Google Photos for this week: https://goo.gl/photos/i3WidZZLbGonNahz5
CERN
This week at CERN the tests with my fiber light guide concluded and our team started testing a new device known as a Falcon. A Falcon is supposed to replace the fiber light guide and solve the problem of matching fibers of the fiber bundle to the fiber light guide. Currently, the fiber light guide does not match 1:1 fiber’s positions. Therefore, one fiber of the fiber light guide could be reading multiple fibers of the fiber bundle. To alleviate this problem the Falcon is going to be used as a sort of magnification device. The Falcon is basically a fiber light guide with miniscule fibers mapping from one size of the fiber light guide to the multi anode PMT. Based on preliminary tests our group found that the Falcon can magnify the bundle to a very good size. Although, we still need to test the optical properties such as light transfer on a multi anode PMT setup.
Colmar
No plan is mind, I went to the SBB station on Friday and asked them for the cheapest ticket to a Christmas market. Four hours later, I was in the magical universe of Colmar, France. Colmar is a beautiful city that was untouched by the world wars. Hence, many of the buildings are still in their original state. Additionally, the whole town has a Christmas theme to it. Everywhere you look buildings are decorated with glittering lights, stuffed penguins/polar bears, elfs and tons of festive red and green colors.
The Christmas Market was one of the coolest things that I have been able to see on my trip. In total there were about 200 stalls selling all different types of goods like chocolate, ornaments and tons more. One cool stall was a carousel setup to be a bar for various drinks, I was able to taste the rich hot chocolate. Additionally, one cool thing about the town was a section known as Petit Venice. Petit Venice is basically a small subsection of the town with a bunch of restaurants by the small canal where people can eat or take a ride on one of the gondolas. Overall, Colmar was an awesome trip and a place I would definitely go back to in the future.
Montreux
After getting back from Colmar Saturday night, I had previously planned a trip to go to Montreux on Sunday. Monteux had another Christmas market and was only about a 40 minute train ride from Geneva. The Christmas market at Montreux was smaller, although it still had amazing little boutique shops. Adding to the magic of the market was the backdrop of the market being one of the Swiss mountains towering over you. At the end of the night, I was able to get some awesome shots after the glare from the sun went away of the mountain. Also at the end of the night, Santa rode in his sleigh across the whole market!
Aside from the Christmas market, I went to see the Chillon Castle. The Chillon Castle was a medium size castle that had tons of rooms to explore. I was able to take an audio tour through the castle’s rooms including: the dining room, living quarters, various courtyards, the keep and overlook. The audio guide was an awesome tour leaving you at the top of the castle with an awesome view of the Montreux shoreline! All in all, this weekend was pretty magical between all the Christmas markets and unique cities.
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