Our transit from Bern to Lucerne was via a regional train that put our red rattlers to shame. While Lucerne is actually lower than Bern, (422 m above sea level compared to 540 m) getting there involved travelling up and over some attractive mountain passes that looked like picture postcards from Heidi.
Along the way, something unique happened – our tickets were inspected (or rather glanced at)! I am actually a little disappointed that it happened as I had planned to include in a future blog update the observation that up to that time, none (zip, zero, zilch) of our expensively acquired travel tickets had ever been checked (total cost in Switzerland till this time was AUD 379).
Arriving at Lucerne rail station just after 1 pm, we dragged our bags a short distance to our accommodation right on the waterfront. Nice work Chris!
Another room with a view – Lucerne
Looking towards Lake Lucerne, the Chapel Bridge and the octagonal water tower can be clearly seen. The Chapel Bridge is a covered wooden footbridge spanning the River Reuss at a diagonal. Named after the nearby St. Peter’s Chapel, the bridge is unique in containing a number of interior paintings dating back to the 17th century and is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe, as well as the world’s oldest surviving truss bridge.
View from our window towards Lake Lucerne
Looking in the other direction, across the river past the Jesuit Church, Pilatus can be seen. Often referred to as Mount Pilatus, this is a mountain massif overlooking Lucerne and is composed of several peaks, of which the highest (2,128 m (6,982 ft)) is named Tomlishorn.
View from our window towards Mount Pilatus
We set off to enjoy the afternoon sunshine and explore our new surroundings, starting with a walk along the waterfront.
Boats at rest – Lake LucerneBoats in motion – Lake Lucerne
The Lion Monument (Lion of Lucerne) is a rock relief hewn in 1820–21. It commemorates the Swiss Guards massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris.
Lion Monument – LucerneThe Lion King – Lucerne
Running through the old city is the Museggmauer, an old city defensive wall featuring nine towers, four of which can be climbed. Alas, we missed them being opened by one day (1st April)! Some of the towers and a large section of the wall can be seen in the following image taken from the terrace at Château Gütsch, an upmarket hotel and restaurant located across the river and up a steep climb traversed by an inclined elevator.
A section of Musegg Wall – Lucerne
Château Gütsch also provided some great views of the city and part of Lake Lucerne.
Lucerne from Château Gütsch terrace
Continuing our walk, we found the point where Lake Lucerne turns into the River Reuss, behind a weir constructed between 1859 and 1861 to regulate the level of the lake.
River Reuss – Lucerne
Called the Reuss Weir (Needle Dam), the flow of water from Lake Lucerne is manually adjusted by the removal and insertion of timber panels (needles) creating an adjustable wall.
Reuss Weir – Needle Dam – Lucerne
The town hall clock provides a colourful time reference across the old city.
Town Hall Clock – Lucerne
With tomorrow’s forecast predicting good weather for Mount Pilatus, we decided that would be our next adventure destination.
Chris had booked tickets on a bus from Bern to Montreux and we travelled in elegant sophistication in the front seat, upstairs arriving at the Lake Geneva shoreline just after midday. Again, the weather was perfect and Chris was enthralled by the picturesque vistas, making the most of capturing as many photos as she could. For the record, our trusty Canon camera stopped working during our visit and I switched to using my iPhone. (The Canon has subsequently been repaired.)
There isn’t really much to say in describing Montreux’s waterfront – it’s absolutely gorgeous. It was difficult to filter out the best images for this post but here is a representative few…
While Deep Purple’s association with Montreux is well known, Queen (and Freddie Mercury in particular) were frequent visitors. They recorded the album “Jazz” (1978) there in a recording studio constructed inside the casino rebuilt after the infamous fire described in Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”.
The replacement gambling house – Montreux
Called Mountain Studios, Queen loved the atmosphere and the music that it helped create and purchased it in 1979. The studio remained in their control until several years after Freddie Mercury’s death (in 1991) when it was sold. It has now been converted into a charity museum / exhibition “Queen: The Studio Experience”, with the Mercury Phoenix Trust being the beneficiary. You have to enter the casino to be able to view the exhibition. Aside from Queen (and individual projects by members of Queen), the studio also recorded albums for David Bowie, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Iggy Pop, Chris Rea, Yes, Rick Wakeman and Emerson, Lake & Palmer and others.
The exhibition comprises many display cases with artefacts from Queen’s history with numerous video loops (complete with headphones) and lots of printed material. The studio control room has been left intact and (mostly) operational. The mixer console has been modified leaving ten active fader controls that allow real time mixing of four Queen tracks. Instructions via video screens are provided by Brian May and Roger Taylor, the latter who suggested that the drums really need to be pushed to 11.
Mountain Studios mixer console
I did my best at “Fat Bottom Girls”, the cheeky fantasy track from”Jazz” – and Roger was right – loud drums do sound really good. 🙂
Remixing ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’
Freddie Mercury had a chateau in Montreux and loved the privacy and seclusion it provided – away from the scrutiny of paparazzi and eager fans. During the final stages of his illness, Freddie lived in Montreux where, together with the other members of Queen, he worked on and recorded songs that would be assembled as their final album “Made in Heaven” released in 1995, several years after Freddie’s passing.
A life sized statue of Freddie in a characteristic pose stands on the shoreline looking out onto Lake Geneva.
Freddie Mercury at the edge of Lake Geneva – Montreux
We enjoyed a salad while sitting on some rocks looking out onto the lake. A few metres away a mountain stream terminated at the lake’s edge.
Lunchtime view at the edge of Lake Geneva – Montreux
Montreux is famed for an annual Jazz Festival, which this year runs for two weeks from 28 June till 13 July, and as beautiful as Montreux is, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near the place with the crowds this event is sure to attract.
