Geneva for geeks

Luxury shopping, politics, banks, panorama - of course, the small metropolis on the lake is a great destination for sightseeing and business for many reasons. And at La vie en route, we have a strong soft spot for French-speaking Switzerland anyway. But what particularly interested us this time were completely different questions: What was the beginning of the universe again? What is an atom made of? And what exactly is whizzing under the ground at the speed of light?

The first impression: it's bustling. While our train became emptier and emptier at each stop in western Switzerland, a crowd of people gathers around us as soon as we left the station building. We enjoy the variety of people we meet on the way to the hotel. We check in quickly, dry off and then explore the Paquis district.

Straight out of a picture book: sunny fall by the lake.

We're hungry, and luckily, we make an unexpected discovery. A Mexican restaurant called El Catrin looks very promising: Guests are waiting for a table in front of the door, the service handles the rush with Latin casualness, the atmosphere is loud, boisterous, multilingual, in short: just the way we like it. This also applies to the tacos, which we finally decide to mix. Fresh, a little spicy, well made. We like this colourful city.

Mexico meets French-speaking Switzerland: the world assembles in Geneva.

But tacos and the beautiful lakeshore are not what brought us to Geneva. We want to focus on physics, more precisely on CERN, short for Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. Since the 1950s, this international physics research institute has been located across the border in Switzerland and on French territory. As we get off the tram, a vast campus opens up in front of us and we can only imagine the sheer scale of the underground research facilities.

After a marathon of online registrations, QR codes and bookings, we clear the first hurdle and plunge into the exhibitions. These are very clearly designed, so you don't necessarily need a degree in physics to understand what CERN does, at least on the surface. As satisfied geeks, we spend lunch in the CERN café and order, of course, by QR code.

Up close and personal with a particle accelerator: tour at CERN.

In the afternoon, we delve even deeper into the world of research. On a guided tour, we first learn more about the history of this unique institute and see an older particle accelerator up close. We only get to see a model of the current "Large Hadron Collider", but we can take a look inside its control room - a fascinating world. Incidentally, all the guides at CERN are physicists and are therefore able to explain competently what we see and answer questions with a great deal of specialist knowledge.

We let the evening fade away quietly, and in the morning we take the train back to Zurich and ask ourselves: why aren't we here more often?

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Good to know

How to get there: Depending on the train connection, the journey from Zurich to Geneva takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours - so a flight is absolutely unnecessary. The train also offers wonderful panoramic views of Lac Léman, especially in the fall when we were traveling.

Accommodation: We stayed at the Eastwest, which is less than a 10-minute walk from Geneva's main train station and not far from the lakeshore. A solid, functional choice in Geneva, which is very self-assured in terms of price.

Dinner: As described in the blog, we were very impressed by El Catrin in Paquis. Great Mexican cuisine meets a lively atmosphere - we would come back in a heartbeat!

CERN: For those interested in science and technology, CERN is one of the most exciting places to visit. What's more, there's no entrance fee - and as we know, that's not often the case in Switzerland. Tours have to be booked on site. Everything you need to know as a visitor can be found on this website.