Final Picture Sets

Let's try this again.

Here are the last seven picture sets for my trip to Europe. All three sets for Vienna have descriptions for each picture, but the Zurich and Barcelona sets do not have descriptions. I'll be adding those when I get back from the beach. I wanted you all to see the pictures before I left, though.

Here are the links:

Vienna, Day 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621967169742/detail/

Vienna, Day 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621842751831/detail/

Vienna, Day 3:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621842772587/detail/

Zurich, Day 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621967289268/detail/

Zurich, Day 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621842812351/detail/

Barcelona, Day 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621842836969/detail/

Barcelona, Day 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621842851929/detail/

As usual, I hope you enjoy them! Thanks for visiting the blog!

Links screwing up

So I was ready to put the links to the final seven sets of pictures from my trip to Europe... but this website is screwing something up. Every time I'd link to one of my sets, the font size would get bigger. With each successive link, the font would get even larger, making the post very hard to read. Until this is fixed, I can't post the links. Hopefully it'll get fixed, or I can figure out what I'm doing wrong, soon. Check back tomorrow!

I really do apologize for the wait!

Apologies

Sorry about lagging behind with the pictures. I've decided to upload all of the remaining ones while I can, then finishing them off by putting in descriptions and making them available for viewing. I should get the rest of the pictures done before I leave to go home for the beach on Saturday. So be on the lookout for the last sets of pictures!

Let's finish Prague!

Okay, three more sets to give you links to. These are the final three days in Prague. Here you go!

Prague, Day 3 / Prague Panorama Tour (July 1, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621782633187/detail/

Prague, Day 4 (July 2, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621907487742/detail/

Prague, Day 5 (July 3, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621783083741/detail/

As usual, enjoy! Vienna is up next.

Sorry

No links to pictures today. I uploaded 150-ish pictures and I haven't had a chance to put descriptions on them yet. Should have multiple links tomorrow.

Three more picture sets

Here are the links to three more sets of pictures from my trip to Europe.

Berlin to Prague / First Night in Prague (June 28, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621762471867/detail/

Prague, Day 1 (June 29, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621886973240/detail/

Prague, Day 2 (June 30, 2009):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621762501685/detail/


Everyone's probably wondering if I'm getting work done in lab. Well, I am uploading the pictures while I'm in lab (that's going on in the background while I work on my paper), but I'm not writing descriptions until I get home. I keep the pictures private until everything is ready, then I make everything public and post the links when I have a little free time in the afternoon. So yes, I'm still doing work!

Pictures from Berlin, Day 2

The pictures from the second day in Berlin are now up. A few pictures were taken in Berlin, but the majority of the pictures were from Oranienburg and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Here's the link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621751501211/detail/

As always, enjoy!

Pictures from Berlin, Day 1

Hey all!

I've finally uploaded all of the pictures I took in Berlin on the first day there. Each picture has a little description so you know what you're looking at.

Here's the link for Berlin, Day 1 (June 26, 2009):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpramsey81/sets/72157621865158306/detail/

I can really only upload pictures from school. For some reason, I get a lot of errors during uploading when I attempt to do it from home, and it takes me forever to get a lot of pictures uploaded. Thus, I'll be uploading as I work on my paper.

Anyway, as I finish up a set of pictures, I'll post the links here on the blog, so make sure to check often! I hope to have all of the pictures uploaded and finalized within a week or two.

Back In The USA

I probably should have posted this a few hours ago when I actually got home, but I got caught up catching up with other things.

Anyway, I am back safely, and with all of my luggage. I'm really tired, but I'm forcing myself to stay awake until a normal bed time to try to fight off the jet lag. We'll see how it works.

Since I'm tired, I'm gonna keep this short. A few things about the trip home today:

- Confusion about the first flight of the day (our itinerary was Barcelona -> Madrid -> Newark -> Nashville). Didn't know if we had to check in with Continental or somewhere else. Found out we had to check in with Air Europa. Of course, Air Europa had tons of people waiting to check in and just five lines open. Think you can open up some more? Took a while to get checked in, but we made it through security very quickly and caught the flight on time.
- Arrived in Madrid. We were supposed to have a 1 hour and 10 minute layover. As it turns out, our plane was already boarding when we got off of our arriving plane. We rush over to the departing plane wanting to get a drink from a soda machine before we get on the plane. Before we could get any money in the machine, we heard our names on the PA system. It was the last call for us to board. What happened to the 1 hour and 15 minutes? I don't think we arrived late, but I could be wrong. But we got on the plane.
- On the Madrid to Newark flight we kept having to contend with screaming kids that wouldn't shut up. People everywhere were shushing them, and their mother was having no luck getting them to stop. Eventually they fell asleep, so they were quiet for the majority of the flight. But before that, I thought there would be some rioting or something.
- Arrive early in Newark. Customs was a breeze. Rechecked our bags, went back through security, and waited just over three hours for our final flight... which ended up being delayed by around 27 minutes or something like that. We board the plane after the delay, then taxi for another 20 to 25 minutes before finally taking off. End up landing in Nashville almost one hour later than we were supposed to. But we made it.

Not much else to comment on about the trip back.

Like I said yesterday, kind of sad to leave, but glad to be back. Now I have lots of pictures to sort through, so stay tuned!

(This post was actually posted at the time below, so we're back to regular time now!)

Barcelona, Day 2

This was it. Last day in Europe.

And guess what? It did NOT rain all day! It looked like it might this morning, but it really never did. That made us happy.

We woke up early this morning to go catch the start of the Tour de France stage on Muntanya de Montjuic. The staging area was just in front of the Palau Nacional. The schedule online said the staging would occur around 9:25, so we decided to show up an hour early to be safe. There were quite a few people there when we showed up, but still plenty of room to find a place to see the racers. We decided to stand very near the starting line, where the staging area would be.

At 9:05, pretty much on time, the caravan started. This is basically a parade of cars and some float-like automobiles of all of the different sponsors of the race. Lots of loud music and people screaming into microphones. I don’t really know what their purpose is, but they were in front of the racers yesterday, too.

9:25 comes around, and no racers. The staging didn’t end up happening until almost an hour later. The racers started coming close to the staging area at around 10, but the announcers at the main stage kept talking and talking to certain racers. But they finally gathered together at the starting line in front of us. It was a huge mass of racers on bikes, and it was really cool to see. I also managed to catch the leader wearing the yellow jersey at the front of the group. And then they were off to race up mountains.

After that, I went and bought a Tour de France T-shirt (I wanted something since I highly doubt I’ll ever see the race again), and we decided to walk around the rest of Montjuic. We went and saw the Olympic Stadium and we walked all the way up to Castell de Montjuic. Up there was an amazing view of the entire city. Let me tell you, Barcelona is HUGE. I got many pictures of the views, and even some of the sea. It was a phenomenal sight.