For our return trip to Bern, we were Robin Hood’d * by the SBB (the Swiss Travel entity) with tickets costing more than four times that of the bus (AUD $124 vs. AUD $31). No wonder you see lots of pack packers waiting at bus stops! [* steal from the rich tourists and give to the poor Swiss]
Spoiling the attractive view – Montreux
I am pleased to report that our experiments into whether smoke and water are immiscible were successful. Our conclusion is that these components are not well fitted; one is a liquid and the other a gas. While it is possible for the gas to be dissolved into the water with the input of energy in the form of agitation, this was not the outcome of our experiment. Due to their disparate phases and difference in density, the smoke is observed to settle on top of the water.
Tomorrow, we leave for Lucerne – our second last stop before heading back home.
Departing Geneva by train, we arrived in Bern just after noon. Somewhere along the way we crossed a line of cultural divide. In Geneva, French is the principal language; signs are in French & English and announcements are in French (with occasional English subtitles). As the train was pulling into Bern, the announcement was in German. The signs are in German and there are no English subtitles. Even the architecture looks German; well at least according to my untrained eye. Having spent a week in Munich and with visits to Frankfurt and Berlin at other times – this place looked more German than the other places we’d been to in Switzerland. But the weather was perfect – so what the hell!
We took a bus from the station and were soon unpacking our bags in a third floor apartment overlooking the main street in the centre of the old town. The apartment was an Airbnb booking and belonged to a lady who taught music and played cello & piano. We thought she’d just nipped out to get something from the shop because the rooms were not “private” like our previous Airbnb experiences. Her personal items were strewn everywhere (in neat-ish sort of piles) but she hadn’t made much (if any) effort to prepare for our visit. Making the most of the weather, we set off in search of adventure.
The Zytglogge (Clock Tower) served as Bern’s first western city gate from 1191 till 1256. The ornate astronomical clock with its moving figures was added in 1530. This tower was about 150 metres up the street from our apartment.
Bern’s Clock Tower (Zytglogge)
Bern has had a close relationship with the bear since its foundation. According to legend, the city owes its name to the animal. Consequently, bears appear everywhere; on flags, fountains and buildings. If you’re lucky you might also be able to catch sight of a real bear in a park built just for them and open to the public. Seriously, there are currently three bears in residence. 🙂
One of the three bears – Bern
The next day we walked to the zoo through a large park across the River Aare.
Attractive view 1 – Bern
We had to do some hill climbing to get there first.
Attractive view 2 – BernFlamingos at Bern Zoo
We rented some bikes and rode along the river for an hour or so – it was just perfect. I had a regular bike and Chris scored an electric bike. I tried it out and the motor assistance appears to be a function of how hard you push on the pedals. A light touch and you are pretty much doing it by yourself; a bit more effort and you’re off like a rocket. Great fun!
Deadly treadly ride – Bern
Albert Einstein and his first wife, Mileva, lived in Bern between 1902 and 1909 while he was struggling to gain employment before finally scoring a job as a clerk (third class) at the Bern patent office. They lived in a number of flats during this time. One (about 50 metres up the street from our apartment) has been preserved and is open to the public.
Einstein’s Flat – Bern
The old city has numerous fountains that are adorned with colourful wooden carvings. One of the most famous is the Kindlifresserbrunnen (Swiss German for Child Eater Fountain) and was created in 1545-1546. Kindli is a Swiss German diminutive for the German word Kind, meaning child. A literal translation of the name is therefore “Fountain of the Eater of Little Children”.
Kindlifresserbrunnen – Bern
The fountain sculpture shows a sitting ogre devouring a naked child. Placed at his side is a bag containing more children. While many theories exist to explain what the sculpture represents, I think it’s the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk.
Fie-Fih-Foh-Fum – Bern
Chris climbed the tower of the cathedral (Munster) for some great photos across the old town and the River Aare which wraps around Bern. Look at the ant-like creatures in the next image and have a guess what they are?
Munster courtyard and River Aare from Bern MunsterKirchenfeldbrücke Bridge from Bern MunsterRiver Aare – Bern
Einstein Museum
Bern played a significant part in Albert Einstein’s life and the local history museum has dedicated a whole floor to him – and we spent a day there.
Albert wields his charm – Bern
Albert Einstein is perhaps the most famous scientist in history. He was a true “rock star” scientist, known around the world for his theory of general relativity, which revolutionised our understanding of gravity. Not surprisingly, he was awarded the Nobel prize, but it wasn’t for general relativity. It was for a completely different work he published in 1905, the year known as Einstein’s annus mirabilis, or “Miracle Year”. Einstein was living in the flat shown above when these papers were published.
Each one of the 1905 papers was a revolutionary work that changed our understanding of the universe. None of them were about gravity and they covered a disparate range of topics. Einstein’s most famous work wasn’t published until 1915 (on General Relativity). The four papers that helped reveal the genius of Einstein were:
Brownian Motion; which settled the debate over the existence of atoms, and laid the foundation for a new field of work known as statistical mechanics.
The Photoelectric Effect; which demonstrated the particle aspects of light, and led to the quantum theory of matter. (Awarded 1921 Nobel Prize for Physics.)
Special Relativity; which overturned a model of space and time that had stood for millennia.
Mass-Energy Equivalence; which connected matter and energy, and led us to a true understanding of the stars.
In 2005, I attended a number of lecture / demonstrations at Newcastle University with Daniel as part of the celebration of the “World Year of Physics” in recognition of the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s “Miracle Year” and the subsequent advances in the field of physics.
Say no more – Albert Einstein Museum – Bern
We also visited the Museum of Fine and Contemporary art. The fine art selection was modest (limited) and the contemporary art more extensive than should be legally allowed in a democracy. I was spellbound(?) by the noiseless video of a woman walking along a riverbank in what looked like an out-take from Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. Sorry – this crap doesn’t connect with me.
