The exhibits at CERN were kind of tired, and the tour I went on was more lecturing in front of static displays and kiosks than seeing the innards (although we did stand in front of one of the control rooms for a while), but still, for science and computing nerds, it's worth the pilgrimage. (E.g., seeing the actual computer and servers Tim Berners-Lee used, the Fiami comic books in the gift shop, the physicists who chat me up when they see my LHC jacket... :-) )
They still use Swiss francs (CHF) there (the more tourist-friendly places accept Euros, but rather grudgingly). Get coins at the airport or train station if you're planning to take public transportation. (Silly vending machines.) That said, I had a lot of fun after I bought a day pass and hopped on and off various buses whenever/wherever I felt like it. And they really do refund the difference on bus tickets at the central station if (like me) you get stuck using one of those damn machines and don't have exact change on you. (I think if you stay at a standard hotel they comp the bus passes altogether, so most tourists don't even have to deal with the ticket machines -- I didn't in Lausanne, which has a similar arrangement. [In Geneva, I was trying to save money by staying at a place I'd found via airbnb, and that turned out to be an unhappy experience. Hotels for me from now on.])
There is a Globus in Geneva. I went to its food hall after reading David Lebovitz's writeup of the one in Lausanne. Definitely yummy stuff to sample there, and looking is free. ;-) (I couldn't resist the beer with the John Calvin label, though.)
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Date: 2012-10-20 03:14 am (UTC)The exhibits at CERN were kind of tired, and the tour I went on was more lecturing in front of static displays and kiosks than seeing the innards (although we did stand in front of one of the control rooms for a while), but still, for science and computing nerds, it's worth the pilgrimage. (E.g., seeing the actual computer and servers Tim Berners-Lee used, the Fiami comic books in the gift shop, the physicists who chat me up when they see my LHC jacket... :-) )
They still use Swiss francs (CHF) there (the more tourist-friendly places accept Euros, but rather grudgingly). Get coins at the airport or train station if you're planning to take public transportation. (Silly vending machines.) That said, I had a lot of fun after I bought a day pass and hopped on and off various buses whenever/wherever I felt like it. And they really do refund the difference on bus tickets at the central station if (like me) you get stuck using one of those damn machines and don't have exact change on you. (I think if you stay at a standard hotel they comp the bus passes altogether, so most tourists don't even have to deal with the ticket machines -- I didn't in Lausanne, which has a similar arrangement. [In Geneva, I was trying to save money by staying at a place I'd found via airbnb, and that turned out to be an unhappy experience. Hotels for me from now on.])
FWIW, my Geneva photo diary from last fall.
There is a Globus in Geneva. I went to its food hall after reading David Lebovitz's writeup of the one in Lausanne. Definitely yummy stuff to sample there, and looking is free. ;-) (I couldn't resist the beer with the John Calvin label, though.)