Things swing in circles,
Returning time and again
To ev'ry locale.
Henning drove us to work! We had to sneak in the side door since I don't have a CERN badge any longer. I spent the morning writing e-mails I've been meaning to write and reading some of the piles of news I've been shirking my entire time on this trip. Evan did some final cramming for his examination, and spent an hour and a half or so writing it once Roman showed up to proctor. He reported that it was easy, which if it's true means that he gets his degree! He is dooooooooooone at last! :D
We sat down to lunch with all my officemates (excepting Piotr, who is sadly on vacation just now in San Francisco :() in the CERN library garden, which is really lovely in the summertime. Postulations and theories and wild ideas about the future of technology were thrown around just as I remember. Haha, nostalgia.
After lunch, we dropped Evan's exam in the post and prepared to head out. Roman and I had a little discussion about how I "seem different." I noted that I've had to become slightly less rambunctious just to keep the trip and everything under control. "Is that... responsibility?" Roman asked, "Does it hurt?"
For the afternoon, we public transited to Geneva proper, where we got some more food, played on the beach for a while, and wandered the town. We've just missed the Fête de Genève, sadly, and the accompanying fireworks were the night before we arrived. A shame, but oh well. We checked out the botanical gardens, which were alright when I lived there in winter but really lovely during this visit in summer, and headed to Bart's house. You may remember the name Bart from our posts about Antwerpen: he's the fellow who lent us his apartment for our stay there.
Bart and Evan had never met, and to be honest I'd only spent about an hour with him at a party once, but the three of us got along famously. He, too, is a cyclist (and is thinking of joining us for part of our trip!), so he was eager to hear all of our adventures and misadventures. He also told us about a Belgian fellow who has developed good cycling routes all through Europe, and he ensured that we were well stocked with Sweet Bordeaux (delicious white wine).
It was a really nice evening. We're back at Henning's now, wrapping up Internet things and getting some new movies to watch over his deliciously fast fibre connection. It's bedtime! AND NO MORE EXAMS!