We finished our city walk with visits to a number of gardens and terraces where views of distant snow capped peaks were plentiful.
Attractive view 3 – Bern
Tomorrow we are going to visit Montreux for the day to conduct experiments to determine whether smoke and water are truly immiscible.
Our last full day in Geneva was spent walking the old city (again) and visiting the Maison Tavel (Tavel House), the oldest house in Geneva. Along the way was passed through the park adjacent to the University of Geneva containing many distractions for wayward students.
The Queen making her moveAttractive view – Geneva
Maison Tavel was built in the 12th century by the Maison family. In 1334, the house was reconstructed following a devastating fire. In 1963, the house was purchased by the city of Geneva and converted into a museum.
A detailed 3D model takes up the greater part of the Maison Tavel attic. Architect Auguste Magnin spent 18 years creating this imposing relief map of Geneva before the destruction of its fortifications in 1850 and subsequent transformation into the modern city we see today. The model is constructed entirely of metal. The houses and fortifications are in zinc, and the roofs in copper. Composed of 86 sections, it covers a surface area of 32 m². The “Magnin Relief Map” was presented for the first time at the 1896 National Exhibition in Geneva.
Lilliputian view – Geneva 1850
St. Peter’s Cathedral was build between 1160 and 1252. Alas, the interior of the Cathedral was demolished in 1535, when Geneva’s residents accepted the Reformation and destroyed all the altars, statues and most of the paintings in a rage inspired by John Calvin (a resident of Geneva at the time). The Cathedral superstructure and spire escaped undamaged though.
Spire of St. Peter’s Cathedral – Geneva
We were blessed with the very best of weather during our visit to Geneva and despite it being our longest stop (of seven nights), there remained much to do as we departed for our next location in Switzerland.
Lunch on our balcony – GenevaMore attractive views – Geneva
We depart Geneva for Bern, Switzerland’s capital, expecting more good weather and places to explore.
Travelling network setup
I thought it may be interesting for our dear readers to view the travelling network setup I have been using on this trip.
Traveltime – travelling setup
The four way power strip provides power to items 4, 5, 6 and 7.
1. Travel wireless router with switch programmed VPN tunnel
2. 1TB wireless hard disk with SD card reader
3. Water-resistant bluetooth speaker
4. Canon camera battery charger
5. Google Chromecast USB power supply
6. Four port USB power supply (4 x 1A)
7. Four port USB power supply (2 x 2.4A [iPads] & 2 x 1A [iPhones])
8. Micro-USB leads for charging other portable bluetooth devices
Arriving at new accommodation, these items are deployed in a suitable location near the existing network router and connected using a network cable (preferably) or wireless (otherwise).
Our portable devices (2 x iPhones, 2 x iPads, 1 x Dell laptop, 1 x Google Chromecast, 1 x 1TB wireless hard disk and 1 x Canon camera) are connected to a private wireless network provided by item 1 completely independent and isolated from any external networks.
I have configured item 1 to connect to our home in East Maitland via an encrypted virtual private network (VPN) tunnel routing all traffic such that it appears we are in Australia. This allows us to access internet content that may be otherwise blocked from Australia. This is the case for all ABC iView content and allows us to watch the ABC news, 7:30 Report or Four Corners, for example. This function is controlled via a switch on the side of item 1 and is turned on as required.
The Google Chromecast is plugged into the TV and allows us to stream content to the TV rather than view it on the iPhone, iPad or the Dell laptop. This works for all iView, Netflix, YouTube and other supported services.
The water-resistant bluetooth speaker (item 3) allows me to listen to ABC AM, PM and a number of favourite ABC and BBC podcasts while I’m in the bathroom (and anywhere else within our accommodation for that matter). It has great bass response and also makes my favourite tunes sound great even when I’m not in the shower. 🙂
It only takes a few minutes to setup this system on arrival and has proven to provide a secure and reliable internet connection for all our devices.
When I was in year nine at high school, I heard a radio programme on the ABC which deeply affected me. From the BBC Horizon series of science and technology programmes, it was called “The Hunting of the Quark” and was released in May 1974. The programme provided an overview of the current state of knowledge and research into particle physics. The description of the science and scale of engineering being undertaken at CERN in Europe in the pursuit of the elusive fundamental particles of nature filled me with a sense of awe and wonder that has never left me.
Fast forward some forty five years and I am still awe struck at the scale of the work undertaken at CERN and I am so happy to have been able to visit the largest science laboratory on the planet – even if only as a humble visitor.
At an intergovernmental meeting of UNESCO in Paris in December 1951, the first resolution concerning the establishment of a European Council for Nuclear Research (in French, Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire) was adopted. CERN is now generally referred to as the European Laboratory for Particle Physics – but the acronym has long since stuck.
Our visit
CERN’s visitor centre is only a short tram ride north-west of the centre of Geneva and about 200 metres from the French border. Much of CERN’s equipment is distributed between Switzerland and France. The Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) is the second-largest machine in CERN’s accelerator complex with a circumference of 7 km. It is perfectly bisected by the Swiss-French border running as a diagonal across the central axis of the machine causing the particles in the two counter-rotating beams travelling at near the speed of light (300,000,000 m/s) to cross the border about 100,000 times every second. There are no hard borders at CERN for sub-atomic particles!
2004 was the 50th anniversary of CERN and to mark the occasion, the Universe of Particles permanent exhibition was opened along with a striking piece of art in the form of a metal spiral (perhaps depicting the path of a decaying particle). In the picture below the large brown dome contains the Universe of Particles – which unfortunately was closed for maintenance for the exact duration of our stay in Geneva. 🙁
Universe of Particles – CERN
On one side of the metal strip is a list of famous scientists, mathematicians and “natural philosophers” along with a brief description of their principal contribution to knowledge. On the other side is a series of equations, drawings and symbols starting with Euclidean geometry and finishing with the Standard Model Lagrangian which represents our current best understanding of how the universe, and all it contains, functions.
