intights

Some months ago I discovered a memory card with photos from India that I'd forgotten about...

Varanasi, India, supposedly one of the holiest cities in India, but I have never seen such filth and squalor. Totally amazing place nonetheless.

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Summary of photos form various countries visited since I came to Munich in June 2008.

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My research group hired two vans and we drove to Croatia. We spend a night somewhere that I can't remember, then two nights in Lun, on a Party Island off the coast, where they have about a 1km stretch of beach somewhere with about 10 night clubs.

I was a bit disappointed with the beaches: lots of rocks and at some you couldn't put your feet down once in the water due to the sea urchins.

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Went for a mountainbike ride and a hike in Tirol, Austria, with M.R. and H.D.-B. Rode up to Karwendelhaus, went for a short hike, had a couple of beers, rode back down through the valley and had a swim in a very cold but bright blue pool in the main stream that ran down the valley. Spent a bit of time in Mittenwald.

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M.R. and I caught the train to Lermoos, Austria and hiked up to the Coburgerhuette, and went for a climb and a hike around.

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After the meeting in Lindau I caught the train to St Anton am Arlberg, which in winter is Austria's most famous ski resort (I think). I rode my bike up to a hut (Darmstaedter Huette, 2300m) and the following day climbed Saumspitze (3076m, peak on the left in photo above). There were a couple of glaciers about and apparently, 50 years ago, these were climbable up to various peaks in the vicinity but have retreated so far that this is now impossible (i.e. the terminus has a dangerous ice fall).

The weather wasn't the best but Saumspitze had some pretty nice views into several valleys with tarns, glaciers and snow fields.

It took 3 hours to ride to the hut but only 0.5 to ride back (10 km straight down hill!), providing time for a cheeky beer in St Anton and a dip in the lake when I stopped in Lindau to change trains.

The hut, as usual, was packed with about 50 people who were staying the night there. A far cry from the hut situation in Australia!

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Along with about 600 other "Young Researchers" I was invited to attend the 59th (Chemistry) Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, which is a town on an island in a lake (the Bodensee) in Southern Germany.

Without a doubt, the best thing about the meeting was that we all received free mobile phones (to keep), and my old one was dieing anyway.

In addition to free gadgets, there were many extremely interesting talks, open forumns and interactive sessions with the Nobel Laureates where topics such as Sustainability, global warming, passions outside of science, what the Laureates felt had motivated them, religion/atheism and of course chemistry were discussed. The island of Lindau was also very picturesque and, I'm told, has a microclimate making it much warmer that the surrounding areas.

Apart from the talks, there were dinners and lunches every day, addresses by a Countess Bernadotte or Sweden, a cruise across the lake with hilarious musicians and extra-hilarious Bavarian Dancing (see video).

It was also a bit of a propaganda fest for Bavaria: "Bavaria, land of science" was the motto of the short film we all had to watch. A lot of the Germans from the north were pissed off about this. I guess I would feel the same if I went to a conference in Tasmania and everything was all about "Tasmania: land of science".



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I'm collaborating with someone in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, and my supervisor sent me there for a bit of a chat, and so I spent a weekend there as well.

I expected something a little like Spain, but everywhere is different. The city had an area with Muslim influences dating from way back and in the old town (which included the Muslim area) there were lots of tiny winding alleys which were navigated by tiny trams. Lisbon was also the site of the 1998 World Expo which had a building a bit like that one in Dubai.

The city is connected to the other side of the Tagus River by two bridges, one of which is the longest in Europe, at 17.2km.

It was very warm in Lisbon, I'd forgotten what really warm sun feels like actually... I'd also forgotten what the see smelled like, and both of these made me feel a little bit like I was back in Sydney.



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After the Humboldt Foundation Annual Meeting I visited Potsdam, in particular Sanssouci Park. The former was home to various Prussian Kings and the latter forms the surroundings of Sanssouci Palace, summer home of some Prussian King.

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Went to Berlin for the annual Humboldt Network Meeting, along with about 1000 people from all over the world.

We were addressed by the president of Germany and went on a cruise on the Spree River that runs through Berlin.

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Spent a weekend in Oslo, Norway, where a beer costs about $12 and loaf of bread not much less. Unfortunately spring hadn't made it quite that far north yet and it was 5-15 degrees and raining a lot of the time. Nevertheless, the city had it's charms...

Having completely avoided "intellectual" pursuits when I was in Oslo 5 years ago, this time I visited a couple of museums with Viking relics.



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My ride to work, from Keiferngarten to Garching-Forschungszentrum.

Photos from a cheeky visit to Rome/Vatican City over easter...

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Photos from a cheeky trip to Italy over easter...

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Photos of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain.

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Spent about 3 days in Granada, Spain, which represents the northmost progression of Muslim influence into what is now Europe, and consequently, has a unique mixture of Muslim and Catholic architecture.

It's nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada which makes a great backdrop.

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I was filling in a form online and discovered this splendid example of political correctness: