Les Étoiles Tombent

Not surprisingly, I was on a mountain again.

2012-02-11T15:54:00.000-05:00

I went to Arizona in 2008 to observe at Kitt Peak National Observatory. There was this mysterious other peak with a few domes on it just to the side of Kitt Peak...MDM. It has one large radio telescope (not actually associated with MDM) and two smaller optical telescope domes. I had no business over there. MDM, it turns out stands for Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT. This tangent now makes sense. MIT no longer has a share in those telescopes, but some other schools have picked up their slack.

I got to go to MDM to help observe for a long-term project run by Ohio State (apparently they picked up some of MIT's slack). I thought this would be perfect as I applied for time on both telescopes using the same instrument that this campaign is using. I got more time than I requested (either because my proposal was that awesome or because Michigan has more time than they know what to do with).

Anyway, I spent another week on another mountain. I saw some pretty sunsets due to clouds that of course ruined observations. It was a good experience, except for the fact that I had way more homework to do than I originally anticipated having. There's also the fact that my skin was ridiculously dry even though I was actively trying to combat this issue.

I spent some time standing on a rock a short walk away from the telescopes. Below you can see the MDM telescope I wasn't using on the left and Kitt Peak in the distance.

I spent a week in Texas, and it didn't feel like I thought Texas would.

2012-02-11T15:46:00.000-05:00

I went to Austin (which is apparently a pocket of liberalism) to attend the American Astronomical Society meeting. The winter meetings of this group are the biggest in America (for astronomers, that is). It is usually a fun and draining time. It's fun because I get to be in a different place and I get to see people I don't normally get to see. It's draining because I get to see a lot of people I don't normally get to see. I almost always leave these things with the strong desire to be alone for weeks on end. This is never possible.

I gave a talk this year, which was very nerve-wracking. I usually present a poster and have no trouble talking to people one-on-one. Fortunately and unfortunately, my talk was the first talk in the first session on the first day. This meant that I couldn't tell people about it to have them come. I couldn't look beyond the first few rows of chairs, so I couldn't tell you how many people were there if I tried. I think it went well. I was glad to not have to worry about it for the rest of the week.

I wandered around downtown Austin a little. There were few skyscrapers, but the ones they had were tastefully done. I walked along the river a little and stood on a bridge that is known to be home to millions of bats in the summer. Aside from all of the astronomers, I met up with a friend from high school. She talked astrology with my astronomer friends; they took it well. Because I actually know a fair amount of astronomers at this point, I spent more time socializing outside of the conference than sight-seeing. Also contributing to that was the fact that the weather was pretty gross, as seen in the picture below.

November Observing Run Photos

2012-02-11T15:34:00.001-05:00

So, here are some pretty pictures from Mount Wilson in southern California.

The observatory is just outside of LA, so here is a view overlooking civilization.

The telescope that I was using was actually a set of six telescopes. The light from each of them goes through the white tubes and into a central building where it is combined. The result is hopefully a resolved stellar surface.

And then it snowed, so I got no data. On the left in this image is historic 100-inch Mount Wilson dome that Edwin Hubble used to use. The short buildings in the bottom of image are the control room for the CHARA interferometer (left; the telescope I used) and the building where the light is combined (right).

Another Observing Run!

2011-11-04T20:08:00.003-04:00

This is my first observing run for my new thesis project, and I couldn't be more excited.

Another graduate student and I got to the mountain two days before our run. The night before we started getting data for our use was gorgeous, and we collected data for someone that was remotely observing. I got to learn all kinds of new proceedures and learn about interferometry, which is the technique I'm now using. With the six telescopes in this array, the light is combined so stellar surfaces can be resolved---stars aren't just points of light!

Last night we were quickly in a cloud, but the telescope operator gave us a tour of the 100-inch telescope that Edwin Hubble used to measure the expansion of the universe. The old instruments were still there, and it was just beautiful. I have some photos that I will share, but I can't yet get them on my laptop (I forgot my SD card converter).

Tonight is worse. While I was sleeping, it snowed. It isn't much, but it is still snow. I'm still in a cloud, which is presently dumping more snow. I didn't even leave the "cottage" that I'm staying in today. Cottage is a lie; it's a trailer. It is a lot nicer than some other places I've stayed while observing, but giving it the name "cottage" is just misleading and cruel. It does have a fireplace, so maybe that qualifies it?

I leave on Sunday, but the other graduate student stays until Friday. I'm hopeful that some useful data will be taken.

Mostly the Upper Peninsula

2011-10-21T21:57:00.014-04:00

The first step was crossing the Mackinac Bridge. This huge bridge crosses over the boundary between Lakes Michigan and Huron. It also connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. If you are from Michigan, you would probably refer to those regions as the UP to the Mitten. People really do point to regions of their right palm to indicate what part of the state to which they are referring.

Anyway, this bridge was huge, and I enjoyed looking at two Great Lakes at once.

After crossing the Mackinac Bridge, I hopped on a ferry to go to Mackinac Island.

The island is pretty much a really nice tourist trap. Seriously, it's a trap. You can only get there by a rather expensive ferry (and if you want your own bicycle, it's even more expensive!), which only run during the day. Once you're on the island, your only options of transportation are horses (which poop all over the place) drawing carriages or bicycles. This was exceptionally nice, I must admit. However, it promotes those who don't seem to know how to ride bicycles to ride them (see below).

There is a road that goes along the coast of the whole island. I rode by bike around it, frequently getting really agitated by the small children that didn't seem to know how to ride their rented bikes. I almost ran into one that stopped and got off of her bike when going up a hill right in front of me.

The highlight of the ride wasn't the cool lake breeze or the fragrant horse droppings, but rather the cleverly-placed snack stand with pickles. Apparently fried pickles are a highlight of this region of Michigan. Unfortunately, I didn't know that there was a difference between a pickle-on-a-stick and a fried pickle. I ordered the former, which was a massive pickle that couldn't be finished.

The next step was an excursion to Sault Sainte Marie, which is a town in both Michigan and Canada.

The Michigan town is known for the locks helping to connect Lakes Huron and Superior. Large boats use these locks, and it's just impressive.

The Canadian Sault Sainte Marie was not nearly as interesting. Although it was amusing to go to Canada, just because I could, the fact that I did that on the weekend preceding Canadian Thanksgiving really made the town seem barren and not worth the effort to cross over. In the picture of the locks, the big bridge in the background crosses to Canada. The land off in the distance is Canada.

Then there was Paradise, MI. I really don't know how to describe Paradise other than express that I don't understand why it exists. The only nearby attraction were the Tahquamenon Falls, which were by no means a thriving tourist attraction. Regardless, there is a really nice hotel there that is right on the edge of Lake Superior. There was also very little light pollution, which made trying to take pictures of the night sky actually fruitful (although they are mostly blurry, sadly this is not something that could be noticed on the small display on the camera). I had great hopes of viewing the Northern Lights from here, but they didn't show themselves. There had been a large solar flare the previous weekend, but that was just unfortunately timed.

Tahquamenon Falls were in a very well-kept state park. Michigan charges an admission fee per vehicle. This allows them to actually have clean bathrooms. I was shocked.

Anyway, the Falls were quite lovely with the changing leaves. I greatly enjoyed that the water was brown. This picture is from the upper falls. There were also far less majestic lower falls. The state park had a gift shop and a restaurant. Shockingly, the restaurant was quite good. I finally got my fried pickles. I was disappointed that it was the only opportunity I took to eat the fried pickles. They were glorious,.

Chicago, again

2011-10-02T11:15:00.001-04:00

I am now about a four hour drive from Chicago, which means that I can much more easily get there. That's good.

I went there for a weekend. I had an amazing view of the city (thanks to last minute hotel booking) and went to the planetarium. It is a fantastic city that I'd like to explore more.

They also have really good pizza.

The rest of the summer in California

2011-10-02T11:09:00.006-04:00

I was horrible about updating over the summer.

The NASA Exchange Lodge promised some things that made me chose that as housing: low price, access to the base pool, free laundry facilities, and free wireless internet. Only the low price existed. OK, so the internet worked after 1 a.m. and when all of the interns were at work. I didn't think it would be appropriate to update the blog while at work, so I just kept putting it off. Then I went back home and promptly packed almost all of my belongings to move to Michigan. The next thing I know, here I am with unpacked boxes in my apartment still and I'm already into the semester.

So a little bit of a summary of my summer seems necessary.

In my one and only post, I commented that Mountain View was a far walk. After I did it about a million times, I no longer thought it was a long walk. The only part of it that was long was the stretch with no shade. That was miserable. The weather was gorgeous almost every day, but when in the direct sunlight it was hot. I got a lot of sunburn. As a direct result, I got a lot of freckles (many of which are now fading to my excessive dismay).

What did I do for the summer? I spent a lot of time working. I worked exceptionally long days and frequently left work to have dinner and work remotely from my room. I found it incredibly rewarding. I am still working remotely on the project. I will be presenting the results at a meeting in Austin, TX in January (unless I get the paper out, then I will be presenting something else).

I also went to San Francisco several times. I rode cable cars, went to Fisherman's Wharf, took a ferry to Alcatraz, and saw the Golden Gate Bridge. I quite enjoyed San Francisco. I saw some small redwood trees. I also went to Half Moon Bay for the beach, where I realized that northern California has cold ocean water because the water comes from Alaska...not the south. That was silly.

I ate a lot of food. I spent some weekends exploring Mountain View. I spent a lot of time with the people I worked with.

That's the general overview of the summer. I will be returning next summer. The highlight was the day that my advisor first indicated I am to be welcomed back next year. It's a requirement of my fellowship that I do work for NASA, but knowing that they are anticipating my return is very rewarding.

A Different Part of Northern California

2011-06-13T22:35:00.004-04:00

I have been staying just outside of Mountain View, CA for two weeks. I really shouldn't say "just outside" because Mountain View is almost too far to walk.

I've been working at NASA's Ames Research Center for two weeks, and my supervisor seems pleased with my work. The people I work with are all very nice. So far, it has been a good experience.

I haven't seen too much outside of Mountain View. The first weekend I was here, I went to a street fair/art festival in Sunnyvale, which is a cute little town. Last weekend I went to San Francisco.

As soon as I exited the train station, I was greeted by a naked man roller skating. OK, he didn't greet me in particular, but he was right outside of the station. I went to a farmer's market outside of the Ferry Building, which is a pier building filled with specialized food shops (see below). Most of my lunch consisted of fruit samples. California really does have delicious produce. While I was outside the Ferry Building, several parades of naked men on bicycles passed me by. I am told that this is not actually legal in California, but no one seems to care. No, I did not take any pictures of that.

The best part of poor observing conditions...

2011-05-23T20:54:00.005-04:00

¡¡ESPECTACULAR!!

2011-05-21T13:31:00.004-04:00

Yesterday while I was at dinner, the observatory assistant working at my telescope left a note that was a sky map with the International Space Stations's fly-by marked and labeled "¡¡ESPECTACULAR!!"

After getting everything set up for the night, I took the camera and tripod outside and got this nice picture. I know I should have exposed for longer, but the twilight was still really bright, and I feared over exposure.

So there you go, ISS (with Endeavour still docked to it!) flying by Cerro Tololo. It did a nice large arc missing zenith, the point directly overhead, by merely 3 degrees, I believe. It was rather spectacular.

More Adventures in the Andes

2011-05-19T23:43:00.014-04:00

Please note, for some reason Blogger won't let me post the photos in such a way that will allow you to click on them and view them. I will continue trying to fix this, as it wasn't a problem when I posted the Shuttle picture a few days ago.

Once again it is rather chilly in Chile. That tends to happen in the winter, but I really think that joke never gets old.

I spent a day and a half in La Serena. This consisted of a lot of walking and a lot of napping. It was a relaxing time. I was very disappointed with the selection of junk at the "craft" market, La Recova. Not only has the stuff been the same for the last three years (OK, OK there was some new pottery, but I didn't like it enough to be tempted...the outrageously bright baskets to go with my other outrageously bright baskets did tempt me, however), but it has gone up in price. There is also no bartering these days.

I'm now up on the mountain and busying myself by taking pictures of the Andes. I have to say that the ride up the mountain is about the only car ride that I never want to end. Once we get to the mountains, it takes about 45 minutes to ascend and every second of it is an amazing view. Speaking of amazing views, I am happy to take advantage of the fancy new camera that took all of the pretty aurorae pictures. I hope to take some lovely ones of the stars. The ones I took tonight came out alright, but there is a thin haze that is blocking the majority of the faint stars of the Milky Way, so you can'texactly tell that it is in fact a way that is milky. I'm also really hoping to capture the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, satellite galaxies of our very own Milky Way.

In any case, I give you this lovely picture. Why yes, that is the moon. It's really rather bright...and I exposed the image for thirty seconds for dramatic effect. You can see from this that there are some low clouds.

So far observing is going as well as usual...bad weather and computer problems. However, I'm in Chile. That being said, yet again, the hot dogs I ate at lunch...and dinner...must then be Chile dogs. Like chili dogs, but not with chili. They were also not with buns, but that's beside the point.

Space Shuttle Launch

2011-05-16T10:36:00.003-04:00

On April 28th, we decided to be spontaneous. We booked a flight the next morning to Orlando.

We were in Florida; we rented a car and drove to the coast. We wanted to see Endeavour make its last journey to space. In the photo, Endeavour is behind the structure on the left. It was sadly very far away. Even more tragic was the fact that Endeavour didn't launch.

Endeavour actually launched today; we watched the live feed. It was not the same, but we had an adventure anyway.

Northern Lights!

2011-01-29T15:48:00.002-05:00

Our trip started in Stockholm; we arrived in the early morning (luckily our room was ready at our hotel).