Leibnitz’ differential calculus and Newton’s Universal Law of GravitationEinstein’s mass energy equation and Planck’s constant
In the basement of the visitor centre is another permanent exhibition that can be viewed without having to be on a guided tour. Called Microcosm, it provides an extensive and interactive presentation of the background into what CERN is looking for, how it goes about it and the machines it has designed and constructed to do it.
Microcosm – cutaway model of LHC particle beam guidance hardwareMicrocosm – scale model of ATLAS detector hardware
Associated with Microcosm, there is an outside garden containing decommissioned hardware. The image below shows one of the acceleration cavities from the Large Electron-Positron (LEP) collider.
One of 288 LEP superconducting acceleration cavities
With its 27 km circumference, the LEP collider was – and still is – the largest electron-positron accelerator ever built. The excavation of the LEP tunnel was Europe’s largest civil engineering project prior to the Channel Tunnel. Three tunnel-boring machines started excavating the tunnel in February 1985 and the ring was completed three years later.
LEP was commissioned in July 1989 and the first beam circulated in the collider on 14 July. In 1995 LEP was upgraded for a second operation phase before it was finally closed down on 2 November 2000 to make way for the construction of the Large Hadron Collider in the same tunnel.
Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
Commissioned on 10 September 2008, the LHC exists to provide high energy particles for experiments, located at specific locations on the circumference of the LHC ring. ATLAS and CMS are the largest experiments.
ATLAS: AToroidal LHC Apparatus
CMS: Compact Muon Solenoid
MoEDAL: Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC
ALICE: ALarge Ion Collider Experiment
LHCb: LHC-beauty
LHCf: LHC-forward
ATLAS
Beams of particles from the LHC collide at the centre of the ATLAS detector making collision debris in the form of new particles, which fly out from the collision point in all directions. Six different detecting subsystems arranged in layers around the collision point, record the paths, momentum, and energy of the particles, allowing them to be individually identified. A huge magnet system bends the paths of charged particles so that their momenta can be measured.
The interactions in the ATLAS detectors create an enormous flow of data. To digest the data, ATLAS uses an advanced “trigger” system to tell the detector which events to record and which to ignore. Complex data-acquisition and computing systems are then used to analyse the collision events recorded. At 46 m long, 25 m high and 25 m wide, the 7000-tonne ATLAS detector is the largest volume particle detector ever constructed. It sits in a cavern 100 m below ground near the main CERN site. The following image shows the control room and maintenance buildings associated with the ATLAS experiment.
ATLAS experiment buildings
The guided tour
Each of our guided tours lasted two hours, in which we were able to visit two sites within walking distance of the visitors centre; CERN’s first particle accelerator, the Synchrocyclotron and the ATLAS experiment buildings.
CERN’s first particle accelerator – The Synchrocyclotron
The Synchrocyclotron (SC) built in 1957, was CERN’s first accelerator. It provided beams for CERN’s first experiments in particle and nuclear physics. In 1964, this machine started to concentrate on nuclear physics alone, leaving particle physics to the newer and much more powerful Proton Synchrotron (PS).
The SC became a remarkably long-lived machine. In 1967, it started supplying beams for a dedicated unstable-ion facility called ISOLDE, which carries out research ranging from pure nuclear physics to astrophysics and medical physics. In 1990, ISOLDE was transferred to a different accelerator, and the SC was closed down after 33 years of service. The building housing the SC has been transformed using clever audio-visual presentations showing the history of CERN and the basic operation of the SC with animated images superimposed over the machine.
On our first tour (Wednesday), we were fortunate to have a very enthusiastic theoretical physicist from China as our guide. As one of more than 10,000 scientists and technicians who work at CERN, he was very happy to patiently answer the most inane of questions and spoke with great excitement about the possibility of a new accelerator with a proposed circumference of 100 km. [Increasing the size of the accelerator ring reduces the energy losses involved in making the beams run around the ring – leaving more available when the particles are subsequently smashed together.]
On our second tour (Thursday), our guide, of Russian heritage, was less informative and somewhat dismissive about the likelihood of the 100 km accelerator ever being constructed.
The Higgs boson
On 4 July 2012, Daniel and I were sitting in front of the computer in my study watching a live internet streaming presentation from CERN during which both the ATLAS and CMS experimental teams announced they had each observed a new particle in the mass region around 125 GeV (Giga-electron volts; 125,000,000,000 eV; a measure of mass used in particle physics). This particle was consistent with that of the Higgs boson, as proposed within the Standard Model based on the work of three therotical physisists during the 1970s. Robert Brout, François Englert and Peter Higgs proposed a mechanism that is now called the Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism and which predicts particles having properties observed during the ATLAS and CMS experiments.
On 8 October 2013, the Nobel prize in physics was awarded jointly to François Englert and Peter Higgs * “for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently was confirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider”. *Robert Brout passed away on 3 May 2011.
CERN and the World Wide Web
The first website at CERN – and in the world – was dedicated to the World Wide Web project itself and was hosted on a computer belonging to Tim Berners-Lee, a British computer scientist working at CERN. Developed as a collaborative tool to rapidly disseminate information within CERN, the underlying software and communication protocols that enable the operation of the WWW was subsequently given away to the public domain. The fact you can read this blog on a browser on your computer or smartphone is due to the brilliance of Berners-Lee and his fellow CERN scientists layered on top of the underlying Internet network of distributed computing resources.
