Every so often the Sloan Digital Sky Survey holds a meeting for its collaborators, and this time I was able to attend the meeting in Heidelberg, Germany.  I traveled with fellow student Adrian Pope, and we took 5 days before the conference to see Munich and Berlin while we were in the country.

Here's a map of Germany with our trip overlaid:

Since we only had a few days before the conference, we decided to fly between cities to save time.  Our trip was a triangle, starting in Munich, then Berlin, then Heidelberg/Frankfurt.

We left in the late afternoon on March 14, and flew from Dulles outside of Washington.  On the plane ride to Amsterdam, we passed over New York.  At the time, they were marking the World Trade Center site with lights, and we could see these as we passed overhead (long shutter time, so it's a little blurry):

First stop, Munich.  The city is full of things for the senses, and full of things that will make you senseless if you drink enough.   We visited several markets and beer gardens.  Here's a picture for Dan Coe, from Viktualienmarkt:

Munich has what is probably the world's best science museum.  The exhibits are well-designed, explained, and go into incredible depth of each subject.  I could have spent two whole days there.  We watched a planetarium demonstration -- you have to be impressed when they start explaining precession, and the differing views of the sky by latitude...

Here is Adrian demonstrating angular momentum:

We climbed up above Marienplatz, the town square, and here are several shots looking down at the square:
 

Berlin was equally as entertaning, and I was awed by the changes since I was last there (in 1991, I think?).  Development is happening all over the city, and even 2dF has opened a branch here!

We went to visit sections of the wall still standing, some of which are being preserved for historical value:

Here is Checkpoint Charlie, where the access point between the Western sectors and the Soviet sector used to be located:

Berlin doesn't have a science museum to rival Munich, but the Pergamon Museum is the equivalent.  This is an impressive collection of Greek, Roman, Near Eastern art that exceeds any I've seen back home.

On the left, Aschylepius with his staff (the physician), and on the right, the Pergamon Altar itself:

And what would a trip to Germany be without  --   Unashamedly sexual advertisements?

This is an ad for a museum exhibit!

Finally, the one picture I took in Heidelberg, at Adrian's request:

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Thanks for visiting!

10/10/02