We stayed in a hotel with a lovely view of the harbor (our hotel is the one to the right of the yellow building). We were in the Östermalm neighborhood. We brunched at a nearby Paris-style café, which was delicious. They were very liberal with the "Paris-style" part, as it was indoors. We opted for a supermarket dinner consisting of bread, cookies, fruit, and strawberry juice (my favorite thing in the world to consume). We walked around the area's streets enjoying the architecture and storefronts.

The next morning we left to fly to Kiruna and then off to nearby Jukkasjärvi, home of the IceHotel (pictured here at night). We spent the first day exploring the hotel. That means that we have pictures of almost every room.

Our room had a boat bed. It was awesome. However, I was a wimp and couldn't sleep there more than one night. I kept waking up covered in sweat from the sleeping bag being too warm, then I'd get cold from the air, then hot from the bag...it was a vicious cycle that landed us in a warm cabin the next night.

The first night we dined in the renowned IceHotel restaurant. It was amazing...except for the sea buckthorn gel. We started with alcoholic drinks that were cooled by gigantic ice cubes that were the same ice the hotel was built from. Then we had reindeer steaks with potato cake, various root vegetables, and pumpkin purée. I can't describe how delicious the whole meal was. Our dessert choices were not terrible, but they were not as satisfying as the meal. The lingonberry mousse I had was a bit more sour than I would have liked. The previously mentioned sea buckthorn gel was apparently the centerpiece of another dish, but certainly was disgusting (sour, unpleasant flavor, etc.); luckily the trimmings of meringue, cookies, and ice cream were better.

We also made a trip to the Absolut Ice Bar. We got a drink in an ice cup (!) that was currant-flavored vodka, black currant juice, and guavabanana juice. It was delicious. Currants really need to be this delicious and plentiful in the US, too.

The second day we snowshoed, which I was remarkably good at. This is noted by the fact that I only fell twice where I needed the assistance of a tree or another person to get up. This snowshoeing venture involved riding a sled towed by a snowmobile, which was fun on its own. During a break in the snowshoeing we ate arctic raspberry muffins and drank warm lingonberry juice, which was just delicious.

After our snowshoeing adventure, we wandered around the IceHotel compound and relaxed quite a bit. We again went out for dinner, but this dinner was special. We first went to the Swedish Space Corporation's Esrange Space Center for a very comprehensive tour of their facilities and capabilities. We first saw the Northern Lights peaking out behind the clouds from the top of the Esrange compound. We visited their rockets and learned about their atmospheric tests. Much like in the morning, we then trekked through the snow (this time without snowshoes!) to a tiny cabin in the woods. Our tour guide made us dinner. The first course was smoked salmon, which did not taste like any salmon that I've ever had before (in that it was delicious and not fishy at all).

We went outside while the main course was cooking to witness the Northern Lights in a newly cleared sky. Unfortunately, we only captured a handful of aurorae pictures, but the ones we did get are fantastic (ignoring that the stars are slightly blurred). We were too busy watching the sky to play with the camera excessively. Anyway, the Northern Lights do, in fact, shift before your eyes. It was an absolutely amazing night. The aurorae were fantastic and the sky was so clear (certainly rivaling Chile). We finished our dinner of moose, potatoes, and black currant sauce (like cranberry sauce but better). Dessert was chocolate mousse with cloudberries (also good, but lots of seeds). I made some unnecessary comment about consuming several kinds of moose at some point. We were driven back to the IceHotel (during the drive to the space center we saw some reindeer and on the trip back we saw a female moose).

After a while we walked down to the Thorne River (where all the ice comes from) and took pictures of the moon before everything was engulfed in clouds (no more aurorae).

The next afternoon we returned to Stockholm. We wandered around Gamla Stan, which was supposed to be the best place to buy souvenirs. They were probably the worst souvenirs I've ever encountered. After walking around the old, old streets of Gamla Stan, which is the oldest part of Stockholm, we wandered back to Östermalm, walking along the harbor. We ventured back to an Italian restaurant we had seen a few days before. It was amazing (but not better than the reindeer). We returned to our hotel, which was right by Stockholm's central train station. In this hotel, our room had controllable mood lighting, which was amusing.

It was a fantastic trip, and we saw some amazing things. However, it was far too short. Sweden is a lovely country with very nice people and amazing food.

Seattle Nerd Conference 2011

2011-01-19T15:56:00.001-05:00

I once again went to Seattle for the meeting of the American Astronomical Society. Most unfortunately, I had little time to wander around.

In the process of finding a store that would print my poster on very short notice, I stopped by the Space Needle. It is still there. It is just how I remembered it from four years ago...all "futuristic".

Aside from conferencing, I did a lot of eating. That's about it. I met a lot of important people; generally that's the point of a conference at this stage in my career it would seem.

Gettysburg

2011-01-18T15:20:00.004-05:00

I will be quite honest; we went to Gettysburg at the end of August to stay in a "haunted" inn, the Farnsworth House Inn. It was quaint, and there were plenty of creepy things hanging around (see picture!). However, there were no ghosts. We ate some "period" meals (fresh baked, fluffy gingerbread was a highlight!), drove through the battlefields

(which looked much like the picture, but some others were much more overgrown) on our own and on a tour, and went on a ghost tour in the dark. One of the most amusing portions was after the ghost hunting, we were taken to the basement of the Farnsworth where the tour guide (also our tour guide form the afternoon, by coincidence?) told us ghost stories. He is a talented narrator, so we all enjoyed ourselves.

This was a fun weekend trip, as I had never been to Gettysburg before. I was reminded of the history I learned in school.

Last Days and Departure

2011-01-18T15:03:00.002-05:00

So I've been a little sloppy with the up-to-date nature of this blog.

The conclusion of Paris was quite enjoyable. The sister and I went to the Château de Chantilly, which was an adventure on its own. We experienced the walking around the quaint little town. The castle is pictured here. I was so glad that we could do something I haven't done before.

We walked through Chantilly for lunch. I had forgotten how hard it was to find food in a small French town. We finally found food that was tolerable, but what saved the meal was the Chantilly cream topping the massive mounds of ice cream we got for dessert. We also acquired some of the best macaroons that we had. I miss the macaroons.

Additionally, we ascended the Eiffel Tower and descended into the depths of the catacombs. Long lines were to be had everywhere. Overall, it was a pleasant trip with lots of good food.

Parisian adventures, without astronomy!

2010-07-25T17:34:00.003-04:00

The morning after the conference finished, I picked my sister up at the airport. On the way there, the train stopped. It was supposed to be a direct train from Paris to the airport. The stop was obviously then unscheduled...and lasted at least fifteen minutes. I was relieved when we started moving again, but we just kept stopping for varying periods of time. I finally arrived (an hour late) to find my sister (frustrated and upset). I begged for her forgiveness and offered the raspberry macaroon I'd purchased for her the night before. I was forgiven.

Together, we've seen Notre Dame (with an organ concert), Place des Vosges, a tasty bakery with delicious bread and pastries, many souvenirs shops, Jardin du Luxembourg (with an orchestra), Panthéon, Sorbonne, Roman ruins, sweaty metro riders, cafés, memorials, etc.

Tomorrow shall be a busy day: Château de Chantilly and (climbing) the Eiffel Tower. Surely, I will include pictures tomorrow. I just feel like I've already put pictures up on here of the places we've seen so far. I'm excited we're going somewhere new to both of us tomorrow.

Paris, encore.

2010-07-21T12:30:00.007-04:00

It turns out that I hate playing tour guide for a small group of people. I'd much rather disseminate my information to one person. This has been a major annoyance of this trip. Thankfully, the end of being used solely for directions and constantly repeating the same interesting bit of information is near.

Before I start sharing pictures, I must say that my attendance at this conference has been quite beneficial having met people who have told me to let them know when I am in or near their respective countries so I can come and give a talk. No, they don't say that to everyone. I've also gotten some insightful comments on my research, so my time has been well-spent.

First we have Notre Dame with the moon, in black and white.

I'm aware that you can't really tell this is Notre Dame, but it has the moon in it so I couldn't resist the temptation. Perhaps I'll put up a different view another day.

I had two days of sightseeing, and then the conference began.

The first night, there was a cocktail reception (where water was sadly scarce and the temperature was disturbingly high, but the tiny desserts were wonderful) in the Paris Observatory. I got some lovely views of Paris from the roof as the sun set. I also ate a ton of macaroons and tiny tarts, perhaps far more important than the views from the roof.

Yesterday after the conference, I walked from the Louvre to the Arc d'Triumphe. It's always a lovely walk until you get about five blocks form the end where it is absolutely overrun by tourists.

Other highlights include catching up with an old friend from OWU, obtaining lunch from the market in the Bastille, and riding on the metro with sweaty people.

No more jokes. It's just cold.

2010-06-18T19:51:00.003-04:00

If I could only see the distant mountains to assert that with more snow they look even more picturesque. Sigh.

It's rare for me to update two days in a row, or maybe this is still the same day? It's two days to me.

Anyway, the point of this is to show why I can't be taking data. I love snow, but I would prefer not to have it when I'm trying to get data for my research project.

The dome on the left is the silver one seen here and here (fox pictures!).

On being really chilly in Chile...

2010-06-18T00:27:00.008-04:00

After making my way back to Chile, La Serena was overcast and cold on Tuesday. Wednesday was a pleasant, sunny day. It was glorious and gave me much hope for the observing run. That was until we saw there was snow on the mountain and heard that some of the domes were frozen shut.

First, we see the sunny streets of La Serena. I spent Wednesday walking around this area and seeing Chilean pride for their team having won their first match in the World Cup. I also saw a young man with a rather bloody face walk by followed by his friends. They were in close pursuit by another group of young men. This is the only violence I've ever seen in La Serena.

Now, I'm on the mountain. A lot of the surrounding mountains had snow on them, but Cerro Tololo is not one of the highest peaks, so there was hope that it wouldn't have accumulated too much. You can see some snow in the background of this requisite fox photograph. The shaded areas have several inches of snow.

Apparently there isn't enough snow on the mountain because we had to close the dome after the humidity shot up and the temperature plummeted. We only had about two and a half hours of observable sky, and that wasn't even quality.

To finish things off, here is a picture of the surrounding mountains with bits of snow. The Andes were picturesque, as always. With just a little more snow, I feel like they could make a nice new logo for Andes Mints.

Touring Austria and Hungary

2010-05-22T16:33:00.000-04:00

Apparently there was some concern because I was out of contact. I assure you that I'm fine. Someone just had the brilliant idea of booking hotels without free internet.

Since I haven't commented at all on anything beyond Prague, I must start with Vienna. Highlights of seeing all of the places where Beethoven and Mozart lived, as well as eating a whole lot of Austrian food. We went to a beer garden type of restaurant and heard some accordion and guitar musicians play folk music. Naturally, there was a lot of walking and church-visiting.

Our second concert was not in Vienna, but rather Eisenstadt. The Esterházy palace we played in has fallen into some disrepair, except for the hall in which we played: Haydn Hall. The stage was obnoxiously small because of the ridiculous amount of area the choir had to take up. As a direct result the trumpets were behind me. I couldn't hear out of my right ear after rehearsal. Some cotton was useful.

After spending the day and night in that small town we headed toward Budapest, first stopping in Sopron. It was a nifty little Hungarian town important because it was the first place that border guards started turning the other way when eastern Europeans were trying to escape in the late 1980s. We wandered around and stumbled upon some interesting things, such as how buildings have changed over time. I quite enjoyed all of the different layers found on the building façades.

Another stop on that trip was another Esterházy palace, which was far more fantastic than the previous one. Then there was Budapest. We arrived late because it seems that most of the area is flooded by the massive amount of rain that plagued our trip.

We went on yet another tour. My problem with the tours is that there is next to no time to explore on one's own or enough time to see things at all. We spent a whole half an hour on the top of a hill on the Buda side. It was lame because you had to pay for everything (not that there was any time to see anything...), but the view was nice. That's just one example of how ridiculous bus tours are and why I am vehemently against them. Today was just ridiculous: we got up really early to see Parliament. Their fire alarm was being tested for an hour...we were there during all of it. Our Hungarian tour guide was extremely frustrated by it, too. The picture is of Parliament. I took it last night on our boat cruise of the Danube. After the morning's tour some people went to a museum describing the history of communism. I couldn't go. I've seen the concentration camps in person; I still get nightmares.

We have our last concert tonight. Tomorrow we return. There is much more of Prague and Budapest that I'd like to see, but I don't feel like we missed too much of Vienna, other than some museums. Most of Vienna was destroyed in WWII bombings, so a lot of history is gone.

Prague: You should totally Czech it out.

2010-05-14T16:42:00.006-04:00

I'm just going to state that I will never willingly fly British Airways again. I don't know if it's just because they're on the verge of strike or what, but those flights were awful. It was ridiculously hot and uncomfortable. They (probably both BA and the staff) were also severely unwilling to give out beverages.

The one good thing about the transatlantic flight was the fact that I saw a full circle rainbow. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you get it anyway.

Yesterday, I can't remember most of the events because I was so tired. We walked around a lot and heard about the history of Prague. I learned quite a bit: Prague is bumpy, both the roads and history. It's a pretty city with a ton of palaces.

We got a lovely view of Prague from a garden near St. Vitus Cathedral. It's a very pretty city.

I bet you can't guess what we did today! That's right, we Czeched out Prague. You know it's funny. It doesn't seem to get old for me.

Anyway, there was a lot of walking in the rain today. We also saw where we're playing tomorrow. Yes, it is that building to the left. I'm not kidding. We rehearsed with the Czech singers this evening. I hope tomorrow goes well.

Something else I should mention: apparently, LU Phil is quite the big deal. We had a champagne reception with Deputy Lord Mayor of Prague this afternoon. Weird.

The Life of an Astronomer

2010-03-31T02:57:00.007-04:00

Not too much has occurred since my previous update. I sleep all day, take pictures at sunset, and play with a telescope that is far bigger than I am.

Here are some samples of the pictures I take...

