This past week...

[jay]

This past week... paper was presented, I was ill, then back to the conference. No photos of the hospital or medical procedures, alas, I was in too much pain to think of getting the camera.

But, I have a few otherwise...


Nothing from the modern, shiny conference center just north of the center city, but last night we had a "Bavarian Night" at a stereotypical indoors beerhall, Wirtshaus an der An, with a band that eventually got many of us up out of our seats. Well-lubricated rocket and computer scientists... I was seated between an ESA guy who is planning a meteor-deflection mission ("Donkey Shot"), and a JPL rovers guy with his wife. Here's the band, darkly:


Today the conference broke out into tour groups, to the ESA control center nearby, a local university, and to the Deutsches Museum (with its space and aeronautics content). I picked the latter:


Wandering, I initially thought I might just spend a couple of hours there, then break away on my own and see the former royal palace nearby. It didn't happen... it's like going to the Smithsonian, under one roof. Exhibits described in detail, by-geeks-for-geeks, as it was, not glossed for general public consumption. Here's some of the aeronautics area:


And they had excellent cutaways on the exhibits, showing how everything fitted together... like this first 1907 U-boat:

I stayed until it closed at 5pm.

This evening... wandered around central Munich:

and did some shopping (dirndls? heh...). And began packing. Tomorrow... hopefully a morning stop at Nymphenburg on the way to the airport, and then on to Amsterdam. :) Where I finally found an adequate hotel room this evening, for tomorrow, after two months of trying...

Comments

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

While I completely understand that you are still working and that you have completely earned your fun time and that I wouldn't want the illness at all, I am still sooooo envious.

And yet, I am so glad you are having such a great time!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks! And I try to squeeze as much fun or interesting time as I can, around the edges of what work requires. I'm actually the only NASA attendee I met at the conference here who is not taking any vacation time before or afterward, just the weekends.