We had lunch up there at the castle. The little restaurant had a combo lunch where you could get paella, a dessert, and a drink, so that’s what I did. Surprisingly, the lunch was very tasty. I loved how the rice was spiced in the paella. I also had a piece of chocolate cake that was delicious.

After lunch we walked down Montjuic and hopped into the nearest subway station to ride to Sagrada Familia. I really didn’t know what to expect, but two of my friends told me to go there. So we did. And our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw it. We thought St. Stephens was a beautiful cathedral, but this topped that. It’s hard to describe, but the front of the cathedral looked like it was carved out of a massive hunk of rock (for all I know, it may have been, which would explain why it looked like that). It was just so gorgeously decorated (I can’t think of any other way to explain it). I hope my pictures do it justice.

There was a tour inside the cathedral, but we were trying to conserve our Euros for the taxi ride to the airport tomorrow morning (so we can skip the “every 30 minutes” train). It would have been awesome to go inside, though.

After that we walked down to the Arc de Triomf, passing the Place de Toros Monumental on the way. I always like seeing things like that. It was in a nice little park, too. From there we walked to the cathedral in the Barri Gotic area, and ended up wandering around that area, too. After that we headed back to the hotel to relax for a while before dinner, because we were pretty beat up and exhausted from everything we have done lately. There was a huge cruise ship just outside our window.

For dinner, we ended up going to a tapas place that was recommended by the concierge of our hotel. I’ve actually never had tapas before, but I knew how it worked (you pretty much order multiple small dishes and share them). However, we decided not to share and just got what we wanted. I ended up getting a four-cheese montedita (spelling and right word?), a Spanish omelet, and a chorizo and cheese flouta. All of it was incredible. I’ve got to get me some chorizo when I get home!

Afterwards, we just walked back down La Rambla to get back to the hotel. Now it’s time to pack and prepare to come home.

It’s been an amazing (just over) two weeks here in Europe. I am so grateful that I was able to come over here and experience everything that I did. I just wish I had a little bit more time in certain cities. I really hope I make it back over here in the future to hit some more cities that I haven’t seen yet. It is definitely a trip that I will always remember.

With that said, I’m also ready to come home, too.

Thanks to everyone that read this while I was over here. I hope you enjoyed reading about my exploits and much as I enjoyed experiencing them.

I’ll post one more entry tomorrow when I get to my apartment so everyone knows I’m back home safe. Also, be sure to keep checking as I will eventually post links to the pictures after I upload them. I’ll post a link for each city instead of waiting for every single picture to be uploaded.

(This post was actually posted at 9:45 PM Barcelona time.)

Barcelona, Day 1

The hotel I am at here in Barcelona has free wireless internet on the first floor, so that's where I am now. The cool thing is that the lounge I am in has a piano bar, so I'm listening to the piano player right now as I type this. He's really good!

Anyway, I forgot to mention something in yesterday's blog post (I'm sure I've missed mentioning a lot of things since the trip began). Laura and I treated Doug and Audrey to the dinner last night in Quinten. It was the least we could do after all of the hospitality they showed us with allowing us to stay at their place and making food for us. We cannot thank them enough. We had such a great time staying with them and catching up. And Abe is an awesome little kid that was a lot of fun to be around. So we'll definitely remember that part of the trip.

One other thing. Switzerland is EXPENSIVE. Everything from food to even riding the tram was more expensive than any other city we've been in. I don't even want to know how much I spent. Good thing the exchange rate between the dollar and the Swiss Franc is close to 1:1.

Anyway, on to the new stuff.

We got up very early this morning so we gave ourselves enough time to ride the tram to the airport. We got there with plenty of time to spare. It seemed like the Zurich airport had a different layout than other airports I've been in. You actually go to the individual terminal first (after going through passport control and what not), then go through security. Everywhere else I've been it's the other way around. But we made it to the gate with plenty of time to spare.

Side note: The train we rode to get to our terminal kind of reminded me of the boat ride in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Everything from weird moving pictures of a Swiss girl blowing you a kiss to random sound effects (like a cow mooing).

Our flight to London (London City Airport) for the transfer was uneventful, save for the rather bumpy landing. Once we landed, we found out that we had 35 minutes to get to our connecting flight. But first, we had to exit the plane onto the tarmac, then catch a bus to the terminal, then go through security AGAIN (seriously?) complete with a time-consuming pat down, then wait in the lobby until the updating sign said that our plane was boarding (there were no PA announcements, so you had to watch the sign), then get to the gate and show them our ticket, then wait until we were given permission to walk back down to the tarmac and load the plane. Frankly, I don't like how that airport worked, but that's my opinion.

Thankfully, we got through all of that with a few minutes to spare, and it was off to Barcelona. Again, an uneventful flight. So we land in Barcelona and, guess what? It was raining! I know I keep bringing this up, and I guess I'm disappointed with the weather here. I know it's rainy season, but seriously, can it not stop raining for one whole day? Is that too much to ask for?

The Barcelona airport where we landed did the same thing as London City Airport. You walk out onto the tarmac (again, it's raining) and hop on a bus to the terminal. After that, it was just through passport control and off to get our luggage. No luggage was lost. With that done, we figured out (with the help of some information people) how to get to our hotel.

This brings me to another point. I'm sorry if it seems like I'm complaining about a few things, but I'm just pointing out my observations. Barcelona's mass transit system sucks. Who thought it was a good idea to have one tram come to the airport every 30 minutes when there's 800,000 people that need to use it? Are they just trying to see how many people they can fit onto a train at once? It was completely crowded, and someone near me had very bad body odor. Just not fun.

Thankfully, the subway we caught after we got off the tram wasn't as bad, it was just more chaotic that the other cities we've been in. Even though the map looks complex, it's not too hard to follow. We managed to get on the right train to the station we needed, and got off. We had to walk the rest of the way to the hotel.

But again, it's raining. So the walk to the hotel was miserable. I was soaked by the time we got there. But we checked in quickly, and I was able to change into dry clothes.

Thankfully, things got better from there. It stopped raining. We left the hotel about 4:15 PM (we rested for a little while after checking in) thinking about going to get an early dinner since we hadn't had lunch. Instead, we noticed on our way in to the hotel that the road just in front of the hotel area was blocked off. It was blocked off because it was part of the Tour de France course that ended today in Barcelona. So instead of finding a place to eat, we decided to wait with the crowd (we found an empty spot right at the barrier so we could see the road) and watch the racers go by. It took about another hour, but they started coming by. I got a ton of pictures. I think Lance Armstrong is in there somewhere, and I'm hoping I got the leader (yellow jersey wearer) as well. But it was just something great to experience since it's not every day you have the opportunity to see a part of a major sporting event.

After that, we walked down La Rambla to find a place to eat. We were starving, so we pretty much stopped at the first restaurant that looked good to us. It happened to be an Italian-ish restaurant. I had mini beef ravioli. The sauce was a little sweeter there than I'm used to, but it was good.

After that, we continued walking around the La Rambla area, stopping at a church we found (have no idea which one) and just going down side streets to see the sights. We also walked around the marina area since that's where our hotel was. I got quite a few pictures of buildings here since the architecture is amazing. And palm trees!

After that, we decided to call it a day since there really wasn't any time to do anything else. Plus we wanted to see if we could finalize our plans to go see the Tour de France racers again tomorrow as they go up a climb. Unfortunately, the concierge at the hotel, after it took a while to get across what we were trying to do, said that he didn't think we'd be able to get there because the course follows a highway and there's no way to get there except by car. We could walk from the nearest train station, but he doubted they'd let walkers on the highway. So Laura and I decided to just see the racers as they leave the starting point in the morning. It's the best we could do.

That is it for today. Tomorrow is the last day in Barcelona and the last day in Europe. Even though I'll be sad to leave, I'm ready to come back, as well. But I've really enjoyed this whole trip and I am so thankful that I was able to experience everything that I have.

So tomorrow will be the last post from Europe. I will post again once I get home in Nashville so you know I'm back safely. I'll also post once I get the pictures uploaded to Flickr. It might take a while, but I'll get it done as soon as I can.

That's all for today. Goodnight!

(This post was actually posted at 10:22 Barcelona time.)

Zurich, Day 2

Today started off by waking up and eating breakfast. Doug had set out some yogurt, granola, and blueberries. After we ate and got ready for the day, Doug walked us to his lab here at the University of Zurich. We got to see his office, his lab space, his new lab space (which he's moving into next week), and his "frog room". It's amazing how different labs look here in comparison to back in the U.S. Although he has one room inside the building that contains frogs, he also has an area outside with containers of tadpoles. We'd never have anything like that at Vanderbilt.

After his little tour, Laura and I walked back to their place and relaxed until Doug came back for lunch. The exhaustion from the overnight train ride, as well as the whole trip, caught up to us. Lunch was leftover chicken salad, which I was happy to eat.

We decided that we were going to go on a hike near Lake Walen (Walensee), which was southeast of Zurich and near to the Alps. We wanted to hike from Amden to Quinten, a village that you can only reach either by hike or by boat. We didn't know what to expect for the hike, but the weather was supposed to be nice all day.

We drive out toward Amden, and the scenery is just spectacular. Even though we weren't really in the Alps, it was mountainous. Actually, it was pretty much the same area I saw when I was looking at the scenery on the train ride in. I knew that we were going to see some awesome views on this hike.

With Abe on Doug's back and with Wally (Doug and Audrey's dog) at our side, we started off on the hike. But guess what? Yep, it started raining! This wasn't the easiest of hikes, and now we had mud and wet rocks to contend with. At any rate, the first shower didn't last too long, and the sun was back out. Good thing, too, because the view of the lake and the mountains beyond was amazing everywhere we went.

Eventually we came across a sign that pointed us to Quinten, and said it was 2 hours away. We have no idea what pace would get us there in 2 hours, but at least we knew how long it should take. The hike was pretty much two uphill and two downhill areas while passing through one small village.

On the way, I noticed way up in the mountains a huge waterfall. So awesome. Eventually, we passed by a path that led to the waterfall, but we didn't go that way. However, we did go past parts of the waterfall, so I got quite a few pictures.

It rained a couple more times (one for quite a while) during the rest of the hike, and the hike took a total time of around 3 hours. There were no casualties and no spills, though I think Wally was getting uncomfortable since he was really wet. But we made it to Quinten.

We get there and run across a man who tells us that the restaurant there is open and will be open until 10, and that the boat runs to the other side of the lake until 9. This made us happy, because we didn't want to hike through all of that again. Quinten is this quaint town that had gardens full of grapes, and we also saw a cherry tree and a pear tree. Just a nice little village.

Audrey went to talk to the guy who ran the boat and asked him if he spoke English. His response was "Not on Monday mornings". Funny. We get the schedule down for the boat ride to the other side, for the tram ride to a different city where we would catch a bus back up to Amden and to the car.

With that set, we ate dinner at a seafood restaurant there in Quinten. The food was awesome. I had black perch with a sauce that was pretty much tomatoes, bacon, and onions. And they had hot chocolate! So it was a good way to celebrate us making it to Quinten.

After dinner, we rode the boat to the other side, got on the tram, got on the bus, and made it back to the car. Then we just rode back to their place.

Now I've gotta get up really early tomorrow to catch our flight to Barcelona via London. Better than taking another overnight, 14 hour train.

Again, hopefully I'll be able to update tomorrow night, so see you then!

(This post was actually posted at 11:53PM Zurich time.)

Zurich, Day 1

(This is entry 3 of 3 for today. Read below for parts 1 and 2.)

Before I get started, I just wanted to mention that Zurich was the only city in which we didn't really have any definite must see things or any true plans, so we figured we'd play it by ear. We really were here to visit with our old co-worker, Doug, and his family (Audrey, his wife, and Abe, his 1.5 year old son). If they had time to show us around, then that would be great, but we would understand if they were busy.

Anyway, we had directions on how to get to Doug's place, but we had a hard time getting the right ticket for the tram from the ticket machine. We finally figured it out, hopped on the tram, and got off at the right stop. The next direction to Doug's place told us to hop on a trolley that runs up the hill to where he lives. The trolley reminded me of the inclined railroad in Chattanooga, just on a smaller scale. It was a pretty steep hill, and it was amazing to see that a transport to get up that hill has been around for a number of years. Quite fun!

We found Doug's place late in the morning and were greeted by Audrey. The first thing I noticed was the view from their living room. You could see pretty much all of Zurich from there, including the lake. Beautiful. Their apartment is also very quaint and cozy, and we really appreciate them allowing us to stay with them for these two nights.

Audrey also said that she was going to be making us both lunch and dinner, which was completely unexpected but greatly appreciated. Doug walks to work, so he walked home to have lunch with us. We ended up having fish and pasta, which were very good. I should mention that before lunch we decided to have a little bit of a rest period to unwind after the train ride.

Doug ended up having to go back to work, so Audrey took us around Zurich, which is a beautiful city. The Limmat River had the bluest water out of all the cities we've been in so far. Lots of great architecture. Anyway, we followed a tour we found in a travel guide to hit the high points of the city. We went in a couple of churches (which, of course, didn't allow pictures) and walked through "old town".

Eventually Doug met up with us since Audrey had to leave to go to a meeting, and he ended up taking us back. But first we had to go look out over Lake Zurich (Zurichsee), where we could (barely) see the Alps. But the view was amazing.