Obviously, this is a telescope dome. It is not the one that houses the telescope that I use, but it looked prettier than mine at sunset the other day. I apparently have just claimed possession of a telescope. That's the stuff of dreams!

I insist that there really isn't much else to do up here when not observing other than take pictures of the domes and the mountains. This point brings me to the next picture.

This is the moon rising over the (Andes) mountains as the sun was setting. A bit more obvious than the first obvious picture I decided to describe in detail?

If the bored-astronomer-turned-photographer is really quite fortunate, the animals of the mountain will emerge (this does not include the spiders, imitation elderberry bugs, or the several dozen ants that I have found in my room).

For good measure, I include a picture of a fox with the view from the area of the cafeteria and the rooms. When asked, the fox did not desire to join us in the control room. We should have lured him with cookies.

He did desire to scare us by howling incessantly the other night.

At the observatory!

2010-03-26T22:12:00.003-04:00

Once again, I'm on the top of a mountain staying up all night. Things got off to a rough start last night, but everything seems to be working properly now.

To start, on the left is a picture of the view of La Serena from the AURA (Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy) compound where we stay before coming up to the mountain. Off in the distance and across the water is a statue on the top of a hill. It's La Serena's version of Corcovado, which you may remember from this post.

We walked around La Serena for a day and found out that every restaurant recommended to us by other astronomers or that we had been to previously is closed. It was a bit disappointing, but there were plenty of other places to eat.

We came up the mountain yesterday and had a very long night. As I said above, things weren't going smoothly at first, so I had to stay at the telescope until almost 9 a.m. I then had to walk down to the rooms because my observing partner wasn't feeling well and left with the car an hour or so earlier. I note this so I can show the picture of the rooms as seen from the telescopes, to the right. Please note that the rooms are in the white building on the left that looks like it's going to fall off of the cliff.

I got to sleep around 9:30 a.m. only to wake up about an hour and a half later by the fact that I was uncontrollably rolling back and forth in my bed. I was apparently the only thing in my room moving, but it was undeniably an earthquake. It lasted about a minute or two and was not intense enough that I realized that I should get out of bed. I hadn't slept for over a day, and I was half awake and barely aware of what was going on. I imagine if it were more violent, I would have gone outside. When I realized what it was, my initial reaction was how displeased I was to be in a building so close to a ledge. I got over that and fell asleep again.

After dinner (which involved papas duquesas!) and before observations started, I watched the sun set and took this pretty picture. The big dome in the foreground houses the 0.9m telescope that we're using.

Edit: The earthquake occurred in northern Chile and was a 6.2 magnitude event. The epicenter was less than 150 miles north of the observatory.

The Return to Chile!

2010-03-23T20:52:00.003-04:00

I made it to Chile after several flight delays, but nothing major. The curious thing is that all of the Chileans agree that it's an hour ahead of EST, but the clocks on the planes did not. Luckily, we had a long enough layover in Santiago that losing an hour was not a problem.

Speaking of the Santiago airport...
I wish I would have realized I should be taking pictures, but I was too tired this morning (perhaps when I get there next week). The airport is a bit of shambles from the recent earthquakes. We got off the plane in the normal jet-bridge, but we passed some rooms that just looked like they were under construction. The ceiling was missing tiles in some places. Then we tried to get to departures to get the flight to La Serena. I had read earlier this month that the airport was utilizing outdoor spaces to avoid the unstable structures. This is true. The national flights were kept entirely outside in tents. There were desks for check-in, security screenings, ticket sales...everything. Vendors even moved stalls outside. It was impressively efficient, but it makes me wonder what the rest of Santiago looks like since the airport is northeast of the city.

La Serena looks completely unaffected. We got here, showered, and napped. We went out for dinner and I had my beloved papas duquesas. I could have just eaten those (fried mashed potato balls) and had strawberry juice for dinner. Tomorrow we will be wandering around the city.

We head up to the mountain on Thursday. I'm looking forward to observing.

Off to Chile again!

2010-02-18T10:32:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I booked my flights and a hotel in Chile for next month. Today I need to e-mail the observatory all of the details of my trip (instrumental setup, travel details, etc.).

This time I'll be spending an extra day in La Serena (given the weather is good enough to land; the La Serena airport has no radar) before heading up the mountain. I'll spend a day in Santiago after coming down the mountain before returning home.

More details to come after I arrive!

An animated clock!

2009-09-06T14:37:00.006-04:00

The last day in Munich involved Marienplatz, where we spent most of the day walking around and eating.

We saw the Glockenspiel at the Rathaus go through it's motions twice. It was rather amusing, and the food was really good, but there was so much more to see of Munich.

We walked around Marienplatz and went into the local cathedral and a bunch of tourist shops. I did enjoy the beer garden that we went to for lunch where I had a radler, which apparently just means beer combined with some other drink. Mine involved lemonade. I also had another pretzel, which just made Munich wonderful.

The next day saw a long drive back to Zurich that took most of the day. Not much was done after arrival, and I departed the next day.

I know this is a late entry, as the last ones from my trips tend to be, and I know that there isn't too much in this entry, but hopefully the Glockenspiel video was worthwhile.

Apparently, Austria was also involved in my European adventure this summer.

2009-08-20T17:12:00.005-04:00

After yet another long plane ride, I landed in Switzerland. We rented a car and my dad had the joy of driving it from Zurich to Solothurn. We stayed the night in the tiny, slightly boring town. The next morning we went to visit my grandmother's cousin who is a nun living in the town. We had lunch with the relative and the rest of the retired nuns. Everyone was extremely hospitable, it was a lovely morning.

We then drove to Erstfeld, where I got the pleasure of meeting other cousins of my grandmother and their families. I met a ton of family that I didn't even know I had; it was the warmest of welcomes, too.

The next day, I saw where my family used to live and where they kept their animals. The family still owns some of the property and still has some sheep.

After we saw the sheep (and the two yaks that protect them), we had lunch. I was taught an accordion bass line. I need to edit the video before I put it up because my mom didn't know how to stop the video on my camera...

Then we went up a funicular to the top of a peak and saw a manmade lake, which was quite picturesque (agree?).

After that, we went to the Devil's Bridge, which has a legend behind it that the people that lived in the area couldn't construct a bridge, but the devil said he would do it for the price of the first soul that crossed. The people outsmarted the devil and sent a goat across first. It's also the sight of a battle between Russia and France during the Napoleonic wars. That being said, I went to Russia (because they own a small bit of land where they commemorate their victory).

Dinner was filled with family again, which was just wonderful. Everyone bent over backwards for us and were just so thrilled that we could come. It was such a tight feeling of family. It turns out that the family that stayed in Erstfeld keeps expanding in the area, and no one seems to move too far away, which keeps the knowledge of the history fresh.

This morning we said our goodbyes and headed to Windsbach, to see the town that my grandfather was born in. Along the way, we drove through Austria, which was unexpected. We also seem to have driven along the border Lichtenstein. It really is a tiny country.

Windsbach took forever to get to because the autobahn is just a bad plan. Anyway, Windsbach wasn't anything special. We walked around a bit, had a late lunch, and went on our merry way to Munich.

Yes, I notice that the dust speck in my camera is now worse than it was. I really will get it fixed soon.

Munich, so far, seems like any other city: there is a ton of new construction and too much traffic. However, there is a beer garden right down the street from our hotel... Of course, that was the first thing that we did after checking in to the hotel. Highlights of that include old men stumbling out muttering obscenities and soft pretzels larger than my head.

I plan on checking out this large, animated clock I've heard about...

The end of a Brazilian adventure.

2009-08-15T14:49:00.002-04:00

To finish, I skipped out on a few days of the conference to see the city. I actually have something to say here about Rio!

Wednesday, I went shopping in the morning and didn't really come across any good tacky souvenirs, but I did come across some nice crafts. After that, I went up to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain to have a picnic as the sun set. That was a lovely experience because I got to ride in the suspended cable car four times!

After that, I went to a soccer match at the local stadium, which is supposedly the largest in South America. To tell the truth, the game sucked because no one scored, and the one team was just not that great.

Even though the playing of the game left much to be desired, I did enjoy watching the people, especially the ones that thought fire was a good plan.

Aside from watching people, I ate. Unfortunately, the food was a bit on the disappointing side. I just had popcorn and a popsicle. Don't get me wrong, they were good, but I just hoped I could try something new.

Today, I went to see Jesus on his perch high above Rio (Corcovado). On the way up the hill, I got to ride in another fun vehicle, a sort of train. While on it, a samba band boarded and played for us.

I then found myself at the base of a huge statue of Jesus. I wish I would have counted all of the people that had their hands spread like the statue and were having their photographs taken in front of it.

After Corcovado, I went on a tour of the Rocinha favela just outside of Rio de Janeiro. The first stop was a samba school right outside of the favela. I'm a bit confused by how the people that live in the favelas don't have to pay taxes, but have samba schools that compete in Carnival with elaborate, expensive floats and costumes...and have cable and internet...

Anyway...
A picture will be added soon. I'm having trouble with the upload.

There were streets where I could take pictures and streets where I could not. I also had to be aware of the fact that there were people just carrying guns around with them. I was told that I shouldn't be alarmed because they won't hurt tourists because they don't want cops in their neighborhood. I was taken up and down winding roads. I met some prominent citizens that do things like after-school art classes to try to keep the young kids out of gangs. It was an extremely interesting experience that will be hard to forget.

The next day, my final day in Rio, I went on a tour of two of the observatories of Rio. They had small, but important telescopes, as well as some extremely rare scientific instruments. I was quite pleased as I enjoy looking at old science things.

Later that night, I flew away from Rio. I got home yesterday and am leaving tonight for Switzerland and Germany. I'm excited, but tired.

Ilha Grande: Yet Another Island Paradise

2009-08-10T22:08:00.005-04:00

After a long week of conferencing (four days), we cut out on Friday to go to Ilha Grande. Aside: For those who care, my talk went fine on Thursday. I completely forgot how to describe the light output variation due to non-radial pulsations, but I stammered something out that was right and continued. I also attended a Young Astronomers Lunch and met a senior astronomer who seemed impressed by me. I was impressed by her and all of the helpful things she had to say.

Moving on...

After a walk, a metro ride, a taxi ride, a bus ride, another taxi ride, and a ferry ride got me to the beautiful Ilha Grande. It is a lovely island off the coast of Brazil that can be best described a

s paradise.

We found a hotel and walked around the little town to find dinner. The next day we w

ent on a boat tour to go sit on beaches, swim, and snorkel. While snorkeling, I found a fish that changed color as it swam next to different parts of the coral reef.

After doing that all day, we wandered around town, and I ate the best meal I've had here: street food. I had a Blue Lagoon drink (I went snorkeling in the Blue Lagoon earlier, so I thought it was appropriate). It was limes crushed with sugar, some blue alcohol that I can't spell the name of and am too lazy to look up, and vodka. It tasted like candy, very strong candy, but I think it's my new favorite drink (yes, it has displaced the vodka and cranberry, which also tastes like candy). It was recommended to try it with a base of lemonade and less vodka. I think I might enjoy it more that way...

Also on the menu was chicken-on-a-stick, covered in breadcrumbs, as recommended by the vendor, and slathered with garlic sauce, also upon recommendation. It was delicious. I also had a dessert that was three strawberries covered in fudge then covered in a chocolate shell. So good. I then followed that by a scoop of hazelnut and a scoop of mint chocolate chip ice cream. My stomach was thrilled. I could have done without the drink, but I couldn't find a non-alcoholic drink vendor on the street.

OK, so...lots of sun, fish, boats, and food for that day. The next day, we took another boat to a prime surfing beach. I sat around in the sand and jumped in the waves most of the day. We also walked through a bit of rain forest, which was painful because it was steep, and I had on a backpack. My knees were not thrilled with me.

After that it was time to say goodbye to Ilha Grande. Before I said my goodbye...I got another strawberry dessert! Oh, gluttony...

We took a speed boat back to Brazil as the sun set and a van to the door of our hotel. This was so much a better decision than how we got to the island...

This week I will be going to a soccer match in what I'm told is the world's largest stadium, going to observatory tours, going to see Jesus on the hill, going to another famous hill, and going to markets to shop. There will be a little bit of conference in there, too.

An Elusive Rio

2009-08-06T22:48:00.005-04:00

There has been a whole lot of conferencing going on and not much else. Today, I gave my little talk about non-radial pulsations, and I only stumbled on the words once.

A few days ago, we had the opening ceremony that featured some traditional Brazilian dances, captured in this video.

I haven't seen much of Rio yet because of the conference, but I will take a day or two off from the conference next week to see the sights. I did spot Jesus from the conference center, however. Truthfully, he's pretty visible from most places in Rio, but this was the first time I could get a picture. He's on the top of the highest peak in the picture.

I plan on going up to that peak as well as the "famous" Sugar Loaf Mountain, which apparently involves a nifty cable car ride. It is reported that souvenirs can be purchased at these places. I'm so excited for that.

This weekend I'm going to Ilha Grande, so I'll have to report when I get back. It's an old prison island off of the Brazilian coast. The prison has been destroyed, but the island is supposed to be fantastic. I'm so excited!

Exhaustion and eating: the typical way to start a trip.

2009-08-02T18:47:00.002-04:00

After flying to Houston from Newark there was a long layover. Fortunately, the flight I was on from Houston to Rio de Janeiro was the first-ever non-stop flight flown by Continental on that route, so they had a little reception by the gate that included cupcakes. I had one (left).

The ten hour flight to Rio seemed to drag on and on. I slept quite a bit, but not enough. We landed, and the gate that the plane was pulled to was broken, naturally. There was some more taxiing and then finally departure. That final delay was just a little insult to injury at that point.

So then it was a taxi ride into Rio! We drove all through the city and saw a huge spectrum of quality of living in the different areas.