Saying goodbye to CERN
I’m pleased to say that no leptons, fermions, bosons, quarks or any other, as yet undiscovered, elemental particles were harmed during our visit to CERN as the LHC is shutdown for a two year period while its components are enhanced to produce beams with an energy of 7 TeV (Tera-electron volts; 7,000,000,000,000 eV). The LHC is scheduled to be back on line sometime during 2020.
With so much fascinating stuff to see and information to absorb it was hard to finally climb aboard the tram and head back into Geneva on Thursday afternoon.
Chris also enjoyed our visit to CERN
I’d like to say a special thank you to my dearest Christine for engaging patiently with me for two whole days at CERN. She gets the quark charm award; I expect I’m in line for the quark strange award, and you, dear reader, get the quark top award for making it all the way to the end of this post. 🙂
When planning our itinerary, Chris allocated a generous seven days to Geneva – this turned out to be a wise decision as there is much to do and see here.
Having recovered our bags from the bus upon our arrival from Annecy, and in brilliant sunshine, we set forth in search of a bank to exchange Australian dollars for Swiss Francs. Our Qantas Travel Money debit cards don’t support Swiss Francs and so it had been my plan to carry Australian dollars to Switzerland and exchange them there, bypassing intermediate exchange rates. Switzerland is a beautiful but comparatively expensive place to visit.
Following a quick review of the metro system, we jumped aboard a tram, making our way to accommodation just outside the perimeter of the old city.
Dumping our bags, we set off to make the most of the perfect afternoon weather. At the edge of Lake Geneva, we enjoyed views of the spectacular water fountain that is a popular tourist attraction and the tallest fountain in the world.
Jet d’Eau Fountain – Geneva
In 1886, a water fountain was created to control the release of excess pressure from a local hydraulic plant. Shortly thereafter, it became a recognisable symbol of the city and was relocated to a more central location on the southern shoreline and improved with a set of reliable water pumps.
Rainbows on Lake Geneva
Reaching a height of over 140 metres and with more than four tonnes of water suspended, the resulting water sprays are responsible for many attractive rainbows.
The following day (Sunday), we visited the Geneva Museum of Art and History investing a full day in viewing fine arts and antiquities and reprising Chris’ “Best painting in the room” competition. I must be learning something as I only lost by 37 to 15.
Summer – Pierre-Auguste Renoir
As most European museums are closed on Mondays, we rose early, making our way to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG) building to hopefully queue for a guided tour. Thankfully, Malcolm Turnbull had quashed Kevin Rudd’s 2016 bid to replace Ban Ki-Moon as Secretary-General and thus we were granted admittance once our passports were scanned and Chris’ picture taken as evidence of our visit.
United Nations 1
Geneva’s United Nations buildings were initially constructed to house the League of Nations, founded on 10 January 1920 as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War.
United Nations 2
It was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. Unfortunately, it failed to prevent what was to became the Second World War and ceased operations on 20 April, 1946.
United Nations 3
The United Nations officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories (Australia ratified the charter on 1 November 1945).
United Nations 4
Our guided tour covered the Palais des Nations, the UNOG which serves as the representative office of the Secretary-General at Geneva. A focal point for multilateral diplomacy, UNOG services more than 8,000 meetings every year, making it one of the busiest conference centres in the world. With more than 1,600 staff, it is the biggest duty station outside of the United Nations headquarters in New York.
After our visit to the UNOG, we wandered through the nearby botanical gardens before enjoying a pleasant lunch in the cafe among the palm fronds.
With our first visit to CERN confirmed for Wednesday; on Tuesday we took the train for a day trip to Lausanne – a mere 40 minutes away and located at the northern arc of Lake Geneva.
Alighting from Lausanne railway station into a biting wind that thankfully did not reflect the balance of the day’s weather, we headed downhill towards the lake’s shoreline.
Attractive view – Lausanne
Along the way we found a lookout providing beautiful views of Lausanne and Lake Geneva.
Reaching the lake’s edge we enjoyed walking through expansive parkland clearly popular during the warmer months. Along the way we discovered where Easter bunny chocolate moulds are created.
Easter bunny models – Lausanne
Heading back towards the centre of town, we wandered through the marina providing magnificent views across the lake.
Lausanne marina
Lausanne’s waterfront provides many opportunities for the rich-bastard class to parade their wealth.
Lausanne waterfront 1
We scurried by, not wanting to draw attention to our meagre means and convict heritage.
Lausanne waterfront 2
Lausanne happens to be the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). I now understand why Kevin Gosper AO, John Coates AC and James Tomkins OAM would seek to represent Australia on the IOC given the salubrious digs that Lausanne presents.
Lausanne has been home to the IOC for 100 years and in 1993, the IOC founded an official museum on the shoreline of Lake Geneva. In 2013, The Olympic Museum was completely renovated and updated with many interactive audio-visual facilities. Covering three floors, the exhibition presents the origin of the games, the competitions and the athletic spirit through over 150 screens and 1500 objects: The Olympic torches and medals of all The Olympic games, as well as the equipment from many famous athletes.
The Olympic Museum – Lausanne
It was wonderful to view footage of Cathy Freeman lighting the Sydney 2000 Olympic cauldron and then winning the Women’s 400 metre final. And Steven Bradbury’s gold medal at Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics Short Track Speed Skating was a must see.
We returned to Geneva, tired from another long day and looking forward to our visit to CERN.
The perfect weather we had been enjoying on our trip so far, had to break eventually and alas, it happened during our visit to Annecy; the forecast predicting rain turned out to be 100% accurate.
Our transit from Lyon included a brief stop at Bourg en Bresse to change trains. The wind was biting cold and the rain was falling as sleet making our wait on the platform most uncomfortable. Hot tea and a chocolate bar provided some relief.
The rain had stopped by the time we arrived at Annecy. This proved to be most helpful as we dragged our bags from the station to our accommodation in the middle of the old town, adjacent to one of the arms of the river Thiou that cross Annecy in a number of places forming attractive canals.