The weather was fitful all day. It would rain, then stop, then rain, then stop. But the rain never really lasted for more than a couple of minutes. As a matter of fact, during one bout of rain, we ended up stepping into a little cafe so Abe could have a snack. I ended up getting a hot chocolate which, apparently, is rarer than you think in Switzerland (a country known for its chocolate). But I definitely wasn't disappointed with what I had! I also ended up buying some Swiss chocolate items, as well.

With the tour complete, we went back to Doug's place for dinner. Audrey had made us this very delicious chicken salad with cranberries. Afterwards we just hung around and talked to catch up. Now we just have to decide what we want to do tomorrow. Apparently we're hiking somewhere.

It was so great being able to see and catch up with Doug and his family. They are doing very well here in Zurich. Abe is growing up very fast, and he is a very cool kid with an energetic personality. I keep trying to teach him to say DUDE and it's cute when it comes out "doooooooooooooood". Good times.

It's sad to think that the Europe trip is coming to a close. Just three days left...

(This post was actually posted at 11:14PM Zurich time.)

Overnight Train (Vienna To Zurich)

(This is entry 2 of 3 for today. Read below for part 1.)

Where to start about our experience riding the overnight train...

Our train was scheduled to leave at 9:25PM, and we arrived at the train station at least one hour early. We spent the time trying to dry out our shoes, socks, and umbrellas. Our train arrived early, and it didn't look like it was going to be a full train. We were hoping that we'd have our sleeping compartment to ourselves, but, just like with the previous train, luck was not with us.

The sleeping compartments were pretty much just six cots, stacked three high, squeezed into a little room. Our reserved cots were at the very top (of course), and in order to get up there you had to use a small rickety ladder. I thought I was going to fall off the ladder a few times. There's also little room for your luggage. All there was was under the bottom two cots, and some room for a couple of suitcases at the very top. If you couldn't find a place for it, it either got stacked on the floor or it had to be in the cot with you. Since Laura and I were first to the compartment, we managed to get our luggage out of our way.

Oh, and did I mention that the cots were not very long? If you're a tall person (even 6 feet tall like me), you have to sleep with legs bent because you could not stretch yourself completely out. Good luck getting through the night without a cramp.

We shared the room with two Korean girls who spoke little English. Apparently a fifth person, some guy who had a snoring problem, showed up at some point, but I don't remember him coming in.

After finally getting all the luggage situated, the crew came around and gave us sheets and pillows, took our breakfast order (coffee or tea, pretty much), and took our tickets and passports.

At some point just after we left Vienna, we noticed that the floor of our compartment was wet. Not flooded, but there were quite a few water puddles on the floor. Apparently this happened in all the compartments in our car, as the hallway had the same problem and a crewman was mopping it up. We have no idea what happened. I had one bag on the floor under the bottom cots, and thankfully it just had one little wet spot on it. But a couple of bags belonging to the Korean girls weren't so lucky.

It was also incredibly hot in the compartment, at least at the very top, even with the A/C turned all the way as cold as it would go. I was sweating like crazy. How the girls ended up falling right asleep with those heavy blankets over them, I have no idea. Anyway, add the heat to the fact that I couldn't get comfortable, and I knew it was going to be a long night.

Laura mentioned that she thought the train, at least the hallway, reeked of smelly body odor. Nice.

I read for a little while before I decided to attempt to sleep. I don't think I ever really slept, but at least I was able to keep my eyes closed for most of the night.

Overnight trains still make stops throughout the night, so people were coming and going (I think mostly going), so doors were slamming, the train kept stopping and starting... quite an experience.

Eventually breakfast comes around, and Laura told me to come look out the window in the hallway. That's how I got my first glimpse of Switzerland, and it was gorgeous. The mountains, the mountainside towns, the beautiful buildings, the fog, and, yes, even snow up at the higher elevations. I just stayed at the window for the rest of the morning just to see the country.

The train arrived about 2 hours late, but we did make it to Zurich just fine. Just extremely tired and cramped. Although it was good to experience something like this, I don't think it was worth it in the long run just to save a few bucks.

(This post was actually posted at 10:45PM Zurich time.)

Vienna, Day 3

(This is entry 1 of 3 for today)

Well, after taking one night off of updating, I've got to see if I can remember everything we did yesterday. I wrote everything down in a little notepad, so I hope I have everything. Here we go.

We decided to take our time getting out of the hotel since we had to check out. We packed up all of our things and went down to check out. We knew we'd have some charges because we used the calling card to call our respective families. The guy behind the desk hands over the bill for the calls: 69 EUROS! How in the heck did we get a 69 Euro charge for just a few minutes of phone calls?

There were four separate calls. I accounted for two of them, and each of mine was 50 Euro cents a minute, which was what we were expecting. The other two were Laura's, and one was 50 cents a minute, but the other came out to be approximately 3.75 Euros a minute. Why on earth would rates go up so dramatically?

We attempted to dispute the calls, but the guy was pretty sure it was correct. He ended up giving us 50% off since we had no idea what we were doing, but he seemed pretty hard to convince that the charges were wrong. We decided that we would look at the bill later and most likely dispute the charges later after that guy went off duty.

Breakfast that morning was just tea. I tried Darjeeling tea for the first tie and enjoyed it.

After breakfast we rode the Metro to Schloss Schonbrunn, which was the summer residence of Austria's imperial family. We decided on getting a combo ticket that allowed us to go on the grand tour of the palace (basically the entire first floor was available for us to tour), and gave us access to the Privy Gardens, the Irrgarten/Labyrinth, and the Gloriette.

The palace was amazing. It was very elaborately decorated and furnished, and you could easily see how lavishly the imperial family lived. It kind of makes you wonder what life would be like if you lived in such a huge palace. Of course, as has become customary since we've been here, it started raining about halfway through the tour. It was still raining when we finished, so we waited the rain out (only took about 15 minutes) and continued on with the palace grounds.

The Privy Gardens was a pretty nice garden that had flowers and fruit trees. The Labyrinth was fun. There were three mazes, two of which just had one path in and out (so you couldn't get lost) with some games and fun things to do within. The third was an actual maze, and you found the end when you made it to the middle observation deck. I had fun getting lost, but I did eventually make it to the middle. There is also this huge fountain on the palace grounds that was amazing to see.

The Gloriette... it's kind of hard to explain what exactly it is, but it's situated at the top of a hill behind the palace, and it gave you phenomenal views of both the palace grounds and of Vienna. Took a bit of a hike to get up there, but it was worth it for the views. It started raining as we were leaving, but it didn't matter since we were just going back to town to get dinner.

We went to Stephensplatz (St. Stephens) to look for dinner, and managed to find a place that had wiener schnitzel! So I had to get that, and it was so good. It's been a long while since I've had veal, so it was a treat for me.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel to get our luggage and to dispute the phone charges again. Luckily, there was someone else behind the desk. She saw that the one exorbitant charge was indeed incorrect and that it should have been 50 cents a minute. So after some calculating, we ended up getting quite a bit of money back. All in all, they overcharged us 50 Euros. But we got it worked out in the end.