There was time for showering off airplane-stench and brief napping, which was followed by extensive eating. We went to a seafood restaurant where we had shrimp, crab, and lobster concoctions. My favorite were the shrimp wrapped in cheese, breaded, and fried. I also got dessert, which was an unidentifable fruit wrapped in a pastry shell. All of the waiters were old men who didn't seem to care that the only Portugese that we know is "thank you", which was a relief even though conversation was difficult.

We then checked in with the conference and walked along the beach. To the right is the view from Copacabana beach as the sun started to set. The water is warm and inviting. As a direct result, my pants got very wet.

Instead of going into the ocean at that point, I went swimming in the hotel's rooftop pool afterward.

I'm exhausted, and it's not even 8 p.m.

Santiago, smog, and airports.

2009-06-15T15:30:00.000-04:00

The few days I spent in Santiago at the end of my trip were relatively uneventful. I walked around the city a bit and saw a few sights.

I went to a visual arts museum, which had a nice collection of modern art, as well as an oddly placed permanent exhibit of crafts from Chilean history. After spending a few hours there, I relaxed in a pretty park for a few more hours before dinner.

The next day, I went to San Cristóbal hill to see an unforgettable view of the city. That is smog obscuring the view of the mountains. There really are mountains beyond the smog. I promise.

There were multiple ways up the hill: a funicular (incline), a suspended cable car (think: ski lift), and multiple roads. I wanted to go up on the lift and down on the incline. This, of course, was not possible. I was told something in Spanish about the lift not functioning. All that I understood was that I had to use the "Parque Bus" instead. That was disappointing.

At the top of the hill there was a smoggy view of Santiago as well as a fourteen-foot tall statue of the Virgin Mary. Naturally, there were also a lot of craft vendors.

After spending some time on the top, I took the funicular down. Happily, this was functioning. I then walked around Santiago a bit more.

The final day that I was there, I wandered around and watched people. I had no specific destination in mind. It was fairly relaxing.

That night I went to the airport and had one last serving of fried mashed potato balls and strawberry juice.

The only issue was that my suitcase got to Newark before I did, which confused me when it wasn't on the luggage carousel.

The moai certainly have top-notch topknots.

2009-06-02T23:44:00.002-04:00

I'm extremely dissatisfied with the fact that when I went to my blog on Easter Island, it registered as mainland Chile and not in the middle of the ocean.

Since I had to use internet cafés on Easter Island, I saved this update until now. Anyway, going from the mountains to an island in the middle of the ocean is a drastic change.

I came back with sunburn, in spite of applying lotion. I've been in Santiago for a few days and have been feeling under the weather. With any luck, I'll be better off tomorrow before I fly home. I think my journey back to Newark is going to be somewhere over fifteen hours.

Easter Island was formed by some now-dormant volcanos. As a result, it's made up of volcanic rock.

I got there in the early afternoon. It rained heavily right after I got picked up from the airport. The lady that runs the inn where I stayed greeted me with a flower lei. It also rained just about as soon as I tried to walk into town. On Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, there is one town. It is so small that there is no possible way one can get lost. The town, Hanga Roa, is littered with restaurants, souvenir shops, and questionably real moai.

After walking around the town, I went into the national park that just so happened to be right next to the inn. The sun was setting, and I found some stone statues just hanging out. It turns out that all of the moai were knocked over when the long-eared people were overthrown by the short-eared people who were enslaved. I couldn't make this up if I tried. This means that some of the moai that are now standing were broken when they fell and were put back together with cement. A lot of the moai are also missing their hats, or topknots.

After deciding not to walk further into the national park and save that for another day, I went back to the inn and watched the sun set.

The next day, I went to Orongo, which is part of the national park system, and one of the two places where you have to pay about $10 to walk around. Orongo is where the civilization after the moai-making civilization lived. This is on one of the extreme ends of the island. It is also on the edge of one of the volcanic craters.

The people of Orongo slept in these shelters. They have tiny entrance ways and are thought to only be used for sleeping and nothing else.

While waiting to get on top of one of these houses to see a view of from the very edge of the island, I talked with a host of an archaeological show to be on the Travel Channel that was waiting for his film crew to get some shots.

When on top of the house, I saw a lot of engravings that did not come out very clear on camera. I also had this fantastic view into the volcanic crater.

I spent two hours at this park that only took about twenty minutes to walk around. I got there by taxi and asked the driver to come back in two hours. Thankfully, he came back because it was a long walk, even for the small island.

There was more walking around Hanga Roa after this point, and some pictures were taken with moai.

There aren't any moai pictures from that day here because the next day I got on a tour all over the island and took plenty. If anyone else ever goes to Easter Island, I have a tour guide that I can recommend...even if you speak Spanish.

The tour stopped at six different places on the island. The first was an ahu, or alter, where the moai were all pushed over because of the overthrow I mentioned earlier. In the foreground is a topknot. The moai stood over the graves of probable leaders or otherwise important people.

The second stop had a few interesting features. These include a cave that was used as shelter (some Rapa Nui still use it for camping), a treacherous path to some topknots behind the alter that we weren't supposed to see, a tiny moai (thought to be for a royal child), and one moai that was not carved specifically to the tribe's needs. The last moai is purposed to be one of the last moai delivered because it did not have the eye sockets carved out for coral eyes. It is thought that the moai were all carved in the same place (pictures to come), transported to the specific seaside location, and then carved to resemble a specific person.

The third stop was the moai "nursery". It is where all of the moai were carved from the volcanic crater. As you can see, the moai are peppered all over the landscape. The crater has moai carved to all different stages. Here, all of the moai look identical (with the exception of the single short-eared moai and one of the island's two female moai). Over time, the landscape has eroded, and many of the moai partially buried, some completely. We also went inside the crater where moai were also being carved before they were abandoned. I can't even think of the words to describe seeing all of these statues just sitting there.

The fourth stop was a reconstructed ahu. The Japanese reconstructed the alter of fifteen moai. These were clearly fixed with cement. This is somewhat acceptable since they were hit by a tsunami at some point in the past. Not pictured is the scattered remains of most of the topknots for these. There were also a lot of engravings here, some of which are thought to represent the sacrificed children that were eaten by leaders.

The fifth site boasted yet another fallen moai. There was also the amazing magnetic stone (likely to be a meteorite). The most amusing aspect of this stop were the chicken coups. There was a little hole on the side that the chickens would be shoved through for the night. At this point, I was pretty tired of looking at fallen stones.

The sixth and final stop was a beach that had yet another alter. This one was interesting because of all of the engravings that remained. If you look closely in the stones holding up the moai, you can see some engravings as well as a moai head. Here I also stood in the Pacific Ocean eating a cheese and shrimp empanada.

That was pretty much the end of my Easter Island adventure. The next morning I ate breakfast and got on a plane back to Santiago.

Taking flight: parrots and planes.

2009-05-28T23:07:00.002-04:00

Today consisted of driving down the mountain to La Serena's airport. The drive down was spectacular. We drove through a layer of clouds, which I thought was going to be awesome until I realized it was just like fog. In fact, it was the same thing as fog...just higher.

During the drive some parrots flew over the valley. By the quantity, it seemed as though it was a whole flock. They were fantastic in flight. I have never seen such beautifully colored birds in the wild. Unfortunately, I could not get a picture.

In La Serena, there is no radar at the airport, so planes can't land or take off in the fog. Today there was no low-lying fog so the plane could fly out. This hasn't been happening too much in the last few weeks.

After getting to the hotel in Santiago, dinner was had right down the street. The food here in Chile is incredible and ridiculously cheap. I restrict that to the food I've had outside of the observatory. Dinner tonight consisted of chicken stuffed with asparagus and almonds on top of an avocado rizzotto. I'm not even going to try to describe the flavors. I also had pisco sours and strawberries in hazelnut liquor for dessert. It was just such a pleasant meal.

Photographs don't do the sunsets justice.

2009-05-26T23:28:00.004-04:00

I find it hard to keep track of dates while observing. The whole inversion of night and day is not something I would want to do for a career.

Since it was all cloudy here for the last two days, I wasn't actually observing. Tonight it's clear, but the air is really turbulent.

Without further ado, an installation of pretty pictures awaits!

Here we see the view (during the day). Not surprisingly, these are The Andes. If you look close enough you can see the lovely dust speck on my lens. I need to get that cleaned.

Anyway, as the days go by the amount of snow on other mountain peaks changes. We get none. This is probably a good thing, even though I like snow.

I'm changing my little blog profile picture to this one. The telescope I'm standing next to in the old one I didn't actually use. This is the telescope I'm using, the CTIO SMARTS 0.9m telescope.

I don't actually look through anything there. I sit in a control room and play with computers to make it do what I want it to. The only time I go up there is to fill the camera with liquid nitrogen to keep it cool and to take silly pictures. Anyway, there's a camera on the end of the telescope that is connected to the control room. That's a quick enough explanation for it.

There are some pretty amusing foxes up on this mountain. They get close enough to humans to beg for food and do cute things like roll around in the parking lot. They are adorable and greet new visitors to the mountain at the shuttle.

The only other animals I've seen are birds (large and small), an ant in my bathroom, and some viscachas that watch the sun set with us.

What is a viscacha? This is, if you can find it near the center of the picture. They're little animals that sit on the rocks and watch the sun set. They look like rabbits. They hop around after the sun sets for a little while. It is pretty cute, I can't deny that.

This is the view (at sunset). If I hadn't taken this picture myself, I probably would call this image fake. The colors are actually more brilliant than this. It's just stunning.

During the different times of the day, the mountains take on different colors. It's really just something that needs to be seen and cannot be described.

To go along with the ridiculous sight above from a few days ago, is last night's wonderful sunset. This has been the best sunset yet. They keep getting better every day. The clouds make it so pretty. However, the clouds prevent observing. Sadly, I think I'd rather have a cloudless sunset. When it's cloudy we resort to playing card games all night. Near the end second consecutive night of clouds, the card playing started to seem excessive.

Sadly, I only saw this next view once. Last night/this morning, my fellow observers had the brilliant idea to stay up until dawn. This sunrise was ridiculous. I thought the sunsets couldn't be described with pictures or words. The sunrises can't even be imagined.

After waking up late and sleeping poorly, I doubt we'll do this again; however, It was entirely worth it.

Observations begin, and I'm already tired with most of the night to go.

2009-05-21T20:53:00.010-04:00

Yesterday, after I blogged, a bit of time was spent in La Serena. I went to the market in La Serena with those observing with me and spent some money. I got a few souvenirs. Everything is ridiculously cheap here (really tasty Argentinian steak dinner with a ton of vegetables and three drinks--one of which was water--for about $25).

La Serena is definitely not a thriving city. Travel guides advise against being alone and female in the city. That's interesting because I'll probably have to do this alone at some point. It's really not a bad place, as far as I could tell.

I've had to give up on exchanging money. Today was a holiday so the office that I may have been able to do that in wasn't open. That's the worst thing that's happened thus far. That's not bad.

Today we took the hour and a half drive up to Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. About half of that was spent driving on a long, winding mountain road. It was spectacular. The view is fantastic. The mountains have the slightest hints of red and orange in them, barely noticeable in this photograph. It doesn't hold a candle to Roussillon, France because the colors aren't as striking.

We watched the sun set after dinner, and it turned all of the rocks this brilliant shade of red in the fading light.

I am now in the middle of the first night of observing. I am not about to complain. I am in Chile at an observatory. This situation is amazing.

It is rather chilly in Chile.

2009-05-20T13:07:00.003-04:00

I have arrived in Chile!

La Serena was only three flights away from Newark. Only.
We did get to watch the sun rise over the Andes on the long flight from Atlanta to Santiago.

I am beyond tired and am about to head into La Serena for a little exploring. The only problem is that I brought money to exchange at the observatory, and the lady that might be in charge of that is nowhere to be found. Then again, they might not even exchange money here anymore. No one seems to know if this can occur or not.

More to come!

A long weekend of eating, or my trip to Chicago

2009-05-18T12:27:00.000-04:00

I had been to Chicago only briefly a few times before. Once was an astronomy club field trip to Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and an afternoon in Chicago. The two other visits I had been in O'Hare International Airport for obvious reasons. I really like the crazy tunnel between terminals (mimicked in North Carolina's Charlotte airport).

This time, I got a long weekend. I spent the weekend with one of my roommates from my senior year of college. Her quaint apartment in Lincoln Park was very welcoming.

My flight from Philadelphia was delayed, so I finally got to her apartment sometime around midnight. It didn't take me too long to find my way out of the airport to the train station. I was impressed with my city-navigation skills.

Since my hostess has a real job, I was left alone the next day (Friday). I went to Lincoln Park, which I found on the first try. I wandered around one of the ponds for a while and came upon the zoo. Lincoln Park has a bunch of areas to roam. Before entering the zoo, I stopped the Lily Pool where I smelled some lovely fragrant trees and watched some ducks and turtles.

After the Lily Pool, I found the zoo. I commend Chicago highly for having the sense to make the zoo free. It's really a brilliant idea. I walked around looking at various animals and found my way to a plant conservatory that was filled with some stunning plants, including a whole room of orchids (some--not those pictured--smelled like coconut).

I spent much of the day wandering around the zoo. At the end of it all, I felt much like this tiger.

I met up with my kind hostess, Stephanie, for dinner. We had the best potato pancakes ever as well as the largest matzo ball in matzo ball soup (Frances' Deli). After being sufficiently stuffed we watched a movie then got ice cream. Good planning.

On Saturday, we visited Chicago's farmers' market that's held in Lincoln Park. We waited for something like an hour to get fresh crèpes. It was entirely worth the wait.

The Art Institute of Chicago was the next stop. The draw was taking tacky Ferris-Buehler-inspired photographs (staring deeply at pointillism and such). We looked into some Van Gogh then headed to the children's book illustrations and photography exhibits.

