Day 3 - Gevena, Switzerland

March 14, 2012
Had a great flight to Geneva, Switzerland. I was hoping to see the Swiss Alps from the plane, but it was far too foggy. Oh well! I will just watch the Sound of Music again. Made it out of the airport perfectly! They, being Switzerland, even give you a free bus pass to get you to the city. Now how hospitable is that?

The very first thing I did was go to CERN for my tour. For all of my non-science people:
CERN = European Laboratory for Particle Physics
Going here was the sole purpose of this entire trip! Happy Graduation to me! If you have never heard of CERN don't feel bad. I have only become recently familiar with CERN, about a year ago. However insignificant you think one lab maybe, allow me to bullet point somethings that you (yes you!) benefit from on a daily (possibly secondly) basis.

• They invented the World Wide Web. It is the "www" in www.google.com, and everything else! 
• Helped develope the PET scan. Used in hospital for finding cancer. 
• Grid computing (aka The Grid). Think lots and lots and lots of computers. 

I will refrain from going on and on and on, but you get my point. 

Okay, so this is how this blog post is going to work. I am only going to talk about what I did in Geneva, not including CERN. I will give CERN a blog post of its own. It might even need two! Moving on...

After CERN, I found my way into the city no problem. Geneva is very public transportation friendly. The even use the "honor" system for public transportation. No one checks to see if you actually bought a ticket for the bus. Theoretically, you can just get on and off as you please. However, I bought my ticket(s). It was the least I could do for such a beautiful city. I do not know much about Geneva, and did not make plans to see anything but CERN. However, time allowed me the wonderful opportunity of exploring Geneva. I figured it was best for me just to go straight into the center of the city and see what Geneva had to offer. While riding the bus, I looked at a map to see where I needed to get off. All of a sudden I saw a stop named with two very familiar words. It was if the doors opened up and the sun rays came beaming down from the heavens. There it was, the perfect place for me to stop. It was named Bel Air. Once I saw the name, I knew it was destined for me. The only thing I could think of was:

"I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said FRESH and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I can say that this cab was rare, but I thought naw forget it yo homes to Bel-Air."

Thank you Will Smith! :) This place had it all! Shops galore! I managed to wonder into a 5 floored store, similar to a multi-level Dillards in a mall. Though this one was much bigger. It even had a resturant on the top floor. It was a buffet...oh yeah! I have not had a meal since I left the states. Eating has not been a priority since I have been over here. Most days I am lucky to get a sandwich and a drink. It is solely due to time, and my lack thereof. Haha. Here is my view of Geneva from the 5th floor restaurant.
After eating and some browsing in the store, I wander off toward the Jet d'Eau (Water Jet) found on Lake Geneva. Here are pictures:
Next I wanted to see the place where the United Nations meet. Kind of cool! Very big! For security purposes you are not allowed inside unless you have "official" business. I do not know what the deal is the three legged chair in front of the United Nations building, but it sure looks cool! When it comes to this chair, I think Geneva has Texas beat on doing things "bigger". Here are pictures:
After the United Nations my time in Geneva was done, as it was far past time for me to go back to the airport. My final thoughts of the day went something like this...

"Wow Geneva, you really caught me off guard. The peace, beauty, and hospitality were far too much and exceeded my expectations. I could not of asked for anything more. Thank you!"

Here are some more pictures I took while in Geneva: