This was originally posted in the SMU CERN blog (http://blog.smu.edu/smucern). It’s reproduced here because I am the author! 🙂
On the night of my last ATLAS night shift, I recorded some of the more interesting parts of getting from my temporary home in Carouge (south of downtown Geneva) to CERN. The photos and movie below tell a story of how a physicist gets around so that they can get things done on shift.
Waiting at Place du Marche for one of either the No. 12, No. 13, or No. 14 trams to arrive. It’s about 9:30 p.m., and the sun’s last rays are visible in the sky. This far north, it gets dark late in the evening.
A No. 12 tram pulls up to the Marche stop. The 12 goes to the east side of Lake Geneva, and I need to be on the west side. This will only get me as far as Plainpalais before I’ll have to hop trams.
I hop off the 12 at Plainpalais. This is a nexus of different tram lines. This station is new, with statues, cast in metal, of people engaged in various commuter activities.
I cross the intersecting roads and tram lines to another stop, waiting for a No. 14 tram. It pulls up to the stop two minutes after I arrive. This one will get me as far as Meyrin, a community near CERN.
I arrive at Meyrin-Graviere, the end-of-the-line for trams in the Meyrin Community. Now I wait for the 56 bus, which terminates at CERN.
The 56 bus arrives a few minutes after I get to Meyrin. On my short ride from Meyrin to CERN, I have some company on the bus; people, just like me, trying to get to CERN to work.
Once the 56 arrives at CERN, it’s a short walk from the stop to the ATLAS Control Room. Join me on my walk. It’s about 10:40 p.m. now, just 20 minutes to the start of night shift and just 5 minutes from when I need to debrief the previous shifter.