The next stop was Cloud Gate and Millenium Park. We walked around some fountains and statues. There was then a series of ridiculous photographs taken in front of Cloud Gate...The Bean. I include a tame one--namely one only of The Bean.

After that it was time to find some Chicago-style pizza, which we annihilated. Another movie was watched that night as we were pretty much useless from the cold and the over-eating.

Sunday saw a trip downtown to take an architecture boat tour on the Chicago River. We took a lot of pictures of buildings. The tour guide was extremely knowledgable and probably commented on every building we passed. I enjoyed this one because the yellow dome is a dirigible dock. Seriously.

The boat took us to the lock to the Lake Michigan and we had a brief glimpse of the lake and Navy Pier. I'd been to Navy Pier on a previous visit so we skipped that attraction.

We visited the larger-than-life American Gothic statue and took a series of ridiculous pictures there, too (I am tying his shoe).

Then we went to the Hancock building and stared up at it. Another time I will go to the top. That was followed by more eating: cupcakes and Mexican take-out.

I left Monday after breakfast wishing that I could stay longer. I quite enjoyed my visit to both my friend and Chicago. I will have to return to see both again.

Trips to come!

2009-04-17T16:16:00.003-04:00

I am happy to announce that I will be traveling a lot this summer.

May 7th-11th: Chicago, IL
May 19th-June 6th: Chile (La Serena, Santiago, Easter Island)
August ??-14th: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
August 16th-23rd: Zurich, Switzerland and Germany

I haven't purchased plane tickets yet for Brazil, but I will in the coming days. I found out that I am getting a grant of $500 of support from the International Astronomical Union (the meeting I'm attending) as well as a grant to cover my plane tickets from the American Astronomical Society. This just means I get to go down there for longer!

New York City (Better Late Than Never) and Snowy Ocean City, Maryland

2009-03-02T19:03:00.001-05:00

I briefly went up to New York City last month, and I suppose I should include that in here.

I visited a friend from Ohio Wesleyan whom I hadn't seen for far too long. We met up Friday night after she found me in the Port Authority. We had a late dinner at Brasserie Les Halles, which is where Anthony Bourdain (of Travel Channel's No Reservations) was a chef for some time. Overall, I was impressed, but my stomach couldn't take anything too risky in French cuisine because it was around 10 p.m. by the time we started eating. I was also annoyed that my carry-out did not include my delicious French fries.

Saturday night we went out to a restaurant in Queens called Cheburechnaya. The food was Middle Eastern, Russian, and delicious. After that I got dragged to a Korean karaoke facility. That was interesting to say the least.

Much of the trip was spent discussing our past adventures and the possibilities for the upcoming trip to Chile (which I just booked my flight for a few days ago!). By some stroke of luck I encountered a friend from middle school that goes to Lehigh waiting in the bus line to get back to the Lehigh Valley. He kindly let me in line with him, otherwise I would have had to wait for the next bus.

Overall, it was a good trip that involved a lot of eating.

I mention that I am in Ocean City only so I can show this picture. I love it when it snows here. There is no movement except for the flurries and the bay. A group of ducks goes by once in a while. I remember more dramatic scenes with the bay frozen from when I was little.

Southern California

2009-01-11T14:58:00.004-05:00

I was sad to leave the quaint city of Sacramento ("Old Sac" pictured to the left). I certainly see the appeal of living there. It lacked the hustle and bustle of the next city on my list. I will note here that the biggest drawback of California is that everything is so expensive, especially the food and the associated tax.

I flew into LAX and had the only flight on this trip that didn't have some sort of problem. After figuring out that my flight's luggage was coming up on a different carousel in the baggage claim than advertised, I waited for a shuttle to Long Beach. I eventually got on one with a frantic astrophysicist and had the sheer pleasure of sitting in the front passenger seat after realizing my undergraduate research advisor was sitting in the back.

I didn't see too much of Long Beach. The American Astronomical Society meeting took up most of the week. I did walk around the vicinity of the conference however. It was very commercial, but extremely pretty and well-kept. I was impressed, but then again, it was the area surrounding their huge convention center.

My stay in Long Beach included seeing a lot of palm trees and boats, walking in uncomfortable shoes to a lighthouse, eating far too much restaurant food, and sticking my feet in the bitterly cold Pacific Ocean (on a foggy morning).

On Thursday, a mid-afternoon trek to Los Angeles was in order. During this little trip, I was reminded how this area inspires people by seeing references made in songs that I listen to frequently. Coming from the girl that studied in Aix-en-Provence, France because it's in a song by The Decemberists, this shouldn't be surprising. The first reference I noted was on the ride to and from L.A. Both drivers took the 405, yes, they really do refer to it as THE 405. They do that for all of their highways. "405" is the title of songs by both Death Cab for Cutie and Eve 6. That was only the beginning. After my friends and I checked into the hotel there, we found a bus to get us up to Santa Monica (Everclear) via the Pacific Coast Highway (as referenced in Don Henley's "Boys of Summer", which was covered by The Ataris at the very least), which is also known as California One (The Decemberists). Aside from all of that, we walked around Santa Monica's pier, shopping district, and beach. A friend of mine that lives out there met up with us and showed us a little bit of the town.

Overall, it was a great experience. Naturally, the fact that my trip to California cost me next to nothing makes it even better.

I did have some fun flights home, too. The first one went into a 40-minute holding pattern while Chicago's O'Hare had an "emergency" that I never found out what it really was. People in the airport were told it was because of the snow, but no one seemed to believe it. Curious. After that, it was back to Allentown on another plane that didn't have potable water. I can't help but wonder if it was the same plane as on the way out. On both legs of the journey I had the whole row of seats to myself and some jerk decided to take that joy away from me by sitting in the aisle seats. Don't they know that I intentionally picked those seats because there was no one else in the row? As payback, I blocked their view of the window. It was cloudy, anyway.

Northern California

2009-01-03T11:53:00.002-05:00

It turns out that California is not always sunny.
I am in Sacramento, and it was foggy and cold yesterday. I didn't plan for that.
Today the sun is shining, thankfully.

I had two interesting flights yesterday. The first one wasn't too bad, but there was the announcement of "Our hot water heater isn't working, so there is no running water in the bathroom sink." The second had "Our auxiliary power is inoperable, so we're going to need to start up one of these engines here at the gate. It'll be a little while. We notified the pneumatic air team that we were going to need them, but they haven't arrived yet." I was also sandwiched between a man watching Welcome Back, Kotter on his portable DVD player without using headphones and a guy with books about learning a language, which I could not determine. The latter passenger also had his Bible handy and seemed rather nervous about the flight. Neither said a word, unless it was requesting something of the flight attendants.

Sacramento is a quaint little state capital with a lot of charm. There are good places to eat, but not much to see unless one wants to spend the day museum-hopping to all American history museums, gold rush themed, of course. Since my trip is overly educational as it is, we're just going to wonder around the city. Today holds a walk through what I hear is referred to as "Old Sac".

To the West Coast!

2008-12-31T10:40:00.002-05:00

I will be traveling again in a few short days!

Friday sees my arrival in Sacramento, CA. There I will visit a friend from college for two days. I then head to Long Beach to attend the American Astronomical Society Meeting where I will be presenting the research I did as an undergraduate. I will see many people there that I already know, so it is expected to be a good time. The final stop is a night in Los Angeles. At some point, I hope to see another friend that lives in LA, but the plans for that aren't concrete as of yet.

At some point, I better end up with at least my feet in the Pacific Ocean.

There is an impending trip across the country.

2008-11-26T16:55:00.001-05:00

I will soon be able to utilize this space for comments on my travels again.

In just over a month, I will be in California for the American Astronomical Society meeting in Long Beach. I am getting excited as I start finalizing my plans for that adventure.

Minor travels and memories

2008-11-11T11:11:00.002-05:00

I went to Philadelphia on Friday to see The Decemberists.
At present, the concert is up on NPR.
It was a great show, ripe with Democratic-Party-slanted references. I commented afterward that it was certainly the best political rally that I've ever attended.

Saturday, I went to the metro-D.C. area to visit a friend that had just moved there. I hadn't seen her since graduation so she requested that I show her my France and Poland pictures. While telling her story after story of my adventures and comparing our trips abroad, I realized that I'm losing the lessons I learned in France when I'm not constantly reminding myself of them. So far the loss is just of the small things, like my confidence in wandering around alone. I find myself more afraid to do that in the United States than in countries where I can't speak the language.

Anyway, the rate at which memories are leaving is impressive. That being said, I recognized all of the pictures and could tell the tales. However, it's a bit unnerving that I had to think about what they were. The fact that the memories aren't all constantly there is what is bothersome. I did and learned so much this summer; I desperately don't want to forget these things. I suppose that this isn't something that I can fix. I guess that's why I kept a journal of my adventures (having learned this before about adventures).

Ah, the memory. It's such a strange phenomenon. It's a good thing I have several friends that research it and routinely discuss it with me.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on myself while becoming nocturnal.

2008-10-25T08:04:00.007-04:00

This whole blog thing is amusing. People write whatever they want in them. I have friends that use them for outlets for all sorts of things: advice, writing, etc. Mine is obviously mostly selfish and about my travels, including the catastrophes I encounter.

I was reluctant to start this. It was suggested that I should write a blog. For a long time I didn't know what I should write about that would be of any interest. Then I started traveling and being without telephone service, so the topic was obvious. It's hard to write in the times when I'm doing nothing but being a less-than-adventurous graduate student. Let's be honest, I get excited about physics, but I'm not about to drown you in details of that. At least, not here. I keep that one for in-person dialogues.

I hit the "Next Blog" at the top of the page and came upon one devoted to screenshots of English female newscasters (including weather forecasters). It's just bizarre what people put in these things.

The strange thing about all of this is that I'll admit how unnerved I become when walking by glass doors at night or how I run after a missed bus or how I get lost in foreign cities and the whole world can read that. But why would anyone want to? The majority of the people reading this are family and friends. It's a way for such people to keep tabs on me while I frolic all over the place. I don't think for a second that my observations and experiences are interesting to anyone who can't imagine me doing all of the stupid things I end up doing. I assume that those family and friends keep reading this because they think something here is interesting.

I sit here and read strangers' thoughts and wonder if I'm as inane. That right there is motivation to stop since this has no practical usage. Then I remember that, in the end, I keep doing this for myself. Ah, so selfish. For one, it's great to have the memories preserved somewhere. I also do it because I love writing. The only decent writing I've ever done stems out of experiences I've had. If this is good for nothing else, it gives me a place to put thoughts into words, no matter how inconsequential they are. Perhaps, in time, they'll turn into something more. But why is there the need to share publicly? I have no idea.

Now, I'm going to go watch the sunrise.

I get nervous walking to the bathroom in the dark of the nearly-empty observatory.

2008-10-22T02:12:00.004-04:00

Arizona is severely different than Pennsylvania, but everyone knew that.

There is certainly a beauty in the isolation here. The cacti are quite fun, too. Unfortunately, they don't grow at such high elevations (I'm up around 6700 feet). The most amusing thing about this elevation is that the short hike up to the observatory is not easy. I find myself panting by the time I reach the top (halfway up if I have my backpack).

Kitt Peak National Observatory was constructed in 1958. Since then a number of telescopes have been added. I'm working at the Coudé Feed, which is a telescope for spectroscopy. It is on the side of an observatory with a 2.1-m telescope.

This is the 2.1-m and the Coudé Feed. I use the mirrors hidden in the tower and the shed on the roof to the right of the dome. They reflect light down a light tube to another mirror then into the spectrograph. There the light bounces around and is separated. I'll go into more details when I can draw you pictures or point to the specific parts of the instrument.

So the first day I was up for about 27 hours straight. I learned how to manage the telescope and all of that stuff. I discovered that nothing in this place has really been updated unless it is technology. The furniture is almost entirely circa 1960, see example to the right.

On the second day, my advisor and I visited some of the other telescopes (the massive 3.5-m WIYN and the solar telescope). The McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope was probably the best adventure. We went in all of these places that we probably shouldn't have...like the tunnels that move around the glycol that cools the telescope. But who doesn't want to climb around in underground tunnels?

So the days pretty much consist of sleeping then around 12 hours of observations. During those 12 hours I do homework, read, and waste time on the internet. It's such an exciting life. It's actually pretty great. I get to be in absolute seclusion (there are others in the building using the other telescope, but they don't bother me). I get to see some of the most beautiful sunsets, night skies, and sunrises that I have ever seen. The best part of this is that I'm reminded that this is actually what I want to do with my life.

How touching.

I love the line "You see yourself like a star shining bright" in one of my favorite songs. I'm a sucker for lyrics involving astronomy.

2008-10-14T23:22:00.002-04:00

I keep rewriting this entry. It's been more observations on people and life than I can count, but those observations keep changing. What now is so worthy of posting?

I found myself eating a dessert of Nutella and strawberries this evening. It reminded me of how right my choice to spend part of the summer in France was. In fact, the whole act of purchasing Nutella has revived my memories. It sounds so silly, but I ate so much of that stuff over there that it reminds me of my host family, crèpes, and a cool, peaceful evening in Paris. I don't know if I'll ever be able to dissociate Nutella and this summer. I hope the chocolate, hazelnut spread will also remind me of one of my roommates at OWU who walked into my room one day extolling the virtues of Nutella with a huge grin on her face after having just acquired some.

It's such a simple thing, but why question something that triggers memories of a time when my biggest worry was how many croissants is too many? I have also obtained some strawberry juice, which brings back memories from both France and Poland. I get a good smile out of that, too. I found that strawberry juice is more plentiful here in the United States than I realized, although all places in which I have found it have been Mexican restaurants or the Mexican food aisle of the grocery store.

Granted that I am amused by the fact that a mere food can trigger such strong memories, but I think that knowing that those memories are good lets the Nutella, strawberry juice, or whatever new food I discovered, be even better. I'm probably making something out of nothing, but I needed a reminder of my adventures. I guess I really just needed to remember that my life isn't just about physics; sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that. The moral of this story is that sometimes it is easy to lose sight of everything that actually matters in the end. I think I need to do that less. You probably do, too.

