Berlin

From my last post it should be obvious I'm back from Germany. I was over there for a conference, which was also a lot of fun and really reinvigorating for my work. I don't know why there are some conferences that energize me and others that drain every ounce of enthusiasm I have for science away, but I'm glad this one was one of the former rather than the latter types.

Given that I took upwards of 700 pictures, I'm going to break up the posts on my trip into days (starting with the 1st and working my way through).

I arrived in Berlin at about 8 am local time (which was something like 2 am according to my body), having only slept perhaps an hour or two on the plane. After navigating the bus, I found myself at Zoologisher Garten, which was to become probably my most visited train station. I don't speak any German, which meant I had no idea how to operate the ticket machines for the train, so I had to find someone who spoke English to help me. The first of June happened to be Pentacost (I think), which is a national holiday in Germany, so crowds were very light--making me all at once more obvious in my cluelessness, but also making the wait in lines amazingly short.

Zoologisher Garten

Proof that I was in Germany on the first of June

After checking in to the hotel, I found my way back to the park San Soussci in the center of Potsdam, where I took many photos. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take pictures inside the Neus Palais (the museum I visited there) so all I have to show are pictures of statuary on the outside.



The skies turned ominous after my tour of the museum and, about half-way through the park, it started to sprinkle, then thunder. Not wanting my camera drenched, I sprinted to a building that turned out to be the Orangerie, where I waited out the storm with a handful of others.










A reminder that tomatoes were once ornamentals--and considered inedible, even poisonous!

I walked down this picturesque little street behind the Potsdam Brandenburg gate, where I bought an ice cream (eis) for 1 euro (so cheap!) and then found a place that sold bratwursts. When I'm on vacation, I love eating dessert before dinner.