

Home safe and sound. 

Cleanest - PSI, in Zurich, but in Paris we saw vaccum cleaners in the streets 

Trashy - Catania, Sicily, reminds me of Mexico

Easiest to cross street with out being killed - Brugg, they all stop at cross walks, amazing, no green and red men to tell, you just walk and they stop

Easiest to be killed when crossing street - Oxford , I always look the wrong way

Beggars, lots in Catania, need more jobs there, but we saw panhandlers everywhere, big city thing

English friendly - Paris, Sicily, England does not count,

English not so friendly - Zurich, they do not speak it, and no signs in English

Most naked men- Liverpool

Most naked women - The Louve

Best Transportation - Paris - I love the Metro, Hamburg rates up there too.

Unreliable transportation or canceled - Sicily

Worst Airports - worst hands down Heathrow, there are no signs, DC is a close second

Easiest Airport-  not including small ones, Hamburg

Cafes- Jericho Cafe in Oxford

Best Crescent- L' Authre Bistro, in Paris by our hotel, warm, fresh and delightful.

Best dinner-Puschka, was in Liverpool, amazing

Funkiest Hotel - Liverpool, Aldelphi

Favorite Hotel - Hilton in Naxos

Favorite attraction-CMS, then  Syracusa - harder then hell to get there, but very amazing, Taromina close third

Best wifi- Gino's house

Worst wifi- Hilton- cost in the room, free in Lobby but real slow

Pub- anyone that has beer, 

Favorite Beer -can't remember, ok  Uk

Worst Beer- Paris but was not that bad, 

Best price for dinner- Liverpool at Ceasars

Best waterfront- Liverpool and Hamburg

best bed- Hilton Naxos

Shortest line at Starbucks - Paris

Longest line at Star Buck - US

Bathrooms- watch out in Switzerland, boys and girls go together, that is a shocker.

Menu and ordering- can not seem to order what I want, but food is good, last night we ordered fondue, thinking it was cheese $49 euros , nope, it was steak and $49 each, oops.

Still searching for the beer and soy latte in one place, came pretty close this time.

Keep It Inline

Had a fabulous time at the Louve, stayed most of the day. The good news was all the signs were in French so we could get through it in a day. Our favorite part was the impressionist, Claude Monet and Renoir's, The Lecture. Also loved Michael Angelo's statues. Winged Victory was being republished, Mona was there in all her smallness.

Did a night on the town and had the Narcoise for dinner at a cafe near Eiffel Tower. A bunch of Taiwanese women had dinner with us, we asked them why Asian people took so many pictures, they just laughed. Was fun talking with them.  Walked over to the Eiffel Tower and sat on the lawn and waited for the twinkle. Caught the metro back to the Latin Quarter. 

Went to a micro technical company Monday that was really cool, lots of neat machines, we stayed all day. Had lunch at Marcoosius at a Creperia, delicious, Kirk had a flaming crepe for desert, and we had cider to drink. Very cute country village, beautiful flowers along the roadside. The village was so old, and all roads cobbled. 

Met up with Chris for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  Talked all night and got caught up on all the family news. There was  three birthdays there that night. We sang for all of them.

Went to university and saw a lab for the LSST, telescope. Will take pictures of the whole night sky in three days and do it again and again and again. It will be an amazing data set , available for all people to access. 

Off to Orly on the RER to catch the Not So Easy Jet. We got to the right terminal and then spent the rest of the time checking in luggage downstairs, then back upstairs to security, coffee, and boarding. Quick flight to Geneve. Rented a car and found the B&B. Overcast and grey, can not see Mt. Blanc, but we were to tired. 

Crescent and oj for breakfast and off to Zurich. The car we got was carzy, every time we stopped it would turn off, and this was not an electric car, it reminded us of the PT Cruisers problems, but this was how it worked, quite a surprise.  Beautiful drive to Zurich , castles and fortresses on the top of hills, old castle like buildings rising up from the river and quaint villages. Switzerland is really clean, we are moving back to the land manicured. If you look at the map attached you will see we have traveled in a straight line. As you move up the line you go from south to north you go from crazy messy and unkept to super manicured and clean. 

Longest line of my life

Decided to go to the Louvre since the easy train to Versailles was not running and the Louvre was free on the first Sunday of the month. ie the name of this posting, the line reached our hotel entrance without taking the metro.  The never ending line, I could not believe the length, but it was free to get in and the day was looking a bit over cast so wait we did.

And then a miracle walked by.

Eureka! I feel like running through the streets naked just like Archimedies !  We were standing in line for ever, just entered the street entrance of the Louve and a local walked by saying please use other entrance this is ridiculous , go to the carousel past the little arch de triumph and no line! Ok Kirk sent me out on re con to see if it was true I felt like Dan Brown. He stayed in line just incase.

I retraced the line and circled the perimeter looking for the carousel, but no carousel. Then I found the mini arch de tribumph and looked carefully for a carsoel then it came to me, line up the church spires and stairwells and there it was, a stairway down to the Louve that said Carosel on it, no line this can not be right.  Miracle, entered and what did we find , Starbucks with soy and wifi, I am in heaven. Wow what a find! No line at all, miracle of miracles.

First day in Paris

Metro is your friend, really easy to get around Paris. Just have to remember to take it. Walking is so picturesque that you hate togounder ground. 

First museum is the Marmottan.  They first put you thought the torture of Nepolean and his family, two floors of braroque paintings, before you find Monet downstairs, well worth the suffering through the Little Big Man. Book called Beyond the Grave, about the family might be interesting to read.

My favorite Monet is Sunrise, bet you can not guess why, yep water and boats. It was the painting that named Impressionism period.  Done as a joke from one of the still life  picture like painters and it stuck, kinda of like Big Bang.

Just lovey Lilly pads everywhere, beautiful work of water gardens at Giverny.

Walked to the piazza before Eiffel tower and had lunch, the French lunch with an fried egg on top. 

Ran the gauntlet of hawkers to get a good view, they were selling the treasured eiffel tower trinket. 

Got on the river cruise at the base of the tower and cruised the Seine. 

Walk along the Seine to Norte Dame, then off to bed, long day.

Hotel du Commerce

Now I really appreciate the Hilton at Sicily. The walls are so thin you feel like you have a large family that never goes to sleep. The first time the toilet flushed from upstairs I thought there was a major  problem. It sounded like some one was taking a shower in our bathroom. Some one upstairs had a weak bladder.  The room itself was 1/3 the size of our Hilton, and only one small bed, without the comfy pillows, and thread count I need. The room is orange and over looks a roof 2 feet away. Hallways are purple, ceiling is neon green and stairs are crazy red. The amazing thing is the bathroom is big for European standards. But it is only blocks from everything, and it is cheap and clean. Wifi works Kirk is happy.

Found a great cafe right around the corner for breakfast, my first french crescent, I am in heaven.