I know my life is not just about physics, I spend a lot of time doing other things...like playing viola, for instance. I make my debut in the Lehigh University Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday. We're playing both Friday and Saturday nights. This concert includes Shostakovich's epic Symphony No. 5, Beethoven's Overture "Creatures of Prometheus", and also Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor Concerto"). Come one, come all. I'm not afraid of self-promotion. Honestly, the Shostakovich should be reason enough to come, but on top of that we offer our conductor conducting from the piano in the concerto. If all goes well, it should be fantastic.

Aside from that non-physics activity, I like traveling (with or without physics being driving force) because it is a way to see more than just what's in front of me. I find these experiences very important, and hope that I can continue to have them. Speaking of which, on Sunday, I'll be heading to Arizona.

How to end an entry appropriately? Clearly, the best answer is by complaining about how there is a stink bug flying around the light.

I was offered a violin position in a mariachi band the other day.

2008-09-27T10:46:00.000-04:00

Since this started as a way to talk about my travels, I must first mention that there will be travel posts within the month. My current travel plans for the next year go something like this:

Tuscon, Arizona -- Kitt Peak Observatory -- October 19th-26th
Long Beach, California -- American Astronomical Society Meeting -- January 2009
The banks of the Danube River -- Lehigh Philharmonic Orchestra Tour -- May 2009
Split, Croatia -- International Conference for Physics Students -- August 2009

I'm still traveling, which is exciting. I want to take advantage of this as much as possible while I can, especially those free trips.

* * *

What else can I do with this blog? I do so much more than travel; I think it might be worthwhile to throw in a few things outside the realm of travel once in a while.

I promise soon there will be thoughts and reflections on graduate school. Trust me, I have a lot.

I have to also introduce you to the most disturbing aspect of the internet that I have found lately. Please greet my traffic feed. It's over there on the right side of the screen. It shows me where my readers are. The fun part about that is I can zoom in on them. I tested it out yesterday at school. I was pinpointed to Lehigh's campus, but at least it didn't get my specific building. I'm amused. I pretty much know who is looking at this thing anyway, so it is just a way to see those random worldwide hits.

Oh, by the way. I'm in Philadelphia! Tonight is a short trek over to Camden to see Weezer and supporting acts. Excitement! But before that...shopping. That's right, I'm going shopping.

Now I am caught up on my travels, but what about the rest of my life?

2008-09-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

I suppose I should apologize again for my tardiness.
My regrets, dear Internet. You've longed for my tales of going to Nashville to accept an award. I am so sorry to have kept you waiting.

Less than eleven hours after landing from my Polish adventure, I was back at the airport (reportedly, my suitcase was there, too...but I was going to have to do without the amenities in it).

I got to Nashville early, even though my flight from Philadelphia was delayed taking off. On the short trip to Philadelphia I sat next to a flight attendant who pretty much thought that she was sitting next to greatness by talking to me because I do stuff with physics.

Anyway, I made it to Vanderbilt, after getting ripped off by a cab driver. Vanderbilt is beautiful. The only drawback is the ridiculous humidity of the region. It turns out that the only obligation on me was to have lunch with some administrators and two of the other finalists for the award. I had a free weekend in Nashville.

One of the other finalists was there with his brother, and they were kind enough to let me tag along on their adventures. They are from Kansas and seem to be really great guys.

We did various ridiculous things throughout the weekend. Friday night we went to drag races, which was beyond hysterical. Video:

We tried to visit every bad tourist attraction that we could find. This included the Pantheon (yes, in Nashville) and Grand Ole Opry (which was ridiculously expensive, and we just went in the gift shop). There was also a wax museum that we tried to infiltrate, but that was certainly not worth the cost either, especially since I've been in a wax museum this year.

It was a good trip. I met some nice people, made some good connections at Vanderbilt, and added another tally to the list of "Free Trips Due to Physics". It's a growing list.

Next post will include the beginning of reflections on graduate school.

By the way, if you know how to please feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed. I'm going to be more regular. I'm now taking fiber via Quaker oatmeal. No, really. I decided to keep this ol' blog 'round for a while. I hope to extol some witty remarks upon your screen that make it worth your while to read.

So, I am a bit late on finishing things.

2008-08-29T15:58:00.000-04:00

To continue my Poland saga:

Sunday was not much of a day. I overslept and missed out on the bad talks that morning. My heart wasn't broken. The poster session in the afternoon was probably more of a letdown than the talks because there were so few. There was a workshop on physics outreach. It turns out, OWU physics and astronomy has the right idea, which is less than surprising. Essentially, you go to students and either set things on fire or play with liquid nitrogen. Both of which, I play with as often as possible.

Monday was essentially a waste of a day. There was a 9-hour meeting that we had to go to because we were representing the United States. It was good to have a say in matters, but it was evidently clear that the International Association of Physics Students is pretty much the European Association of Physics Students. The fun part is that they base the amount of dues that each country has to pay on the Gross National Product. The United States gets the raw end of that deal...sending a handful of students each year and having to have to pay the most. Somehow, we managed to get that revised by drawing the attention to the European nature of the conference. After the meeting ended around midnight, I got a kebab. Tasty Polish food again.

Tuesday was the last official day of the conference. The British friend I made left Monday, and the American one left Tuesday afternoon. She and I walked around Krakow and explored where we hadn't been.

We walked through the center of Old Town and saw some pretty old buildings...pretty aesthetically and pretty old in age. We also saw this:

Krakow is quite beautiful. As I said, lots of pretty old buildings. This was one of the towers in Old Town. I just liked this picture in black and white for some reason.

Obviously, this is a clock tower. It looked ridiculously beautiful at night with the lights projecting on to it. I hate light pollution, but I love illumination of architecture. It's a hard toss-up.

There are a ton of cathedrals in Krakow. Naturally, they were the most beautifully constructed structures and stood out from the rest of the buildings. The rest of the buildings tended to be attached in a row along the street. The cathedrals were all set off from the rest of Krakow. There were some courtyards in the center of blocks that you had to get to by walking through some shifty passageways. I would have loved to explore a lot more. Back to cathedrals! This is the church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul.

This is the view from Wawel Hill. It is the quintessential Krakow tourist sight.

I don't think this picture does the view any justice. It was just one of those scenes that you won't forget. Anyway, Wawel Hill is probably the highest point in Krakow, and it has a lovely view of the Wisla River...as you can see.

This is a view of the square on Wawel Hill. I should note that this is where Krakow had it's castle and such things. Hills are easily fortified, especially when there is a river on one side.

That night's party was hugely melancholy as it was the end of the conference. I talked to some nice guys from England for the vast majority of the night. There were lots of interesting conversations about astronomy techniques and the benefits of a conference of all physics students. There were many comments of how I (and at least one of the other Americans) should attend next year. Next year, the conference is in Croatia. What other reason will I ever have to go to there? I'm seriously considering that one.

The next day, I walked around the city with another English physicist that I had become acquainted with. She offered me the opportunity to spend the night in her hotel room instead of the dorm/hostel. I was extremely grateful. We stayed in a lovely three-star hotel very near the center of the city.

The next morning, I went to the bus stop by the hotel only to see the bus to the airport drive by without stopping. After returning to the hotel, I found out that the bus stop was "out of order". At about 6 a.m., I was not really understanding this one. I ended up taking a taxi to the airport. After that I left Poland.

I must say, it was an amazing experience that I am so lucky to have gotten for free. Networking is very important in physics; a lot of that was done, as well as having a very good time.

Soon to come: Nashville.

Side note: Blogger won't let me use accents over the o in Krakow or the l with the slash through it in Wisla. Frustration.

My Polish vocabulary is increasing rapidly. I know the words for "ice cream" and "waffle" now.

2008-08-11T20:49:00.010-04:00

Since I've been busy with the conference and forming new physics acquaintances (some worthwhile, some not), I haven't had much time to update.

Thursday was the beginning of it all. I got to meet the third winner of the SPS. I'm quite excited that I got to meet her and her roommate that goes to Cambridge. They are both extremely nice and were willing to allow me to tag along on their venture into Krakow.

The architecture here is pretty exciting. It's subtle and obviously very eastern European. I'm enjoying the change from the architecture I typically identify as European.

This is just a typical street in Krakow. Alright, so it's not "typical"...this is in the city center which is known for it's more touristic approach to Polish life.

Friday was the fun of my presentation. Here's my debut as a lecturer at an international physics conference...even though the conference may really just be a week-long party for physics students...

Let's just hope those that see this on my résumé don't know that last tidbit. Anyway, I took my talk very seriously...unlike some others that don't know that talks at conferences should be on original research.

That night was the "National Party", which involved us all bringing food and drink from our countries for everyone to sample. It was fun to see everyone so excited to share their cultures. There was a lot of country pride going on. It was quite the fun night.

The fun had Friday night was harshly contrasted by the sadness of Saturday. This was Auschwitz-Birkenau visit day. I took a bunch of pictures, but I honestly don't know if I ever really want to look at them again. I'll put two up to just begin to show the expanse of the place. I won't, however, mention much about it. It was intensely sad, and the words of another cannot even begin to describe the emotions one gets when walking through the halls of these buildings.

I have a tendency to get upset at intensely sad places, so I wasn't surprised when I just was overwhelmed and didn't want to go to Birkenau after having spent several hours in Auschwitz. Alas, it was part of the trip.

Auschwitz was small compared to Birkenau. This picture doesn't even begin to show the size. It went on as far as the eye could see in most directions.

Saturday night was then a night to go into Krakow. The other American, her English roommate, and I went into town and saw Polish nightlife. They love the tragically bad American and English pop here. I don't think we heard a song all night in the club that wasn't in English.

And now, it's time for some sleep. A recap of Sunday-present will be up soon. Hopefully, I can get some good pictures in.

The first meal provided by the conference was mystery sausage. I can't wait to see what's next.

2008-08-06T17:47:00.012-04:00

Along with this wonderfully free trip are free excursions. One of the choices was the Wieliczka Salt Mine, which I've seen time and time again on the Discovery and Travel Channels. Unfortunately, this trip was already full when I registered for the conference. For that trip I am going to Auschwitz. I have been reminded several times already that this will be a deeply emotional experience and that I should be mentally prepared for it.

Because I couldn't go to the salt mine with the tour group, I went today.

First, let me say that the fact that I know no Polish is really a hurdle---a really high hurdle. I had to get on a bus and go to another town to get to this place. I went alone. It was an interesting experience. Somehow or other I managed to get to the salt mine. I then got to stand in a ridiculously long line (over an hour) to get an English-speaking tour ticket. I could have skipped most of the line and jumped on a French tour, but I was worried I wouldn't understand too much. When I got into the tour, I quickly found out that I was seemingly the only American and there were a handful of British thrown in, but the vast majority were actually Polish who spoke English and didn't want to stand in the ridiculously long Polish line. Clever. Anyway, I somehow made it back to Krakow. I don't question this.

Here's some salt growing on rock salt. I like crystals. This is a cauliflower growth pattern for obvious reasons.

This museum was absolutely ridiculous. It was so over-the-top tacky; I loved it.

Aside from just the salt deposits there were lots of salt carvings from over the years.

My favorite statues include a plethora of gnomes.

I have another FANTASTIC picture of the gnomes that you just have to bear witness to in my presence because I want to see reactions. I wish I had a video of the display because it was priceless. Unfortunately, I didn't think that fast.

However, I did think fast enough at a mechanical model. I apologize for the camera angle because I was covertly trying to take the video without being blatantly obvious...as it's ridiculous. This is what I'm talking about with the tacky (as well as life-sized models of miners that were just so awful I laughed a bit harder than appropriate when I saw them).

The main draw to this place are the salt chapels. This is the most famous. It's the chapel devoted to Saint Kinga. She's all over Polish legend, but apparently was a real princess. Pope John Paul II also made her a saint. Because of that, the fact that he visited the mine three times (none while Pope), and he was Polish, there is also a statue of him in the back of the chapel. Apparently, they have services every Sunday morning in the salt chapel, as well as concerts and weddings. Nifty.

Everything in there is made of salt...floor, walls, alter, statues, chandeliers, etc. Yes, those chandeliers are made of salt crystals...obviously with light bulbs.

That about sums up the salt mine. It was ridiculously amusing for me. The bus trip back involved some amusing English tourists.

I got back to the dorm to find out that a small detail had been left out at my registration yesterday. I was to return the key to the front desk before I left. One would think that this would be an important detail to share. This means that the two other Americans that I won the award with that were supposed to room with me couldn't get into the room. I got a very condescending lecture from the registration people until I stated that they didn't tell me that and then I got no apology. Not surprising. Presently, I have no roommates, but I moderately fear returning tomorrow to find that I have a roommate.

What remained of the day was dinner and the Welcome Party. The Welcome Party was entertaining as we got coupons for drinks that said "Enjoy your beer! :)"

At long last, a recap of Paris! I'm in Poland!

2008-08-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

There is no possible way that I could capture everything about my stay in Paris here, but I will include a few pictures. If you want to see more, ask me when I'm home.

I'm doing this now from Poland because I'm disturbingly jet lagged and just need to keep myself awake, but moving doesn't seem to be an option at present.

This is part of the garden right behind the Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries.

I spent a lot of time in Paris in gardens. They were the perfect places to watch people, relax, and eat---a few of my favorite things.

This is the inside of an old train station. It's now Musée d'Orsay, which is more modern than the Louvre, but not modern modern art. Think objets d'art and impressionists.

Here we have yet another garden: Place des Vosges. I really liked walking around the neighborhood that this is in. It's in La Marais, and is quite and beautiful. I liked the Mouffetard area for the same reason, but that wasn't as close to my hotel room.

