Fete de la Musique

This weekend was the Fete de la Musique in Geneva, where you can walk around and there are basically musical performances anywhere you go. Also, all of the museums are open for free, so its a great time to go around and just explore the city.

But first, we had some particularly nice weather this week, so I decided to take some pictures from the office window to show you my view from work every day!


If I look out my office window and turn left, this is what I see. On the left side of the picture
is the start of a very large vineyard.



This is what I see if I turn right when I look out my window. It is the French town of St. Genis.



This is my main view every day. You can see the Jura Mountains and the town of Thoiry.



These are two of the other people in my office. The one sitting is Jack, the other undergrad here for the summer. The one standing is Alberto, the postdoc that I have been mainly working with.
In the background you can see the whiteboard full of things related to the work we have been doing.

Now, onto pictures from the Fete de la Musique. Jack and I went into town together to check it out, and we started out at the Musee d'Art et d'Historie (Museum of Art and History). Unfortunately, they don't allow you to take any pictures inside. We saw lots of cool Middle Ages armor as well as some very nice artwork (lots of Monet and Renoir in one section). Here are some pictures of the exterior of the museum:


This is the entrance of the museum.



A side view of the museum as you approach it.


A picture of the museum courtyard that I managed to sneak from a second floor window.

Then, came the bands. First, we went to go see a rock band that also snag a couple country songs in French called "Skim".


After that, we went and saw a cellist perform a beautiful piece by Bach at the museum. Outside the museum, there was a reggae band performing. In French. Needless to say, this was the last thing we expected in Switzerland. So, we got a picture:


This is the reggae band "The Green Kingdom".

After this, we went to the Parc de Bastions to see the jazz band "Pepper Funk" play. These guys were the best by far. Each musician was really talented, and we ended up staying through their whole set.
The jazz band "Pepper Funk"


A little pond in the park that I thought looked cool.



One of the buildings adjacent to the park.

On the way back to the tram stop, we went through the Place Neuve and I managed to snap a couple pictures of buildings from afar, though I'm not sure what they are.



This is one of the buildings on Place Neuve. You can also see one of the tents set up for the festival.

Finally, one of the cool things I found out while exploring today is that the water that comes out of the fountains in the city is actually drinkable! So I took a picture of a fountain while waiting for the tram to take me back to CERN.


Finally, I close with a picture of something outside a chocolate shop that I just found really amusing.


And no, you can't just go around buying gold bars in Geneva...