Dent d' Oche

Bicycle tour around Lac Léman

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...

Hiking IV - Alpine Forest Lake

On Sunday, June 16, a group of 10 PhD students went with Prof. Tom DeGrand to a mountain lake in 10000-11000 feet altitude, close to the Rocky Mountains National Park. We drove about an hour and started hiking on a clearly visible trail in shorts and t-shirts. However, since there was still a lot of snow, the trail disappeared and we got a bit lost in the woods. Not even our professor knew the correct way. But he instructed us to look for the trail somewhere uphill in the direction where he assumed the lake. We walked trough a little stream and sank knee-deep into the snow. Finally, we reached a beautiful, calm, still a bit frozen lake and had our picnic there.
After the lunch break, it didn't only rain, but there was also hail! Additionally, we saw and heard a thunderstorm (a bit away), which is typical for the mountains in the afternoon.
With wet feet and a bit cold, but happy, we all arrived safely. It was an adventurous trip!
On the way back, we had to stop for an incredibly long train with 50 waggons that transported coal. Our prof told us that most freight is transported on rails whereas railways are rare for travelling persons.

Hiking III - Bear Peak

On the very warm Saturday, June 15, we hiked up on Bear Peak, which can be seen from campus. The hike was beautiful, through the Skunk Creek Valley, then it was really, really steep. However, we were rewarded with a magnificent view! The forest on the peak burned one year ago.

Cactus blossoms

Our destination: Bear Peak

View from the summit

Deer

Boulder in front of the ridge

Campus location

From the campus we can directly see the Rocky Mountains, which start really suddenly west of Boulder whereas the area east of Boulder is very flat. The buildings on campus were built in a mediterranean style.

Forest fires

From the campus (in a safe distance), we saw and smelled forest fires in the mountains on 2 days this week. At first I thought the grey-blue colour was just because of clouds, but on the second day it even smelled smoky.
Last year, there were larger forest fires at some of the mountains. On the hike to Bear Peak today I could see the results. After 1 year, some flowers are already growing on the ashes.

Hiking - Part 2

One of our professors organized a hiking tour for the whole group. We walked up on the steep Green Mountain and enjoyed an amazing view. It was really warm (>35°C ~ 95F). While Boulder is located at an altitude of 1700m, we hiked up to 2500m. The air is very dry and already a bit thin here, so one has to drink a lot.

Animals

Hiking - Part 1

In a group of 5 people, we went on our first hike. After just 15min walk from our dorm on campus, we reached the mountains and hiked up to the 3 so-called "flatirons" (impressing rocks) in the really warm sun. The view was spectacular.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

Boulder Campus

Boulder University is located on a large campus in a mediterranean style. The best is the view on the Rocky Mountains. I promise that pictures will follow soon! The freshly planted flowers on campus are sprinkled automatically, even on rainy days. During the summer school, we all live in a dorm directly on campus. We even get all our meals (also breakfast) as huge buffets in the canteen.
So it is really good to go running every second day. In the morning or in the evening it is not too warm any more. So far I have seen the campus (with geese at a little lake) and a river close by. Hiking up the mountains will follow at the weekend!

Flight

The flight on Sunday was very long: from Hamburg to London, Dallas (Texas) and Denver (Colorado) and the last part by bus from Denver to Boulder. Greenland was covered by clouds, but I saw the Hudson bay with a lot of ice floes. In the United States you can clearly see very long, very straight roads.

Hudson Bay

Straight roads

Particle physics in the Rocky Mountains

Particle physics around the world does not stop: I am spending this June at Boulder, Colorado, for the TASI PhD students summer school of particle physics. 4 weeks with interesting lectures, people from many countries and all this directly at the Rocky Mountains!