It took me three tries to finally get into Saint Chapelle. The first time I was too late. The second time the line was atrocious. The third time it was raining and the line was small as a reflection of that.

It was worth the wait to be surrounded by light like this. I went on a cloudy day, as I said, it was raining, which allows for the stained glass to be read. I would have liked to stop by again on a sunny day and be bathed in colored light.

I climbed to the top of Notre Dame and the hill that Sacre Coeur is on (twice). This is the view from the former. Climbing the 422 steps was painful since there weren't any places to sit down like at Sacre Coeur. I survived. Somehow.

Now, behold! The quintessential Eiffel Tower picture. I enjoyed using my sepia and black and white filters on this monument. There was no climbing of the Eiffel Tower this time. The lines were long, it was expensive, and I've done it before.

THE CATACOMBS! I've been waiting a long time to see all of these bones. I wanted to see these the first time I came to Paris, but my group was lame.

Anyway, lots and lots of bones. The anticipation to see the bones mounts as one walks forever around the former quarry and then walls and walls of bones.

Finally, my favorite Parisian garden:
Jardin du Luxembourg. It's a bit on the touristy side, but it has wonderful places to sit and watch people. There are lovely flowers and statues all over. I quite enjoyed my time there.

That is Paris. Now I am in Krakow. It took me three flights to get over here. I got one hour of sleep. I am too exhausted to go out and roam around the city, but I can't go to sleep since it's about 3 p.m. here. I walked around the city for an hour to get from the train station to the dorms, so it's not as though I've seen nothing of Krakow. Because I was pulling around a suitcase and had three maps in my hands, I haven't gotten any pictures as of yet. It's not a good idea for me to go out right now because nothing is really making sense. I've been up for about a whole day at this point. I got a single hour of sleep on the plane because there were too many screaming babies.

So far my impressions of the four people I have met that are associated with this physics conference are that they don't care to be nice and meet others. Maybe I'm not the only one jet lagged? One guy criticized how the United States sends different people over every year. I don't see why that's a problem. I guess he doesn't want to make new friends. Hopefully, things go better than those encounters.

Now the rest of the day will involve working on my speech and settling in to this awful room. It's only bad because four rooms of two or three people each have to share two sinks, one toilet, and one shower. Brilliant.

Eventually, stories and photographs will come. Soon!

2008-07-22T10:50:00.002-04:00

A post with my Paris adventures will be coming soon.
The timing of said post? Probably later this week when I get to a location where it doesn't take forever to upload photos.

Also, note that I will be updating here for my travels in August as well.

Thanks for reading while I was in France.

Counting down the hours could be effective.

2008-07-13T13:44:00.003-04:00

All of the fun of friends coming to Paris has ended. I'm now alone once again.

Again, a short post. My apologies. Tomorrow is France's Independence Day, so that should be fun (parades, fireworks, etc.).

I return to the United States at 11:40 a.m. on Tuesday. I'm excited to come home...even though it's only for a short while.

I ate a baguette under the Eiffel Tower. How wonderfully clichéd.

2008-07-06T06:44:00.002-04:00

I have seen every major tourist spot in Paris. It's now time to find the small things that will make this trip worthwhile (well, more worthwhile). In my wanderings, I've found a lot of interesting places. I will continue to do that.

Don't worry, when I get home, there will be a large update with many pictures for those of you that aren't going to get a shot to see all of my pictures right away.

And now, I take one friend to one train station and go to another to pick up another friend.

Every time I get lost, I end up on Île de St.-Louis.

2008-07-04T05:27:00.005-04:00

Happy 4th of July to all of you who are in the United States.

It's just another Friday here.
All that I've been doing is going to museums, sitting in gardens, eating, and walking. I won't complain.

I can't write for long because one of the girls that stayed in Aix for the second month of classes (which I would have done had some people not planned their wedding for the middle of the summer...) is coming to Paris for the weekend. I have to go meet her at the train station.

Oh, and my starspot talk for Poland got officially accepted. Looks like I actually have to do work when I get home. Great.

I find I have a large affinity for objets d'art.

2008-07-01T11:42:00.003-04:00

I have really done nothing but sit in parks and visit museums so far. It's not a bad life, but my knees don't appreciate the sacrifice they're being forced to make.

Yesterday, I had the brilliant idea to walk to the Louvre...and then walk around the Louvre...for six hours. I then walked around the gardens behind the Louvre and then walked back (feel free to look at a map of Paris, I'm staying in the Bastille region), stopping at the quaint garden behind Notre Dame.

Today, I walked about the same distance to Musée d'Orsay, which has the Impressionists and newer art than the Louvre, but not modern. There are several rooms devoted to Monet. The one room for van Gogh was by far the most crowded. There was an exhibit of extremely old photographs from Great Britain and France. I quite enjoyed that one.

I am really quite sick of the crowds.

I haven't been taking too many photos because I'm pretty tired of photographing buildings, and I think it's generally silly to photograph art (I did get a few to prove that I was at the Louvre and Musée d'Orsay).

I haven't been very lucky with finding good, cheap meals unless they involve bread and fruit. So that is unpleasant. Also, the housekeeper keeps throwing away my empty water bottles...I refill them. Ugh. I need to start hiding them, apparently. It took me two days to catch on.

Internet cafés don't understand computers should be kept cool.

2008-06-29T12:53:00.004-04:00

So, I made it to Paris.

Apparently, I know enough French to yell at a taxi driver for intentionally driving around to waste my money. I ended up walking about as far as I would have needed to from the train station to the hotel, anyway. However, I get a good story out of this. So, I get into the taxi and tell the driver where to go. He starts mumbling something, which I think is because it's a short drive. Well, he finds a blocked road and drives around in a circle. A very traffic-filled circle. He then takes the longest route possible, and I ask him where we are. I was not happy with the response and then asked him why he didn't tell me what was going on. He got angry with me and started muttering in French, some of which I could understand and didn't appreciate. Long story, sort of short, I ended up walking with my bags, which is what I was trying to avoid since they are not light.

I don't have the time to put the whole story in here, but so far the trip has involved a lot of unexpected things. A lot.

I've seen Notre Dame, Saint Chapelle (from the outside), Musée d'Arts et Métiers (Museum of Arts and Crafts*), Panthéon (from the outside), Jardins du Luxembourg (garden), a giant concert in a plaza (that involved the French police taking out a guy that was covered in blood and the people involved rushing to get away), and a giant market (where I purchased fruit of questionable origins).

*The Musée d'Arts et Métiers was awesome. First of all, it was free. Second of all, it had a pretty much the history of invention from 1700 on, technologically. There were old cameras and old typewriters and other old things. I got really excited for the old astronomy and physics equipment, which there was a lot of. The crowning glory: a cyclotron. Yes, the super-nerd took pictures of the nerd equipment.

My hotel room is just about as big as expected. It pretty much consists of a bed, desk, chairs, and a mini-bar (which is currently holding my questionable grapes). The bathroom is small, but does the job. Thankfully, the toilet is with the shower and sink. I've missed that. Unfortunately, I again don't have a washcloth. I could really use one. That's not to say I'm dirty. Don't get the wrong impression; I would just like to scrub off all the suntan lotion.

I'll be back eventually, but not as often as I would like. Internet should be cheap, but it's not.
I also just saw that the exchange rate got worse on my ATM withdrawls. AWESOME.

Goodbyes are hard when you know you need to move on.

2008-06-26T13:17:00.003-04:00

I don't have any pictures or stories for you today. I've just been spending the sweltering days in Aix. I go to class, eat, and find other ways to spend money.

I've been constantly reminded that I am leaving in about 40 hours. I don't really know how I feel about this. I'm going to miss some of the people I've met, but I'm going to have a fantastic time in Paris (how can I not?). It's weird; I'm sad, but excited.

There are a few things that I certainly won't miss, but I'm not about to sit here and whine. I'm very fortunate for having gotten the chance to do this, even if some of the side effects include sunburn despite a constant layer of suntan lotion and too much pig meat. So I complained a little.

The moral of this story is that this has been a good experience that has gone too quickly, but like all things, cannot last forever. It's good that it can't last forever because I could really go for some grapes and peanut butter, together. A grilled cheese would be nice, too.

Flames and soap! I dare you to give me a better combination!

2008-06-24T14:28:00.017-04:00

I see how it is. No one comments when I don't put up pictures. I have bad news for you, unless I can find an internet café in Paris that has computers new enough to have drives for my camera's memory card, you're out of luck. In fact, you'll be lucky if I update in Paris. Oh, take that. Don't worry; you'll get at least one letting you know I'm still alive.

I think it's about time I introduce you to my favorite road sign in the world: The French Construction Sign.

The first time I saw this sign was on the tour bus four years ago as the bus was driving around CDG airport.

Naturally, I had to get another picture of the sign. I also have a picture of the English equivalent. I hope to see some in Poland, too. I guess I'm going to collect pictures of construction signs.

As I said, last night there was a big fire in the center of town. Who wants to see a video?!
Everyone likes a good fire. Yes, that's me saying "OK". It was painfully hot, and my friend was informing me she was moving back.

To go along with the video, I must include a picture of the pre-fire mound of flammable things.

Please note the outfits in the picture. Before the fire, the costumed people danced their way down the Cours Mirabeau. When they arrived at the Rotonde they proceeded to dance for around an hour more before there were some speeches, which I couldn't hear.

After much waiting, there was a great fire. Here you can see the fire behind one of the Rotonde's lions.

Naturally, I had been standing too close to the fire. I think it actually gave me a little bit of a burn. I still like fire anyway.

So today was the day to see how soap is made. It is a simple, but time-consuming process that takes nearly a month for completion.

My host told my friends and me that his family's soap factory is the last such soap factory in existence, where the soap is made the old-fashioned, natural way. He gave us a bunch of free bars of soap. Some smell, some don't. The coconut overpowers everything; and it's all I can smell right now. My favorite is the bottle of olive oil soap that I've been using here. It's fantastic. He was very generous with the free soaps. We probably got 25€ worth each.

This is my favorite machine.

Yes, I have a favorite machine. It was loud and old (like the rest of the machines in the factory). It cut the soap. First, it pushes the block of soap from the back and then from the side through some wires that slice the soap. It makes cubes of soap out of slabs.

After the soap, we were taken to the Palais du Pharo for a lovely veiw of Marseille and the sea. I have some pictures from the outside of the palace, too. However, they are not as impressive as the view.

We then were taken to Notre Dame de la Garde, which rests on the highest point of Marseille. The view was equally fantastic, but pales in comparison to the inside of the basillica.

Ridiculous, isn't it? Ridiculously fantastic.

This is the ceiling above the alter. The rest of the ceiling was a group of domes held up by gilded walls.

It's absolutely fantastic both inside and out. I was not expecting the inside to look like that at all.

Here's the outside. It's all white and grey with a glorious view of Marseille and the sea, naturally. It's also much larger than this picture lets on. I don't think it's possible to photograph the whole structure when on its hill. Anyway, this is the bell tower (there is a DRAWBRIDGE, too!). On the top is a gold statue of Mary holding the baby Jesus. They watch over the harbor and Marseille.

We then drove through the vieille porte section of Marseille (the old port, I put pictures of that up last time...we also didn't stop, so no pictures this time...the ones with all of the boat masts).

As for the rest of the week, I have no idea what I am going to do. Three days.

There are festivals involving music and fire here; I like it.

2008-06-23T10:46:00.005-04:00

Saturday was the Fête de la Musique. I have to admit that I was disappointed. On the other hand, it was far too hot to go anywhere else. For most of the day I sat around listening to bad covers of bad American/British music. In sum, the event was really like a bad bar: drunken fools throwing beer bottles while listening to a bad cover band. It was a bit amusing to walk down the street and be completely surrounded by sound on all sides.

One highlight was an orchestra playing covers. The most amusing was Muse's Starlight. This song includes words like "live" and "blackhole". These gave the singer a hard time. Oddly, they chose to have a female singer...who pronounced these words as "leave" and "blah-hole". No one around me understood why I was laughing at that. The best part of their set was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which they played without words.

Yesterday was equally boring as it was far too hot to move. I regretted walking into town almost immediately after I walked out of the apartment building. I took some pictures of buildings, which I'm guessing are boring to everyone other than me. I went in the Museum of Old Aix which is in a building near my school. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was still nifty. It's in an old hôtel particulier that is much better preserved than the one that my school is in. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure photographs weren't allowed. There were a lot of dolls and dishes from the nineteenth century. There are also these nativity sets, santons, that were prominantly featured. The amusing part of all of this is that most of these things were from Marseille, and not Aix. Close enough?

After that, it was far too hot to walk back to the apartment, so I sat in the cathedral for somewhere around two hours listening to choirs practice for a concert that night.

Later I had a conversation with an old lady who told me it was nearly 40°C (over 100°F). She then proceeded to ask if it gets that hot where I live in the United States. I confirmed this. She then assumed I was from the west coast.

Again, today it was far too hot to do anything, yet I proceeded to eat outside and spend money, my two favorite things here. I am quite excited because I finally went into the fabric store in town. There are some distinct patterns in the south of France, and I haven't purchased anything in them because nothing aside from the fabric itself caught my attention. I found the fabric and got some of that today. I have no idea what I'm going to make out of it. Probably an apron.

Tonight there is going to be a giant fire in the center of town for the Festival of Saint Jean. You can count on pictures of that one.

I get to go to work with my host after school tomorrow to see how he makes soap out of olives!

My Google Homepage indicates that the temperatures in Paris are to be about 10°C cooler some days this week (that's nearly 20°F different). That makes me wish I were there already. That doesn't happen until Saturday.

I drank a cassis and pomme (black current and apple) flavored Capri-Sun in Cassis.

2008-06-20T09:01:00.008-04:00

Behold! I return!

Miss me?