By now I have a nice blister beginning to form on my right pinkie toe due to wet socks/shoes (stupid rain), and one just starting to form on my left pinkie toe. Thank goodness for band-aids. But anyway, a little pain is worth being able to see everything I've seen on this trip.

With that done, we went to the train station and awaited our train for the overnight trip to Zurich. And that's going to get its own entry next...

(This post was actually posted at 10:23PM Zurich time.)

Vienna, Day 2

Again,I apologize for any strange typos and for the note form. Don´t want to take up too much time on the public computer.

So what happened today?

- Had breakfast (just a pastry at a local pastry shop).
- Went to Karlsplatz and looked around in St. Charles Church. We went in just before they closed the door for mass. Luckily they had a public exit for tourists, so we were able to get out.
- Rode the metro out to Simmering then walked to the Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetary) and found the burial sites for Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, and Schubert (all classical composers, for those who don´t recognize the names). We also saw a memorial for Mozart, though he´s not buried there.
- Came back into Vienna and had lunch at 1516 Brewing Company. Zach would like this place due to the large number of local beers to try out. I had Spinatnockerl (or spinach "nockerl"), which is a traditional Austrian pasta in a creamy garlic sauce, mixed with spinach and flavored with onion. Very delicious. It started to rain on us (we were eating outside) after we ordered.
- Went inside St. Stephen's Cathedral and looked around for a while. Very beautiful inside. We couldn´t go on a tour as the next English tour ended up being tomorrow at 3:45PM. Got to tour the catacombs, though, which were very interesting. No pictures during the catacombs part, though.
- Went to and saw the Jewish holocaust memorial.
- Went to the Sacher Hotel and tried the Sacher torte at the cafe. Absolutely wonderful. Very chocolaty and I liked the apricot filling.
- Went back to the hotel for a bit before having dinner at Wienerwald. I thought they had a Wiener Schnitzel so I could finally try one (the Wienerwald we passed near St. Stephen´s did), but this one did not. Hopefully tomorrow. I had grilled chicken on a bed of potato/vegetable/bacon dish. It was good.
- Now we´re back at the hotel earlier than we thought we´d be, but it was a hot day and we´re tired.

One day left here in Vienna, then we take the overnight train to Zurich. I´m sure that will be an interesting experience.

We also heard about Steve McNair being murdered. How sad. And yes, we did find out about Michael Jackson last week (one day after it happened, but we still heard).

Again, I will NOT be updating tomorrow due to the overnight train ride. Hopefully Doug has internet at his place in Zurich so I can give two updates then. I´ll see everyone when I arrive in Zurich!

(This post was actually posted at 8:32PM Vienna time).

Goodbye Prague, Hello Vienna

Happy Independence Day to everyone in America! I hope you spent it well. To my family, I hope you had a great time partying it up at our house as usual! I wish I could be there with you, and I miss you all.

Anyway, I am typing this up using the hotel computer (free internet on it), so the keyboard is different (letters switched around, like y and z, some buttons are smaller, etc.). I apologize in advance if there are many typos. Also, since it is a public computer, I am going to try and type these up quickly, so I also apologize for the note form.

Anyway, off we go!

We woke up early this morning to catch our train from Prague to Vienna. The train left at 8:30-ish in the morning and arrived in Vienna at just before 1 PM. We thought we would have the entire six-person compartment to ourselves when the train started to leave the station, but the Japanese kids that shared the compartment with us finally showed up. So close! Other things of note from the train ride:
- Saw lots of wind power turbines. The Germans and Austrians must use a bit of wind power. The Czech´s, not so much.
- Passed a little swimming hole at one point, with lots of men wearing speedos. Great.

Since arriving in Vienna, here´s what we´ve done:

- Figured out the subway from the train station to the hotel. Accidentally followed the instructions for driving to the hotel instead of walking to it, so ended up going a roundabout way to get to it.
- The hotel is really cool. Spiral staircase leading to all floors. Soundproof room. Kind of an older era feel to it. Will take pictures.
- Grabbed lunch at nearby cafe. Had gratinized vermicelli (spelling?) with ham and cheese. Yum!
- After lunch, wandered around Rathaus Platz (that´s the town hall area). Tried to get picture of Rathaus but giant movie screen in the way due to movie festival.
- Walked around Volkesgarten.
- Walked around Museum Quartier. Looked like a happening place to be. Lots of people hanging out, sunbathing, reading, napping, whatever. Went in to gift shop and saw two art books; one with a topless women on the cover, and one showing a big, real picture of a man´s privates. With young kids in shop. Only in Europe!
- Ran into Gay Pride Parade. Apparently it´s following us around Europe. Noticed one woman topless covered with body paint in parade. Also noticed most of crowd was straight. Tried to take some pictures, but also had other things to do.
- Found Sacher Hotel, home of the famous Sacher torte. Will have some probably tomorrow.
- Walked to St. Stephens Cathedral. Did not go in (will tomorrow). Huge, beautiful building. Walked around the area around the cathedral, which was a bunch of pedestrian streets with entertainment (such as a man wowing crowds with his diabolos) and many high-end shops. Took quite a few pictures.
- Walked to Prater, where there was a little amusement park. Rode the Riesenrod, which was a giant ferris wheel. Saw great views of Vienna and took pictures of view and of park.
- Walked to the Danube River. Pretty area, but water was muddy-looking.
- Rode metro back to hotel area, where we had dinner at Illy Caffetteria. Had American food, but we were so hungry we just wanted to eat. Will have more authentic food later.
- Have noticed that the waiters and waitresses are nicer here so far than the other cities we´ve been in. Hope that continues.

Okay, that is all from today. If I can get on the computer tomorrow night, I´ll update again.

Just as a warning, I will NOT be updating on Monday. We´re taking an overnight train that night to Zurich, and I won´t have time to hop online before hand. So I´ll post two entries on Tuesday.

Happy Independence Day again!

(This post was actually posted at 10:15PM Vienna time).

ISDCI Conference, Day 5 (AKA Halfway Done With Europe)

Today was the last day of the ISDCI conference here in Prague.

After the customary breakfast buffet and the plenary speaker (which was mind-numbing, to say the least), we had just two sessions of talks left. I went to the parasite immunology session in the morning, then went from session to session after lunch. It was getting so hard to fight back the exhaustion during the talks, but I somehow made it through.

After the final talk session, Laura, Patricia (Louise's daughter) and I hopped on the subway to go to the Lapidarium of the National Museum. Basically it's a museum that contains a lot of historical sculptures and architectural pieces that were excavated over time. It's kind of like going into a Roman museum and seeing all of the very old handiwork that was dug up. Very interesting.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, started packing up things, and got ready for the gala dinner. Our transportation to the gala dinner was a trolley. Prague has a tram system, but our car was an actual trolley like you'd see in the states. It was pretty nice.

