Exploring Geneva and CERN

After listening to Gregorian chants and falling even more in love with Florence on our last day here, the time had come to leave. So we woke up quite early, checked out, walked to Florence train station, purchased our tickets, bought breakfast and ran to catch the train and once we were inside we realised we hadn't stamped the tickets. So we were wandering what to do, whether we could get down in one of the stations along the way to punch our tickets... so while we were walking in the train and wondering, we come across a lady in the trenitalia uniform, so while I was a bit apprehensive whether we should ask, what if she fines us... my sister walks upto her and shows her our tickets and tells her that we forgot to stamp them in our hurry. The ticket lady sweetly says that's not a problem and punches them for us on the spot. After that we were a bit relieved, otherwise you've got to pay fine if they see that you haven't time punched your ticket.

Anyway, settled down for the hour long ride to Pisa with this yogurt cereal... Firenze train station has some amazing breakfast food. I still remember the chocolate muffins we ate there... it was wow. We reach Pisa, take the pisa mover to the airport, finish checking in and then we wait to board the flight. The flight was late by two hours, one hour was spent waiting in the airport, the other hour on the plane... I fell asleep soon as we boarded and when I woke up, the plane still hadn't taken off. Anyway, reached Geneva at 4 pm, Vinod was there to pick us up, we went home rested for a while then went to a Korean place for dinner. 

Korean pancake

 Bibimbap

 Something Korean...

Glass noodles...

Kimbap, a sushi kinda thing... After dinner we came home and slept. 

Woke up late the next day and drove to a pretty place for brunch. Federer on the way in an ad...

We went to Cafe du Soleil for brunch...

The cafe...

Looking out from the cafe window...

 Brunch...

 Quinoa and prawns...

 I ordered this muskmelon and wine...

The boys had omelette...

My sister wearing these pretty earrings I had picked up for her from one of the many exhibitions in Chennai

After brunch we visited CERN, where the Large Hadron Collider is located. It was fun walking around inside..

Taking in all the secrets the universe has to offer. Reading about the God particle and accelerating particles and how energy creates mass... like it happened at the very beginning. Energy which is God is converted into us, we all have a spark of God in us. 

We are all made of sunshine and stardust.

E=mc2

The CERN

Love the lettering here, society of Dante Alighieri... apparently it is a society that promotes Italian culture and language around the world. 

Spent the afternoon walking around in the old town

The spire of St. Pierre's Cathedral in the old town of Geneva

Stopped by Cafe Clemence

For a little snack of cheese, bread, pickles and sausage

A fountain in the old town

Then visited the jet of water in Geneva... it was quite cold and drizzling too. After this we went home and rested a while before going to this Italian place for dinner, Dai 3 Fratelli Scalea.

I can't seem to find a whole lot of pictures, but check this link ... have instagrammed about this place that always seems to brim with love, you even taste it in the food. As the name indicates, this place started by three Italian brothers serves authentic Italian food in huge quantities. If you go in for dinner, you can be assured that your lunch for the next day will be served too. That's how it was when we went twice, we ended up carrying half our food home and ate it for lunch the next day. And the brothers are extremely kind too, while waiting for a table they ask if you want a drink while you wait... One really large hearted place, no wonder it is always packed. And the food is beautiful, some of the best pizzas, raviolis and pasta I have ever eaten are from here. An extremely cozy place with soft warm lights and the sounds of laughter filling the air. After this we came back home, and crashed into bed... hearts and stomach filled with gratitude.

Drove to the airport next morning, to drop off Jude who was going back to New York. After that we went to church, and lunch was the leftover pizza from Dai 3 Fratelli Scalea which was still pretty amazing.

My brother's friend invited us all for Onam, it was a huge gathering and everybody was decked out in the typical creamish onam saree. I'e never had Onam sadya all these years in India, I go to Geneva and have my first Onam meal there, how ironic.  It's always the case, festivals and independence day tend to gain more importance the further one is away from the country. I remember while growing up in Abu Dhabi, they would wake us up early for the Independence day celebrations in the Indian club. Back home in India, we sleep late... nothing special happens. Anyway, here's the onam flower decoration.

Onam food...

Another pretty earring I picked up for Nam. After this we went home and packed 'cause we were flying to Barcelona the next day.