Home – Annecy
The view from our window looking towards the lake and the distant snow capped mountains, was very pretty despite the weather closing in.
Room with a view – Annecy
Dumping our bags, we grabbed our umbrellas and headed out. A foreshore path wraps around the lake’s edge near the town and we walked along imagining what the view would have been like in better weather.
Attractive view – rain – Annecy
The next day I stayed in (working on our trip blog) while Chris went out to wander in the rain and make enquiries about a boat trip on the lake. In the afternoon, we climbed the steep and now slippery, cobble stone streets to the Château d’Annecy (a restored medieval castle and museum housing regional sculptures & paintings along with contemporary art) which overlooks the town. One of the castle’s towers was given over to providing historical information on human interactions with the lake, going back several thousand years. Growing concerns about damage to the lake caused by run-off and related pollution, led to the formation of a local environmental group during the 1950s. Significant remedial work was undertaken, in association with the creation and enforcement of strict environmental laws. Lake Annecy is now considered one of Europe’s cleanest lakes, with a number of the townships surrounding the lake, drawing their drinking water directly from it. The water is the clearest I have ever seen (look at the boats floating on air in the next picture).
Attractive view – sunshine – Annecy
Despite the rain and biting cold, we did go on the boat tour of the lake. The commentary was in French and the windows required constant wiping to clear the fog caused by our breathing- enough said!
The clouds parted on the morning as we were packing to depart. Chris darted out to grab some pictures (this time with sunshine – see above) and we dragged our bags to the railway station under a cloudless, blue sky.
Our transit to Geneva was to be via bus. The bus eventually arrived forty minutes late and it was somewhat frustrating to stand there waiting, not knowing when it might arrive, while there were many great photo opportunities going begging, not more than 500 metres away.
We were stopped at the Swiss border and our passports inspected by a pair of machine-gun toting guards, who boarded the bus. Geneva is very close to the French border and we were soon recovering our bags from the luggage compartment underneath the bus.
Our transit from Nice to Lyon involved four and a half hours on a very fast train. The speedometer app on my iPhone clocked a top speed of 311 kph as we sped along, the active suspension providing a surreal floating effect that didn’t quite match the frantic pace of movement outside the carriage. Chris was watching a documentary on Lady Gaga and I was continuing with “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”.
Our accommodation was too far from the station to drag our bags and so we did a crash course on the metro system before diving into the subway. Having dumped our bags, we set off to explore our new surroundings.
La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière from the River Saone
Lyon is an ancient city trisected by two rivers; the Rhone and the Saone. Our accommodation was located in the 1st arrondissement (suburb) of Lyon, on an isthmus sandwiched between the two rivers and smack in the middle of the cultural centre of the city and a two minute walk from the nearest river. From pretty much anywhere in Lyon, the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière standing on the hills of Fourvière presents a dominating aspect to the city’s skyline.
La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière
We took a funicular railway tunnelled through the bedrock of the mountain to reach Fourvière and the basilica. The views over the city from the basilica courtyard are impressive.
River Saone and Lyon from FourvièreCathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste in the foreground from Fourvière
These images have been scaled and compressed to make them blog friendly and don’t really present the grandeur of these buildings and the resources consumed in creating them. They certainly make you feel small and insignificant.
Interior La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière
We invested more euros and time in prayer for our departed loved ones.
Votive candles in La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière
Not far down the hill from the basilica we visited the Gallo-Roman Museum containing a large collection of art, pottery and coins. The museum is cleverly buried inside the hill overlooking the ruins of two amphitheatres and other Roman archaeological elements making it almost invisible. In the picture below, two black rectangles set in the hillside are the only evidence of the museum. These are viewing ports accessible from inside the museum.
A Grego-Raymondi ruin, Lyon-Fourvière
Lyon was called Lugdunum in Gallo-Roman times and was founded in 43 BC by Lucius Munatius Plancus. It served as the capital of the Roman province of Gallia Lugdunensis and was an important city in the western half of the Roman Empire for centuries. Two emperors, Claudius and Caracalla, were born in Lugdunum.
Gallo-Roman ruins, Lyon-Fourvière
In many places around the city, evidence of current archaeological work is under way and the occasional Roman column can be spied poking out behind a bus shelter or in a side street.
The Museum of Fine Arts in Lyon is housed in a magnificent building dating from the 17th century which used to be the Royal Abbey of the Sisters of St. Pierre. Its collections are exhibited in over 70 rooms and range from antiquity to contemporary art.
Inner courtyard, Museum of Fine Arts
During our day long visit, Chris invented a game to mask the pain in our legs from standing for hours in pensive thought and focused gaze. “Best painting in the room” is where, having surveyed the room in detail, we each had to select our favourite painting and explain why using descriptive arty words like composition, perspective, tone, symmetry, negative space, brushwork, Monet, etc – you get the idea.
Stairway to …, Museum of Fine Arts
Christine is soooo competitive; she just had to win and crushed me 43 to 3. We had lunch in the museum cafe and I ordered something from the menu that tasted unusual but looked like meatballs; Chris played it safe and had lasagne. As I was paying the bill, I enquired what it was that I’d eaten and was told it was a local delicacy made from “mostly blood” – I didn’t ask where the blood came from but it was about this time that Chris engaged smug mode as I headed for the toilets.
Our last day in Lyon was spent searching for, and then traversing, some traboules followed by a long walk to the Parc de la Tête d’Or that contains the Lyon Zoo and botanical gardens.
Traboules (passageways)
Traboules are passageways used to ferry silk merchants rapidly between the river and their places of business. There are a number of these hidden behind closed doors and visitors can transit “quietly”, being magically teleported between adjacent streets. We were able to traverse three of the four on Chris’ list and the fourth was locked.
