An early start this morning, as we had to make it across town to CERN for our tour of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) complex.  The route we took allowed us to experience the different road network layout that Switzerland has (at times rather confusing with its lack of markings!), but CERN itself was easy to find and well signposted (there is even a tram to get there).  As we had arrived really early, we hunted out some breakfast (definitely not included with this hotel!).  This materialised in the form of some croissant, pain au chocolat and fresh juice from a little shop in a petrol station across the road; the pastries were surprisingly excellent!

Back at the reception at CERN, we were given our official guided tour lanyards and passes and asked to wait in reception until the tour started.  It began with an amusing, but informative, video about CERN’s 50th anniversary (Lois couldn’t believe quite how long it had been going).  We were then introduced to our guide, a very smiley and enthusiastic Spanish scientist.

He took us straight across to one of the other buildings on the site, to show us an example of one of the pipes that runs through the actual collider.  We were then taken to the ATLAS control room, where the ATLAS detector and all of its test results can be analysed (Tom had to work hard to resist pushing the HUGE red button – see photo below!).  After showing us through a presentation of various learning clips relating to CERN experiments, we were taken upstairs, past a life-size diagram of the collider, to watch a 3D film explaining the construction and production of the ATLAS detector (see Tom in full Top Gun regalia below!).  The video was wicked!  Finally, we were taken back downstairs, where the guide described the Higgs Bosun effect (still completely over Lois’s head) and eagerly asked for any more questions!   Before we left, we were given time to explore the excellent exhibitions.

Facts from the day that blew our minds:

• The particles travel round the 27 km collider 11,000 times a second (that’s 99.999% of the speed of light!)
• The ATLAS detector weighs the same as The Eiffel Tower!
• Even the most eminent physicists in the world still don’t understand what gravity is and how it works!
• If the particle detector in ATLAS was a camera, it would be 100 mega pixels and be able to take 600 million pictures per second!
• If your head was the nucleus of an atom, the protons and neutrons would be 50km away!
• It takes around 120 tons of helium to cool down the collider ready for use AND, once cooled, the 27 km of steel shrinks by 80m!

Once the tour had finished, we bagged some goodies from the CERN gift shop and headed back to the hotel (after some minor tinkering with the car).  After a brief rest, we then took the tram back into town and booked ourselves onto a boat tour of the lake of Geneva.  Whilst we waited for the trip to start (in a lovely small green area), I nipped to get some water to make sure we were topped up with fluids.  We also munched on some food that we’d bought from an Aldi close by our hotel.  Shortly after finishing lunch, Lois spotted the boat pulling into the harbour and so we rushed off to get to the front of the queue.  However, the boat captain kindly asked us to wait on the port for 10 minutes while they cleaned up and had a rest (I think Lois was rather excited about the boat trip, bless her! :)).

We boarded the boat once it was ready and then set sail for an amazing tour of the lake, taking in many sights including Monte Blanc, various luxury homes and castles (Lois picked out some potential properties…), and of course, the 140m high water fountain!  Stat time again!

• 1370hp water pump pushing 500 litres of water every second
• 140m high
• 8 tonnes of water in the fountain jet at any one time

The tour took just over an hour and cost 16 CHF, which based on everything else in Switzerland, was very reasonable!  We would thoroughly recommend the Swiss Boat tour.

We then had a final walk around the lovely clear waters of lake Geneva and then jumped back onto the tram back to our hotel, where we spent the night chilling out and catching up with the world.

Milan next!  Pizza, pasta and ice-cream!

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