The gala dinner was excellent. It was held at the Prague Zofin Palace, which was beautiful. Our beginning entertainment was a piano player that was hard to hear over all of the crowd noise. Dinner was multi-course. There were hors d'oeuvres (lots of nuts, olives, and what they called "cheese biscuits") to begin with.

I was on the meat list, so my first course was "parfait of Norwegian salmon served with green salad leaves, lime sauce and vegetable strips in dill sauce". Very good. It actually came with just a bit of caviar, which I've never had before. Since I'm adventurous, I tried it. It tasted a little fishy, so it was just okay.

The second course was "pork sirloin wrapped in Danish bacon served with green beans with shitake mushrooms, tarragon mousse and mashed potatoes in baked onion". And yes, they literally meant 'in the onion'. I really enjoyed this course.

Dessert was "orange tiramisu served on banana leaf garnished with chocolate and cacao". Now someone explain this to me. I don't like coffee. I don't mind the smell, but I don't like the taste. Anything that has coffee in it tastes too coffee-y. Yet, for some reason, I really like tiramisu, which has coffee flavor in it. What is up with that? But it was delicious. They also had "petit fours", which were just little chocolate desserts.

After dinner they announced the awards for the best posters at the conference and the best speakers. Three second places and one first place were awarded to the best posters. Sadly, I didn't win a prize, but I believe I was on the short list from some things I was hearing. Anyway, I wasn't here to win a prize, and I'm just so happy that I've had this whole experience.

After dinner entertainment consisted of a band and dance floor. I think more people were interested in going outside to cool off and to drink, though.

Laura and I left the dinner at the earliest we could so that we could get back. Apparently we missed picking up a crystal glass as our souvenir for being at the conference. Hopefully there'll be some way I can get mine. Not that I could pack it now anyway.

All right. I've gotta get to bed. Early wake up tomorrow for the train ride to Vienna, and I still have just a bit of packing to do. Again, if there's free internet at the next hotel, I shall continue updating the blog. So stay tuned!

(This post was actually posted at 11:59PM Prague time... apparently my computer has been giving me fast time the past couple of nights!)

ISDCI Conference, Day 4

Yay for more talks! Or, at least, skipping them!

I got up early again for breakfast with my group, then we headed to the plenary speaker (15 minutes late... none of us wanted to move). I was struggling to stay awake. The lack of sleep and all the excitement of the trip was catching up to me.

After the morning talk, we went to the "Effector Molecules" morning section, where my boss gave her talk. With the exception of her talk, I was again fighting back the exhaustion during the talks. I had definitely planned on skipping the first afternoon session of talks to take a nap and recharge.

I never got the chance. During lunch, Louise mentioned that she and her daughter were going to skip out on all of the afternoon talks and go do their shopping. They leave Saturday for the U.S. and hadn't done their shopping yet. Then she mentioned that Laura and I could skip the sessions and do something, as well. We definitely took her up on her offer!

Laura and I ended up going to Old Town Square. Laura had found a couple of shopping areas she wanted to go to. Of course, I don't care about shopping, but whatever. It got me out of the talks AND I got to be in the city. She bought a few things, and I got some cookies, a dark chocolate mint bar, and some hard "rock candy". After looking around the Old Town area (showing her the places I visited yesterday during the tour and retaking pictures since it was raining yesterday), I showed her the St. Charles bridge since she wanted to see it. We didn't actually walk on it, but we saw it. Then we hopped on the subway to get back for the second poster session.

I had six more people come up to talk to me during the poster session, bringing the total to 11. I don't think that's too shabby at all!

Afterwards, we headed to an Italian restaurant (my night to pick) that one of our guide books said was one of the best Italian restaurants in the city. It ended up being just down from Old Town Square. I ordered a pasta that was made with what the waiter said was lasagna noodles cut into smaller strips. It also had shrimp, bacon, zucchini, tomatoes, and a sauce that I've never had before (and it wasn't listed in the menu, so I have no idea what it was). I thought it was delicious.

It amazes me how little to drink you get when you get food here. You only get like .2 mL or .33 mL of most non-alcoholic drinks, and you don't get refills. Like Laura said, it really puts our "super-size" mentality into perspective.

Italian food craving sated, it was back to the hotel for the night. Just one more day left of the conference, then it's off to Vienna!

I may not have a chance to post tomorrow night. We have our big gala dinner and might not return until midnight or later. If so, I'll probably go straight to bed since we leave for Vienna early in the morning. So if you don't hear from me, that's what happened.

(This post was actually posted at 10:39PM Prague time.)

ISDCI Conference – Day 3

Today was a short day conference-wise. We only had breakfast, the plenary speaker, and one session of talks, then we had the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted.

When we registered, there were four tours we could sign up for (for a fee, of course). One tour that would take you around the city (which is the one I signed up for), one tour of the Jewish center, one short cruise on the Vltava River, and one longer cruise. Everyone else in my group decided to go on the longer cruise on the river, but I really wanted to see the city. I’m happy I chose that tour, because we went to quite a few places, and I took a ton of pictures.

I had to grab lunch, though, before I left, so I just grabbed something at the hotel. So nothing interesting to report there.

All of us on this tour hopped on a bus and rode it to Prague Castle (the same castle we ate at last night). We toured the grounds around the castle. Even though it’s called a castle, it’s not a castle. It’s an old village, and it’s where the President of the Czech Republic lives and holds his office. There’s also a cathedral there that we toured, and it was incredible.

We had a little coffee break, where I splurged on an apple strudel, which was really good. Also, we were entertained by a little red squirrel taking nuts from one of the waiters. Eventually he started running around our chairs looking for food. Okay, at least we were entertained. When we set off again, we finished the rest of the tour on foot. We saw the changing of the guards at the castle, then found the best panoramic views of the city. From there, we walked through Old Town, the Jewish Center, and New Town. Of course, it decided to start raining just before we hit the Jewish Center, so picture taking slowed down a bit (it’s a little hard using my camera when one hand’s holding an umbrella), but I still took a lot overall. I can’t quite remember what all we stopped at, but hopefully looking at the pictures will remind me. I’ll post another blog entry at a later time if I can remember what all we saw.

After the tour, we had to get our own way back to the hotel. Luckily we were at a metro stop, so getting back was really easy. I know that I was supposed to go out to eat with my boss, her daughter, and Laura, but they didn't know when they'd be back. I got back at 7PM, but they didn't until 8PM. So I spent that time flipping through the TV channels. I could have watched a CSI episode in German, but I didn't.