More traboules
Our walk to the park crossed the two rivers. Both rivers are broad and fast flowing with water from the winter’s melting snow.
River Saone
The Parc de la Tête d’Or is a large, 19th-century park with statues, fountains & many tall trees, plus a lake and botanical and rose gardens – oh, and a zoo.
A lion in Lyon ZooAttractive view – Lyon botanical gardens
At the edge of the park is the Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (Museum of Contemporary Art). We had lunch in a cafe adjacent to the museum but did not venture in for a look. I couldn’t bear to lose another round of “Best painting in the room”.
Lyon is a beautiful city and we very much enjoyed our visit, having mastered the metro system in yet another European city with the weather remaining absolutely perfect; clear skies and cool temperatures.
We depart Lyon for Annecy which will be our last stop in France before heading onto Switzerland where our remaining euros will be mostly worthless. The weather forecast is not looking good but we expected rain at some point.
Our first stop in France was Nice; a popular seaside resort fronting the Ligurian Sea. Alas, no white sand or anything that might be confused for surf but pleasant none-the-less.
Hitting the beach in Nice
Our transit from Turin was uneventful. On the train, Chris was watching a series downloaded from Netflix on her iPad; “After Life” starring Ricky Gervais (who also wrote and directed the videos). I was binging on the short and punchy “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” series.
Dragging our bags from the train station we found our accommodation just a hundred metres from the white / grey rocks that present a poor excuse for a beach.
Eagle’s eye view of Nice beach
Having settled in, we set forth to investigate our surroundings. Old castle battlements at the eastern end of the beach provide stunning views back over the beach and the city.
Overlooking Nice beach
On the other side of the old castle (facing east) is Nice’s main port with the ubiquitous marina containing millions of dollars worth of boats.
Nice marina
We walked the old city before proceeding up steep and winding roads past old Roman archaeological ruins heading towards a Benedictine monastery and associated church and museum. The monastery gardens are open to the public and provide wonderful views of the city and port. Along the way Chris discovered her next new car – it’s so cute you could pick it up and cuddle it.
Chris’ next new car – Nice
We visited the Marc Chagall National Museum which was built in the 1970’s. While Chagall worked in many mediums; paint, sculpture and ceramics, he is best known for his beautiful stained glass windows. On a previous visit to Zurich, we have been fortunate to view the series of five window panels installed in the Fraumünster church.
Marc Chagall
The museum in Nice comprises mainly paintings pertaining to themes from the old testament.
Marc Chagall
Cannes
We took the train to Cannes to tread the red carpet along the promenade with the rich and famous – but we were the only ones who showed up.
No prizes for guessing
The beachfront is quite narrow compared to Nice and to make it even less attractive, a significant length of the shoreline is being actively developed. Heavy machines have been at work pushing back the rocks to create a barrier to the water and provide a level surface.
Levelling the beach in Cannes
All this feverish activity appears to be for the creation of beach front restaurants. This work was under way for many hundreds of metres of the beach front. While this detracts from the feel of the beach it sort of makes sense given you wouldn’t want to swim in the water, lie on the rocks to sun bake and building sandcastles is just not possible without a bulldozer and a back-hoe.
Making beach restaurants
We walked away from the Canute like structures on the beach, through the marina and then up a steep climb to the hill overlooking the western edge of the city towards the Church of Our Lady of Esperance.
Cannes marina
Sections of ancient Roman walls still standing in this area provide a wonderful panorama of the waterfront.
More attractive views – Cannes
Monaco (Monte Carlo)
Chris wanted to break the bank at Monte Carlo and I wanted to pretend to be a British secret agent licensed to kill – so we took the train to Monaco for an afternoon of fiscal fun and dastardly deeds.
Monaco Harbour – the smaller boats
We walked across the promenade, around the marina containing way too many boats. Why would you buy a boat and then park it for extended periods in such a fashionable location? Aren’t these things supposed to be out in the ocean?
Monaco – how the rich-bastards walk
Walking through the marina proved to be quite tiresome and I cannot image how it could be accomplished in heels.
Monaco Harbour – the bigger boats
When we reached the external side of the marina (where the bigger boats are parked) our attention was drawn to one that was just too big to be real.
Dilbar – Monaco Harbour
Called Dilbar; this boat was massive and can only be viewed in total using a panoramic photo. With a length of 156 m and a beam of 24 m, it is the largest “yacht” in the world (by displacement). It’s owned by Russian billionaire, Alisher Usmanov and reportedly cost more than USD $600 million to build. A full time crew of more than 80 is on hand to look after the needs to the passengers (limited to 40). The helicopter buried inside was customised for the project – and there are two helipads for it to use.
Continuing up the hill overlooking the Monaco waterfront, a manicured park and gardens provide stunning views in all directions. We departed Monaco by train with a secure bank balance and all of Q’s gadgets intact.
More attractive views – Monaco
Our final day in Nice was spent at a zoo called Phoenix Parc located on the western side of the city near the airport.
Phoenix Parc water feature
The continuous passage of aircraft arriving and leaving didn’t seem to worry the inhabitants – we even found some kangaroos and wallabies who have undertaken the French lifestyle and were lazing about on the grass smoking gauloises and drinking strong coffee from small cups.
Phoenix Parc pink flamingos
Nice was an attractive city and proved to be the rose between Cannes and Monaco.
Our next stop in France will be Lyon. Au revoir Nice.
Our departure from Como was without issue. We dragged our bags to the station and joined the train bound for Milan0 Porta Garibaldi Station intending a short interlude there before leaving again for Turin on a second train. The planned transit at Milano Porta Garibaldi was 25 minutes but when we arrived, the departing platform was not listed on the departures board. We waited in the tunnel underneath the platforms, positioned towards the middle (hedging against the final location of platform) and waited for the departure platform to be updated. And we waited. And we waited. With three minutes before the scheduled departure, the departing platform details were finally revealed. With elevated blood pressure, we undertook an undignified scramble to get to the specified platform and locate our assigned carriage before the train departed without us. Suffice to say we made it – just.
