The LHC ring crosses the France/Switzerland border in something like 6 places. Unfortunately, since Switzerland isn’t in the EU, one needs to have both Euros and Swiss Francs when working and living near CERN. The main site is just barely in Switzerland, while several other CERN sites are in France. For example, our detector, CMS, is about 8 miles into France.
Vending machines do not take more than once kind of currency. Also, border guards don’t take kindly to bringing wine or meat across the border.
As for the American dollars, I only happened to have those because I recently traded euros to someone who was moving to France permanently, while I was going back to the US within a week or so.
Tags: student life
Actually, the vending machines in the LHC control room take both currencies, though they are the exception I’m guessing.
Well, exactly four times, I think.
And the amazing thing is, whenever you are in a supermarket and trying to figure out whether something is expensive/cheap, you need to first remember which side of the border you are in, then do various arithmetic to convert the currencies…
A good physicist should be able to handle that, right?
migros FTW