After waking up in Geneva, we headed for CERN. When we arrived at one of the particle accelerator’s main instruments, the compact muon solenoid, we took a short tour of the facility. The main assembly hall, where the instrument was built piecemeal and lowered into the testing cavern, was massive. After touring the hall, the group was led into an elevator nearly 90 meters underground into the computing and sensing hall, the closest we could get while the accelerator was in use. After heading out of Geneva, we headed for Zermatt, taking lots of winding paths through the mountains.
After arriving at Zermatt and taking a small hike to get to the hostel, the group unpacked and took a few minutes to take in the view. In the distance, between either side of the valley that encapsulated the small town, Matterhorn took up a large fraction of the sky, reaching above the clouds at the top.
Taking the rest of the night off, the majority of the group headed to a local pub to get food and drinks and spent the rest of the night exploring the small shops in and around Zermatt. While many in the group hadn’t brought long pants or sweaters, many of the outdoor restaurants had blankets, which lead to a very cozy and calm atmosphere for the rest of the night.
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Vincent T.
