Supermarket

There is a shopping centre in Thoiry with a big supermarket that opens until 9pm. However, the staff asks the customers already at 8.45pm to go immediately to the cashpoint by loudspeaker announcements and personally. Not in a friendly way, but with something like "This is really the last thing you buy!!". Then not all cashpoints are open because several people walk around to tell the customers to leave. In addition, there are several security people at the entrance. It could be more efficient...

Shopping is much nicer at the boulangerie (bakery)! At the weekend, we usually buy a lot of baguette, croissants et pain au chocolat :-)

Living in a village

It is the first time in my live that I live in a village and for this summer it is really nice. Thoiry has about 5000 inhabitants plus some cows. From our balcony, we can see Salève and Mont Blanc in the Alps! Every morning, cows walk from their barn down to the grassland and they return in the afternoon. Their bells are quite loud! We were sometimes even woken up by their sound.

Thoiry has a wonderful market on Sundays. Especially I liked the cheese :-)

A small village in the mountains

Because CERN is located directly at the Swiss-French border, many CERN people live on the French side of the border because it is much cheaper. Together with Matthias and 3 international flatmates I live in Thoiry, a small French village in the Jura mountains. From here, we cycle 8km per direction to CERN, without traffic lights, instead along fields of grain, corn and cows. In the beginning of June, I saw beautiful poppy flowers:

Summer at CERN!

The stories with "particle physics around the world" continue! Since the beginning of June, I have been enjoying the summer at CERN. Luckily it worked out that I can spend 4 months of my PhD at CERN. Obviously, physics is great here, but of course I am also happy to go on trips in the mountains and at the lake!

After TASI

Many activities happened after hiking to a forest lake in the Rocky Mountains. TASI ended, a road trip from Denver in Colorado to San Francisco in California started with fantastic hiking tours at Moab in the Arches and Canyonlands national parks, at Monument Valley, at the Grand Canyon and after a whole day of driving through the Mojave desert we finally arrived at the Californian coast, just in time for the sunset in Morro Bay. Highway 1 with stops at several natural parks, especially Point Lobos, then 2 days in the lovely Santa Cruz and finally 1 day at San Francisco.
Well, that was already 1 year ago. If I find time, I will upload some pictures. But in the meantime I have moved somewhere else and first of all, I will report from here...