Daily Outfit: Valentine's day

Romance, what's that?

I spent the 14th getting lost in the Louvre with a friend.

Heart tights!

Yet another really gorgeous day.

Daily Outfit: Going away drinks

Saturday night drinks to say goodbye to the troupe.

Daily Outfit: Perfect day in Paris

What to wear for your perfect day?

The obligatory coat

A sequinned cardigan

More shiny layers.

Recipe for a Perfect Parisian Winter's day

Go for a walk on a beautifully sunny and crisp day.





Visit a wonderful museum for free.











Enjoy the beautiful artwork on display (and some white wine at lunch!)











Catch the metro to your friend's incredible new apartment for afternoon tea.





Delight in warm, homemade banana walnut muffins and fresh flowers.







Go home in the fading light and think about how lucky you are.

Did you know...

that I'm a massive fan of nature, as well as particle physics?






All photos taken in Geneva botanical gardens. Greenhouses are a lovely place to escape to when it's cold outside...

Daily Outfit: Tour of the UN

Another highlight of the trip to Geneva was visiting the former Palais des Nations, now primarily a conference centre for the UN.











I'd definitely recommend this (free!) tour to anybody who happens to be passing through Geneva. No booking required, either.

Last minute shopping

Don't let me loose on the streets of Paris with a wallet full of €uros...

Quick snap before I pack them away

Yes, I am wearing pyjamas. I think you'll be ok, though.

Retirement

I am sincerely looking forward to retiring these boots for the next few months...



So over the cold. Bring on 35° days!

Alice in Wonderland windows at Printemps

On a grey, snowy afternoon last week I swung by Printemps in the 8é arrondissement to investigate the Alice in Wonderland-inspired display windows at ritzy department store Printemps.










Fashion-wise, I wasn't really feeling the love, but appreciated the mountain of macarons and the bunny made out of white roses (should they be painted red?)

Who else is looking forward to the movie premiere? As for the Princess and the Frog, I'll surely be dressing up!

Visit to CERN

One of my primary motivations of going to Geneva was being invited to tour the CERN facility. The Organisation Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire straddles the French and Swiss border and is home to the Large Hadron Collider, a giant particle accelerator deep underground.

Were you guys aware that I'm a major geek?

The visitor's centre plays host to an interactive and informative museum, accessible to different levels of student ability.

We are all made of stars!

Layout of the site

Model of the ALICE experiment

While visitors are no longer allowed access to the detectors underground, we were escorted to the ATLAS experiment control room to discover the particle detector. The magnitude of this experiment, both physically and in terms of data acquisition, is mind-blowing. A triumphant feat of civil engineering to install 7000 tonnes of equipment 100 metres underground.

Scientists hard at work on a Saturday in the ATLAS control room.

I'd like to thank the Visits Service of CERN for such an informative and exciting morning touring the facility.