Our accommodation in Turin was about 20 minutes walk from the Porta Nouva train station. We arrived in good time to meet with Eugenio who let us into our accommodation and provided some useful local information (where the supermarket is, where to buy metro tickets, here is a really good restaurant, etc.)
The Royal Museums of Turin
The Royal Museums of Turin comprise a collection of separate but adjacent museums spanning more than three km:
Royal Gardens
Royal Armoury
Royal Library
Sabauda Gallery
Royal Palace
Museum of Antiquities
We were able to visit the armoury, palace, gardens and museum of antiquities.
Royal Armoury Turin – bring your own bottle of BrassoRoyal Armoury Turin – Greg and the horsey
The Royal Palace (Palazzo Reale di Torino) was the palace of the House of Savoy. It was originally built in the 16th century and was later modernised by Christine Marie of France (1606–63) in the 17th century.
Royal Palace Turin – Daniel Gallery – after the architect Daniel Seyter
The palace also includes the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, which was built to house the Shroud of Turin. In 1946, the palace became the property of the state and was turned into a museum. In 1997, the palace was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites along with 13 other residences of the House of Savoy.
By coincidence, also in 1997, the Chapel of the Holy Shroud was severely damaged by a massive fire, the cause of which is still a mystery. The Shroud was saved but the chapel was closed to the public for more than 21 years while the restoration of its dome was completed. The chapel reopened in Sep 2018 after a cost of more than €30 million. The upper domed sections of the chapel are magnificent in their scale and in the mathematical perfection of their design (a series of alternating rotated hexagons).
In the following image you can see the damage to the altar that used to hold the Shroud. Within the next few months (European spring 2019), the chapel will be closed again while repairs to this altar are undertaken. We are fortunate indeed to have arrived during this window when the chapel is open despite it not actually displaying the Shroud itself.
Chapel of the Holy Shroud Turin showing fire damaged altar
The Shroud is actually stored in the adjoining Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. The Chapel of the Holy Shroud is directly connected to the Cathedral by two winding marble staircases either side of the sanctuary and above the sanctuary, it is open into the chapel. This design allows you to be seated in the Cathedral and look up above the sanctuary to see the altar that would be holding the Shroud. And just for good measure, a full sized reproduction of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” adorns the rear wall of the Cathedral and is in much better condition that the original.
Holy Shroud of Turin display cabinet within the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist
The Chapel of the Holy Shroud can be seen at the rear of the Cathedral (below) rising above the dome of the sanctuary. To the left is the bell tower – which we had to climb – of course.
Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist Turin with bell towerView of the Chapel of the Holy Shroud from the bell tower of Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist Turin
Sacra di San Michele
The Sacra di San Michele is an abbey built between 983 and 987 at the top of Mount Pirchiriano, 40 km away from Turin. It is understood to have been the inspiration of Umberto Eco’s best-selling novel “Il nome della rosa” (The name of the rose) which was turned into a movie of the same name in 1986 starring Sean Connery.
Sacra of Saint Michele – viewed from the pedestrian approach
Getting there on foot involved taking a bus from Turin and then scrambling up a goat track.
Trekking to Sacra of Saint Michele from Chuisa di San Michele Chris setting a rapid uphill pace
According to Google, the goat track route would deliver us at the summit where the abbey is located within about 45 minutes. I’m not sure why Google would lie and I’m positive I traversed the route correctly but it took nearly two hours to reach the summit – arriving just in time for the midday Mass.
Sacra of Saint Michele – entrance steps up to the churchSacra of Saint Michele – Stairway of the Dead
Celebration of the Mass was in Italian. Chris was sure the priest was spruiking the local pizzeria as there was a lots of Pizza here, Pizza there going on with associated arm waving. My feeling was the sermon made as much sense as some I’ve heard in English.
Sacra of Saint Michele – church sanctuary
The return trip from the summit was just as arduous as the assent. In many places the path was hidden from view by large collections of windblown leaves making it both slippery and treacherous. Of course I came to grief and the following image is surprisingly clear despite Christine having to control her laughter while taking the photograph.
My leg’s broken – stop laughing! The downhill trek from Sacra of Saint Michele to Chuisa di San Michele
The Egyptian Museum
The Egyptian Museum of Turin is the world’s oldest Egyptian museum, founded in 1824 and ranks second in size only to one in Cairo.
Egyptian Museum Turin 1
Dedicated exclusively to ancient Egyptian culture and art, the museum’s collection has been the subject of interest for some of history’s most important Egyptian scholars. Jean-François Champollion, who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, has studied artefacts held at this museum.
Egyptian Museum Turin 2
We spent a whole day in this museum such was the quality and breadth of material to view.
Egyptian Museum Turin 3
Parkland along the River Po and the Museum of the Holy Shroud
We spent the final day in Turin visiting a large park adjacent to the River Po and the Museum of the Holy Shroud.
River Po and the Catholic Church, Santa Maria del Monte dei Cappuccini viewed from Parco del Valentino Turin
The Museum of the Holy Shroud presents historical, scientific and artistic aspects of research into The Holy Shroud. Scientific explorations commenced in 1898 with the first photographic images taken of the Shroud.
Turin turned out to be a magical city with much more to do than we could manage in the four and a half days we were there. Again we were blessed with the very best of weather.
We leave Turin and Italy making our way into France. Our first stop will be in Nice.
ciao bella Turin!
PS – Chris got pinged by the guards for walking on the grass in the Royal Gardens.
