We are now in Geneva (May 28), after 2 day ago riding autobahns in
Germany (boringly fast) and a day ago the last 4 ½ hrs on some of the most
scenic rural highways in east central France, particularly highway 437 from outside
Belfort to Pontarlier. While the day was cool, never much above 14 C, and
definitely down to 8 C as we crossed the Jura Mountains (snow near the top and
a bit of rain), we just loved the drive. The bike is performing flawlessly,
from fuel economy, to ride, especially handling with hands free capability, and
our new packing techniques we have lowered the centre of gravity some more.
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| United Nations Geneva |
Geneva -
One Amazing Centre for Promise
This is Sandra’s place, I’d say her city. And her research
that has yielded such an amazing experience over the past two days. Knowing
that we wanted to get the Geneva Pass which allowed entry to a number of
attractions, plus provide transportation if you needed it (we didn’t) it was a
great value. Of course we arrived on Ascension Thursday a holiday across Christendom
in Europe which meant that the tourist bureau opened later and some attractions
are closed, like the watch museum Sandra wanted to see. But the List below is
what we did see.
- The Red Cross/Crescent Museum
- Palace of Nations ( United Nations)
- Reformation Wall – Train tour of Geneva
- Boat Tour of Geneva
- C.E.R.N. “Lord of The
Rings” Caution!! This can blow your Mind
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| Front Entrance |
Starting at the Red Cross/Crescent Museum, a person should
dedicate about 1 ½ hrs.t o this site to see it’s permanent exhibit. Positioned using
a series of Interactive ‘Witnesses’ the Museum shares the experiences of these
witnesses in a variety of settings. Your entrance grants you an English guided
tour via headphones and electronic RFID
trigger points that initiate a witness to share their story with you if you position
yourself in front of them, or place your hand on theirs. This methodology
engages you in committing to listening to their story and making a connection
with them. Pure genius in dealing with an audience.
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| Many Posters |
It details how the Red Cross started in the
late 1800’s until today, openly addresses their failures during WWII, and
really presents a war criminal case against Pres. Bush of the US and Rumsfeld
for their crimes against humanity with
Abu Grebe and Guantanamo Bay prisoners. Complete avoidance of humanitarian
treaties the United States was a signatory to.
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| 1000's of Unidentified Children |
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| Great Tour and nice Guide |
From there we walked across the avenue to the Palis du
Nations, or United Nations setting. Our Chinese born guide provided a great
tour with lots of personality mixed with some serious messages. We visited the Human
Rights and Alliance Room, which deals with country human rights reviews in open
audience,
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| Human Rights Hall |
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| Disarmament Hall |
and the Disarmament Room which addresses ongoing talks which
currently include both the Iran nuclear talks, and the Syria chemical conflict.
Of course our piece of memorabilia from 1991 when we brought Shannon and Blair here
is the
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| Entrance follows you |
Chinese pagoda, whose entrance follows you down the corridor. Sandra
didn’t believe we had been here before until she saw that. This is an excellent
tour and building that makes you humbled to the fact that there are greater
things on earth than the day to day problems we have, but that face humankind
on earth, and, how we can become more engaged in those struggles. Architecture
here is effectively used to impart this message. Lastly there are several
monuments on the grounds that are worth noting, from Gandhi’s life statue to
the Broken Chair’s symbol against Land Mines. Powerful stuff we need to think
more about.
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| Library Central Hall |
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| Gandhi My Life is my message |
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| Land Mines |
We then turned our attention to lighter matters with a boat
tour of Lake Geneva. It is worth noting to sit on the starboard side of the
boat for the tour since the tour is done in a counter-clockwise rotation. This
one hr. on the water yielded us with a mild sunburn as the day had turned quite
warm.
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| Geneva Fountain |
From there we headed for the Reformation Wall. Geneva is
seen as the home of the start of protestant
religion and a Wall is there to commemorate some of the early reformers of
Christian belief, Calvin, Knox, Luther and others.
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| Reformation Wall |
It was here we caught
another Geneva Pass freebie, and that is the train tour of the Old Town, which
we completed after many hours on our feet. The day was completed by returning
to our hotel where we were met by Heiko who had come down to take in the CERN
tour Friday with us. We had a very nice visit and dinner out at Charly’s Pub
that evening.
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| The LHC Lord of the Rings |
CERN – Lord of the Rings
Our final day in Geneva was to attend our pre-arranged by
application, appointment to visit the CERN facility.
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| CERN and Sandra |
Sandra wanted to go here
and I felt bad about not getting here last year until I learned they didn’t
offer civilian tours until late October 2013. Heiko drove the 598 kms yesterday
to join us as well.
This facility will blow your mind. I told Sandra I was sad,
because I learned that I really knew “nothing “ after visiting the microcosm lab in advance
of the formal tour. I never had heard the term neutrinos, or quarks. Did you know neutrinos are capable of passing through the earth from one side to the other without impediment by matter? Now, I have graduated to knowing what I don’t
know and I hope that one of my grandchildren will work at closing that gap for
me more in future by visiting here, getting inspired and advancing their
education in nuclear research, or in humanitarian causes vis a via, the Red
Cross or UN. You might think I have lofty ideals for my grandkids, but then you
don’t know them like I do. They are capable, and well positioned and have
brilliant parents. And then there is my nephew Brad Lafortune who is extremely motivated in this area as well.
The Lord of the Rings term is coined based on the LHC, or
Large Hadron collider, a particle accelerator 27 kms in length, well read the images here
for better detail. It is part of three rings which include 2 former experiment
rings. Our tour ended in the Atlas Control Centre and an amazing 3D film that
allows you to experience the areas without going down below, which are
currently closed for maintenance.
Just imagine protons being accelerated to collide at a
rate of 11000 revolutions a 27 km circuit per ONE SECOND below Geneva, that is meant
to recreate the environment one millionth of a millionth of a second after the
Big Bang theory, and where at that moment ‘Matter’ and Anti-Matter’ co-existed,
and “mass” developed as the result in the reduction in matter slowed after the
Big Bang.
On a lighter note, the tool you are using to read this blog
originated here, yep that’s right the WWW, which was made public in 1993. CERN developed the World Wide Web after
responding to the need to share its data amongst its 70 some research facilities
world-wide. I’m pleased to have one of the first Smith WWW email addresses
issued in 1993 in Calgary, before that I used the web through a Police Bulletin
Board I belonged to. Lastly, CERN is 60 years old this year having been started
in 1954 to offset the USA’s nuclear development and brain drain.
This is a must see bucket list place to visit. And oh, just
to add icing to the cake, we ride into the French Alps and take the Mount Blanc
tunnel a 12 km. engineering feat, through the Alps, into Italy where we have
now finished our favorite meal of pasta and red wine. Life doesn't get much more interesting or educational!