We decided to indulge Laura for dinner out by going to a sushi place. I'm not a big fan of sushi, but they had other things to eat. I got chicken skewers with yakitori sauce and a side of udon noodles. I've never had yakitori sauce before, but I really liked it. Now, since we've indulged my boss and her daughter (last night) and Laura (tonight), it'll be my turn to be indulged. Italian food, here we come!

Back to another long day at the conference tomorrow. Oh joy! At least it's the last long day...

Before I end, I noticed how people bring their pets into restaurants with them here in Europe, and no one seems to care. People would have a cow back in America. Just another interesting cultural difference I've noticed.

(This post was actually posted at 10:25PM Prague time.)

ISDCI Conference, Day 2

Guess what happened last night? Yep, the TV turned itself on again at 1:30AM. I swear it's possessed. I'm going to unplug it tonight.

Anyway, today was more talks. I went to one section for T and B cell receptors and function, one section for MHC (major histocompatibility complex, for those non-sciency people), and one for ecoimmunity. I was looking forward to seeing the talk on loggerhead turtles and their responses to brevetoxin (the toxin secreted by red tides, which kill off sealife in warm waters every year). That was a good talk. My boss introduced me to the speaker. We even went so far as to ask if her workplace had a spot for a postdoc. Just looking ahead for my next job, I guess. Marine Biology would be awesome.

I was having trouble staying awake during a few of the talks. Not a lot of sleep last night.

The breakfast buffet was the same this morning, but at least the options at lunch were different.

After the talks finished, we had our first poster session, so I had to stand at my poster and talk to people if they had questions about my work (or if they just wanted to hear about it). Actually got to talk to five people, which was apparently really good for this session. We have another one on Thursday, so I may talk to more then.

With the poster session done, my party (boss, boss's daughter, coworker, and I) went out to dinner. We hopped on the metro then walked toward Prague Castle. My boss and her daughter had eaten at an Asian food restaurant and decided to take us there. It was raining, too. I tried to take pictures during the walk, but I don't know how well they'll turn out. Anyway, we reached the restaurant and ate. What did I have? Crab soup, the Vietnamese special (chicken, glass noodles, and vegetables), and iced tea (which was flavored with lime instead of lemon, and I liked it more than lemon).

It had stopped raining while we ate, and we decided to walk up to and through the castle on our way back to the hotel. The place looked magnificent at night. I tried taking pictures of the castle (and one of the Prague skyline), and I think they turned out. We'll see when I finally put them on my computer.

That's it for today. Tomorrow it's a short day, then off for a tour of the city!

(This post was actually posted at 11:05PM Prague time)

ISDCI Conference, Day 1

So as not to bore everyone, I’ll try to keep the conference stuff brief. Unfortunately, most days I'm here I'm doing mostly conference stuff, but there may be some other fun things thrown in there for good measure.

Since last night, I met my roommate for the week. He’s from Japan and isn’t a very strong English speaker, but we communicate well enough. He seems to be a really cool guy, so I’m sure there won’t be any major problems while we’re roommates.

I also found out that the room they moved us to because our original one had a leaky sink is actually a downgrade. We were supposed to get superior rooms, but now we’re in a standard room. That’s all they could put us in. I think we should get some sort of refund or something since we paid for a superior room. Maybe there will be more money in my reimbursement (though I doubt it).

A strange thing happened last night. The TV spontaneously turned on at 1:30AM and woke us both up. We have no idea why it did that. Neither of us set up a timer. Ghosts in the room, I guess.

This morning we all had a free buffet breakfast, then were welcomed to the conference. After that, there was one one-hour plenary talk, followed by a coffee break. Then the actual science presentations started. There are multiple topics of talks to choose from each day, and you’re free to keep switching rooms throughout the day to hear what you want to hear. I just decided to stay with the “Innate Immune Cells, Apoptosis, Growth Factors” section since they had the more interesting talks.

Free lunch was provided by the conference. Just like breakfast, it was buffet style.

Tonight, we all went to the Brevnov Benedictine Monastery for a welcome cocktail party. It’s pretty amazing that they managed to fit all 400+ of us in there. The place was beautiful, and the food they served us was delicious. They had everything from ham and pork, to pasta, to fruit and salads, to various h’ors douvres (spelling?), and to a cheese plate. I almost overloaded on cheese! The dessert try was also varied but everything was really good. I had some sort of cherry pudding and a peach parfait. We also had a string quartet as entertainment. They know how to throw a great welcome party here.

I managed to walk around the monastery some and get some pictures. Otherwise, there weren’t any pictures to be taken. I should be able to get a ton on Wednesday, though, when I go on a tour of the city.

Tomorrow, more conference…

(This post was actually posted at 11:03PM Prague time)

Leaving Berlin / Entering Prague

Today was our last little bit of time in Berlin. We had just enough time to get breakfast then take a taxi on over to the train station.

We hopped aboard the train for the four-plus hour trip to Prague. We had reserved seats in a little compartment that had six seats. All six were taken, but one was for a woman that only stayed on for one station. The rest of us rode all the way to Prague.

The trip was pretty uneventful. I managed to get my pictures onto my computer and sort them, though, again, I probably won't be uploading them until I get home. But I spent most of the time just watching the sights outside.

Outside of Dresden was absolutely beautiful. We followed the river (whatever river that is) and there were all of these riverside towns. There were also a couple of large castle-looking buildings, some interesting rock formations, and even a rock bridge high in the mountains. If I had time, I'd visit there for a little while.

Once in Prague, we checked in for both the hotel and the conference. When I walked into the room that they gave me eventually, I found that the floor of the bathroom was covered with water. Apparently there was a leak in the sink. So they switched me to a different room. The first room was better (nicer view outside, fairly large by European standards). The room I'm in now is an odd shape and has a nice view of the roof. Great.

Oh, and did I mention that I have to room with a complete stranger? I'm kind of hoping he doesn't show up.

Once all of that was squared away, I met up with my boss and her daughter, and we all went out to eat dinner. We ate at Restaurace u Provaznice, where I had tenderloin (pork) with potato dumplings and cranberries. I also tried the Czech potato soup. Not bad. Now we're back in the hotel to get ready for bed. Gotta get up early for breakfast and to post my poster.

(NOTE: I don't know what the deal is with the internet at this hotel. I'm currently using my boss's daughter's laptop, since they've paid for access. However, I'm going to try and see about wireless somewhere. Supposedly the cafe in the hotel has it for free. Thus, I may not be able to update every day. These will be the boring days anyway, but I'll still try my best.)

(This post was really posted at 10:09PM Prague time.)

Berlin, Day 2

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Berlin, and hello to Prague.

We had an experience waking up today. We set the alarm to wake us up at 7:30AM before going to bed. The alarm goes off, and I get up and get ready for the day. I finish getting ready, and look at the alarm clock. It says 8:20AM. I know I’m slow to get ready in the morning (the earlier, the slower), but there was no way it took me 50 minutes this morning. When Laura’s done getting ready, I grab my watch to put it on… and it says 5:20AM. Laura grabs her watch, and comments that she thought her watch battery died. Her watch said 5:20AM. Apparently our alarm clock didn’t keep accurate time and was very fast. Great. So we ended up trying to sleep for a few more hours to catch back up. Not a good way to start the morning.

At any rate, here’s what happened today:

- We left the hotel and had breakfast at a local coffee shop chain. I had a pastry that was topped with cinnamon and a hot chocolate.

- Walked around Potsdamer Platz and found Hitler’s bunker site. We also learned a bit about bunkers during World War II, the underground, and life in a Berlin divided by the Berlin Wall.

- Hopped on a train to Oranienburg, then explored the city.

- While exploring, we found out that there was a festival/carnival/boat race competition going on. We walked around there for a bit, watch some races, did some good people watching, and ate (I had a grilled bratwurst and French fries). Interesting things during our time at the festival: the boat racers used a drummer beating a drum to keep their rhythm. Also, we loved the eclectic mix of American popular music and techno pumping out of the speakers.

- Walked to and visited Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Learned a lot about the atrocities that went on there. An amazing, yet depressing, experience.

- Walked back to the train station (and saw a Westie on the way), then got on the train back to Berlin. More fun happens: Laura got into a conversation with a random drunk guy on the train. Of course, Laura had no idea what the guy was saying. She said it sounded like he was speaking a mix of German and English. All she got out of the conversation was: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Beatles, “Yellow Submarine”, “She Loves You Yeah Yeah”, and Michael Jackson. He also liked to show off his Beatles tattoo. The guy’s lady friend kept slapping him the whole time he was talking. After Laura, he started talking to yet another random drunk guy, and it was like the two completely understood each other.

- Got off back at Potsdamer Platz… and the entire street was trashed and there were street washing trucks everywhere. Apparently the Gay Pride parade went through.

- Walked around Stadtmitte and ate dinner at Maximilian’s, where I had Allgäuer Kasspatzen mit Röstzwiebeln (Bavarian noodles baked over cheese and onions). So good! The onions were like the onion straws we can get back home, and the cheese sauce (I have no idea what the cheese was) was delicious!

Now we have to wake up in the morning, grab breakfast/brunch, then it’s time to check-out and get to the train station in order to leave for Prague. One city down, four more to go.

Hopefully I’ll be able to update while in Prague! (This post was actually posted at 10:43PM Berlin time)

Berlin, Day 1

Guten Tag meine Damen und Herren!

I arrived safely in Berlin earlier this morning. Had a two hour flight from Nashville to Newark, then an over 4 hour layover before a nice, very lengthy-feeling 8 hour flight to Berlin. I was impressed with the plane to Berlin. Everyone had their own individual TV monitors to watch on-demand TV shows or play games. I kept myself entertained by watching four episodes of The Simpsons, two episodes of The Big Bang Theory, and three episodes of (and don’t laugh, I’m getting into this show) Legend of the Seeker, though those were on my laptop. Speaking of that, the plane had AC power so you could use your laptop without draining the battery. Nice. Also played some bowling (bad physics and horrible ball control) and mini-golf (I ended up 24 strokes over par after 9 holes; yes, it was that insane). So I managed to keep myself entertained. I did try to sleep, but as usual, I wasn’t able to. I managed maybe 45 minutes, tops.

Okay, you not here to read about that, so on to Berlin!

We arrived at the airport, breezed through customs, got on a bus, then got on a subway, then had to walk two more blocks to get to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel, just hoping they’d store our suitcases and carry-on luggage (and posters, which safely made the trip). The guy behind the counter said that he could check us in immediately instead (we were a good four hours early for check-in). So we got to see our room.

Interesting thing about the hotel: you need your room card key for everything. Using the elevator, getting in the room, turning on the lights in your room? Need the card key. Also, the heating lamp in the bathroom makes the entire room turn bright red. Pretty cool looking.

So after that, it was out and about in Berlin. Here’s what we did:
- Lunch at Einstein Kaffeehouse, where I had goulash

- Walked down Unter den Linden and saw the Brandenburg Gate

- Went to see the Reichstag, and saw one of the remaining pieces of the Berlin Wall

- Walked up through Tiergarten and saw the Siegessaute statue, then walked back through Tiergarten

- Stopped at the Holocaust Memorial

- Went back to the hotel for a little rest

- Walked to Alexanderplatz and had dinner at Schlogl’s, where I had schnitzel with fried potatoes

- Went up the Berliner Fernsehturm tower to see the entire city at dusk

One interesting thing about Berlin. It's 10PM outside, and it's still light out. The sun hasn't gone completely down yet. I just thought that was cool.

That was a long blog post. The rest shouldn’t be that long. I should just be telling you all what we did. Anyway, another day in Berlin tomorrow!

(This post was actually posted at 11:39PM Berlin time.)

I hate packing

So much packing to do, so little time...

Hopefully I'll get it done before too late. Just have to wait on the last load of laundry to finish.

Getting excited, though!

European Itinerary

I have the pleasure of attending the 11th Congress of the International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology in Prague, Czech Republic at the end of this month. While at the conference I will be presenting a poster that is pretty much a culmination of my most important work. I'm also in the process of writing a paper based on this work, and I should have it completed sometime in the next month.

Anyway, my co-worker (who's going to the conference as well) and I talked it over and we decided to spend a bit more time in Europe in order to see some sights. So I present to you my itinerary for this trip:

June 25: Leave Nashville for Berlin, Germany
- Arrival the next day
June 26 - 28: Berlin, Germany
June 28 - July 4: Prague, Czech Republic (ISDCI conference)
July 4 - July 6: Vienna, Austria
- Overnight train trip to:
July 7 - July 9: Zurich, Switzerland
July 9 - July 11: Barcelona, Spain
July 11: Leave Barcelona, Spain for Nashville
- Back on same day

Provided that I get internet access from the hotels or can find the time to get to an internet cafe or wherever, I will be updating this blog daily to share all that I have done while in Europe. I will most likely not be able to get my pictures up to share until I get back to the U.S., so I'll link to my Flickr site once I get them up.

I am very excited for this trip! I'm looking forward to meeting some of my fellow scientists in Prague, meeting up with Doug (an old co-worker from our lab who is now in Zurich) to see his family, and just seeing what Europe has to offer!

Hello all!

Welcome everyone to my blog.

In the interest of keeping everyone up to date with what's going on, both in my life and in my head, I'd start up this little blog here. It'll be a great way to keep my family and friends up to date with whatever happens to me. It'll also be a great way for me to vent about anything that is bothering me. Hopefully this won't be a truly boring experience...

Please leave comments! I'd like to know what everyone thinks.