I'll start with the fact that that heat wave that all of you had last week is apparently here (temperatures well over 90°F). There is not a single cloud in the sky and I needed suntan lotion just to walk back from school. Despite my best attempts, I think I got sunburn anyway. All I do is get sunburn. I think I may have "tanned" slightly. I don't like it. Maybe it is just freckles.

Moving on.
Tuesday night I had the brilliant I idea to go to town after dinner to watch the France-Italy soccer match. After walking around searching for a table for some time (there were many venues, but no tables), one was found off to the side of a café/bar. It was a table in a place with a television, so it was fine. The establishment was in a plaza that had several other cafés and bars with televisions set up, too. The crowd got really agitated at two events during the game, otherwise it was pretty quiet because the game was just bad. The two events: a red card to the French and the first Italian goal. I really would have liked to have seen the French score. Alas, I just get to say that I watched a soccer match at a café in France. I also had some kir, which is apparently Cassis white wine (Cassis = town on the Mediterranean Sea), cassis liquor (cassis = black current), and blackberry, raspberry, and peach flavorings. It's supposed to be a before-dinner drink. Oh, well.

After class on Wednesday I took an adventure to Cassis. A lot of other people decided to go there, too.

I swam in the Mediterranean. I was caked in salt to prove it. The water was extremely cold, but entirely worth it. I went in twice, which was a bad idea since the second time was around 5 p.m. and the temperature had dropped a bit already and the waves were getting more vicious.

This was where I discovered that PNC put a stop on my bank account because of international charges. That was especially fun since I only had enough money to get back to Aix. I didn't want to eat anyway. In reality, I wasn't alone, so I could have eaten if I really needed something.

Aside from having my credit card rejected, another fun moment was waiting for the train from Cassis to Marseille (naturally, the first train we wanted to get on was cancelled; I see a pattern). I was looking in awe as a TGV was coming from Marseille and headed for Toulon. The train à grande vitesse really is fast. While I was marvelling in it, another one passed in the opposite direction. I was probably about ten feet from it, and I almost was blown over by the wind it made as it passed. The near-stumble may have been in part because the train scared me, since I didn't realize it was coming. After that, I saw the sign warning of the TGV passing through the station.

In Marseille, there was a giant fire. The bus I was on to return to Aix drove a block behind it. All I could see were plumes of smoke exitting a building (no flames). I can't find any record of this fire.

Apparently, worldwide there is a music festival on Saturday for the beginning of summer. Here, the Fête de la Musique is held in the only park in Aix that requires me to walk completely across town (or nearly). I'll be attending that tomorrow.

The really great thing about Aix is that there are free concerts the week before and the week after called Musique dans la Rue (Music in the Street). Last night was some less than stellar world music and tonight is tango, but it's something to do.

With that, I depart with my hostess on an adventure that I have no idea what it is. She told me, but I only understood about half of it. I think the word for dance was used.

Today, Nutella-flavored ice cream.

2008-06-16T16:16:00.015-04:00

Howdy. Let's get onto the weekend's events!

During the routine café stint during the break in class, some of the girls in my class told me that there was a performance tonight for which they had free tickets and had extras, so I was invited. Briefly speaking of class, I believe I previously mentioned that I was in the second level. I was slightly disappointed with that placement, so was the rest of the class. The school realized that we really should have been in the third level class, so for administrative purposes the class level was changed and I am in the third level, which is "Advanced Intermediate" or something. Anyway, I had plans for Friday night. I was told that it was a ballet. I got there and it wasn't ballet. It was modern dance. Like most modern art, much of it was abstract, and I was disappointed because I was really hoping for ballet. Regardless of that, I got to see a cultural event for free.

For Saturday, I ambitiously decided to make my own trip to somewhere in France. I decided on Avignon and Pont du Gard. These two places really excited me because the former is a fortified city, and the fortified city I saw last time I was in France (St. Malo, and I know I'll be corrected on that one if I'm wrong) amused me so much. The latter is a Roman aquaduct that I saw pictures of in my Archaeology of Ancient Greece and Rome class textbook (Mom and Dad, it's in Roman Art, which is one of the books I put on your bookshelf if you want to read about it.).

Et voilà, Avignon! Here I pretty much just walked around the city while eating and taking pictures. The bus left for here at 8:30 a.m. and one of the girls that decided to come along didn't make it to the bus stop on time. It was just one other girl from my class and me.

The tourism office in Avignon told us that the best way to do a trip to Pont du Gard was to leave around noon and then take a bus to Nîmes and a train back to Avignon since we had return bus tickets to Aix from Avignon. The kind people gave us all of the necessary schedules, and we were set.

Again, there was walking around in Avignon and taking pictures of the walls and the buildings. Nothing aside from the picture above really stands out enough to put it in here.

I must mention that if I were to move to France, I think I'd want to live in this city. It's beautiful, fortified, and not ridiculously expensive.

The bus to Pont du Gard was next on the itinerary. The bus drops off passengers about half a mile from Pont du Gard, but the walk is entirely worth it as you start to see the stone arches through the trees.

This is a first look at Pont du Gard.

My reaction to this structure was very similar to that of Stonehenge: taking massive amounts of pictures and being stuck there for several hours with nothing better to do other than taking those pictures and spend money in the gift shop.

Want another view of Pont du Gard? Here you go! I was allowed to touch this one, unlike Stonehenge.

After sitting on the side of the road for about a half hour waiting for the late bus, the Nîmes was the next stop on this tour. According to the train schedule back to Avignon, we were going to miss the first train, but the second one was about an hour later. There would be just enough time to go to the Roman ampitheatre and then catch the train after walking around the town a bit. It should also be noted that the girl that missed the bus from Aix called us to tell us she was in Avignon while we were headed to Pont du Gard. We would catch up with her in Avignon when we got there before the last bus left for Aix and ride back with her.

We got to Nîmes and headed right for the Roman ruins.

In front of the ampitheatre were all of these tour buses. I automatically thought "tour group". There were signs all around pointing in the direction to get into the whole thing. As we walked, I saw shirt vendors and people sitting around as if it were a concert. I didn't think they held such things in such places. While walking further around, some American tourists were encountered that clearly couldn't figure out how to get in either. They informed me that there was a Radiohead concert there tonight. One word: ridiculous.

Apparently bullfights go on here when there aren't concerts.

After walking around a bit more we walked back to the train station. There we found out that the train we wanted to get on in twenty minutes didn't exist. That's fine, there is another train forty minutes later that will get to Avignon in time to make the bus.

Unfortunately, the sign indicating departures showed that our train was a bus. I inquired at the information desk and I was told "Today, that train is a bus". I was reassured that it would get to Avignon 25 minutes before the bus to Aix was to leave.

After a long wait, the bus shows up 15 minutes late. The bus was also driven by the only safe bus driver in France, so the bus pulled into the train station of Avignon instead of the bus station as my anxiety was sky-rocketing because we arrive about a minute before the bus to Avignon is to leave, which would have been fine if we were in the bus station. Our friend was on the bus, but apparently didn't think to try to stall the bus driver. When we get off the bus we take off running, and I make it into the bus station just in time to see the Avignon-Aix-press pulling out of the station. I run after it for much further than I thought I could run, but the driver doesn't stop. The girl I was with was on the phone with our friend who was now trying to get the driver to stop. He said he would if we could keep up. He made no attempts to slow down. We didn't keep up.

Stranded in Avignon would have been alright had I not had plans for a trip Sunday morning. There were no more buses back to Avignon until the morning. The only direct route is a taxi, which is not cheap since it was over an hour by bus. I apparently have pretty good troubleshooting and thinking-outside-the-box type skills because I realized we could take the train to Marseille and then the bus to Aix because those buses run almost all night. Train tickets were obtained ten minutes before the train was to depart. While standing on the platform, the train that was to leave after the train to Marseille leaves. A minute or two later the departure board changes to indicate that the train to Marseille is deleted. That is the second train that didn't run when I needed it to! Fortunately, there are two more trains to Marseille on Saturday nights. The next train leaves around 8:40 p.m. (the bus left at 6:45 p.m.). Finally, I was slightly relieved when I found myself sitting on a train. We arrived in Marseille a few minutes to 10 p.m. Fortunately, I knew the name of the bus that runs between Marseille and Aix, so when I saw someone at the desk, I was overjoyed. She told me that there was a bus leaving in about three minutes, but it was at the bottom of the hill. We took off with more rapid motion and found the bus with a minute to spare. After finally arriving in Aix there was no way I was walking back to the apartment. I sucked it up and paid for a taxi. That is my fiasco. I wonder if the moral of this is that I shouldn't plan travel on my own. That's foreboding for Paris.

A few hours later, I was headed off to Luberon!

The first stop was Isle-sur-la-Sorgues. Here there were a bunch of water wheels!

There was the second largest market in France (second to Paris). Here I purchased fougasse that put Wegmans' fougasse and entire bread counter to shame as well as half a kilogram of strawberries. This was the best meal that I have eaten in France. All I need is some fruit and bread, and I'm satisfied. That is a surprise to no one.

After this was Roussillon, where my camera battery died because I foolishly forgot to recharge it the night before.

Roussillon is on top of a mountain and off to the side is a quarry of red, orange, and yellow rocks. The buildings of Roussillon are made out of this rock and are beautiful.

The rocks themselves make one wonder if they are in France. The colors were beautiful, and there was a hiking path, that I naturally had to take even though I was ill-equipped and full of strawberries.

This is for Renée.

I matched the rock. Had the color stratification been more rapid, I could have matched all of the colors on my shoes.

Commence the making fun of me.

After Roussillon, it was off to Gordes, which is another city on the top and sides of a mountain. I will soon have the pictures of this city when one of the others on the trip e-mails them to me, she kindly let me use her camera when mine was not agreeable. This is the single picture I have of Gordes at present. It is the castle in the center of the town. Here, like Roussillon and Isle-sur-la-Sorgues, there was just a lot of walking around.

Most of the streets in French cities are unpaved. Gordes claims the title for the first place to make me fall because of the uneven stones. I've stumbled, but recovered in almost every other town I've been in.

Finally, tonight at dinner, the little girl in my host family told me that they missed me this weekend. It was precious: Toi, tu nous manques.*

*For those that know French, a note: Yes, she used the present tense. She is eight and her homework sometimes resembles mine. Yes, that is how manquer is used; I was right the first time.

Mint syrup for pancakes and waffles in my drink?

2008-06-15T16:42:00.006-04:00

My apologies dear friends and family for being scarce this weekend, but a phenomenal occurrance occurred! I actually had plans on Friday and Saturday nights! Well, I wasn't supposed to Saturday night, but we'll get to that (in a later post, sorry!).

Let me show you two images for now.

This evening, my host mother offered me mint syrup for my water and I just looked at her confused. Syrup? Am I missing the translation?

She whips out this bottle of bright green mint-flavored stuff. She pours some of it into a glass and then adds water. "I assumed you had this in the United States."
Do we? I don't think so, as I responded with my most-used French phrase "Je ne sais pas" (I don't know). I want a different phrase to take that title.

Anyway it was tasty, minty, and refreshing.

Please note a few things about this picture: the green drink, the candy bar behind the glass (bueno, with milk and hazelnut), and the ovalish white objects behind the nerd book. Those white objects are called calissons. I think they are delicious, and you will undoubtedly get to try these if you see me soon after my trip because I intend to bring a lot of them back. They're an easy "I was thinking of you while in France, but I didn't want to buy you something useless" sort of gift (so is Provencial soap). In other words, if you are reading this, prepare yourself for these things. Anyway, the candies are a bit tangy (lemon/melon), have sugary icing on the top, and a surprise on the bottom. Tasty.

On my walk home today, I passed by some interesting things. I'll leave most of it out, but THE SNAILS RETURNED!!! To satisfy Renée's request to see the snails, here is a picture.

They were all over the sidewalk, but I think the ones climbing on the mailbox were my favorite.

Anyway, it's late and this post is going to be insanely long if I recount my tales of the weekend. They'll come soon.

Once again, I am blown away by how old everything is here. It's fantastic.

2008-06-12T11:37:00.015-04:00

I have to toot my own horn here, since I am far too lazy to e-mail or call the appropriate people to tell them this. I am a finalist for the Vanderbilt Prize for Undergraduate Research in Physics and Astronomy. I believe the winner knows who they are already after having read the e-mail again. Anyway, I get $500 and a free trip to Nashville if the award ceremony is held on a day that I am available. A nice big thank you goes out to the Harmons for getting me to apply for that award, too.

Back to France:
On my way to class I pass by some bushes. Amusingly, bunches of snails slime out from under the foliage and they and their slime are all over the sidewalk. The last few days have brought out some of the snails, but some cruel people step on them. If they were slugs, I'd understand. But the snails?! Instead of tiptoeing through a maze of snails, I am forced to walk through their remains. At least no one threw salt on them.

Not too much has been going on here. Class consumes the mornings, and I tend to walk around Aix spending money in the afternoon. There is a lot to see in Aix so I have done some more tourist-type adventures.

Roman baths:
Here is one view of what were the thermal baths.

Here is another view of the thermal baths. The fun part about the Thermes Sextius is that there is a modern-day spa on top of it. The Roman ruins were found during renovation, I believe. The same goes for the Cathédrale Saint-Sauveur d'Aix, which is the one across the street from my school (see below for my tour of the cloisters).

In the thermies, you can drink the water out of this fountain. Naturally, I drank it. It wasn't warm, which I found disappointing. I suppose it comes from a different source. I really have no idea.

On to the cathedral! This is it from the outside. Because the streets are so narrow I can't get a complete image.

Behold! Cloisters! I waited around the cathedral for a long time before the tour of these began because they couldn't find the keys. Anyway, all of the columns are different and at the tops of the columns are images from the Bible. It's pretty interesting to stand in places like the cloisters and the thermal baths and realize that these things have been around for so long. The craftsmanship is impressive.

Again, here are the cloisters with parts of the cathedral in the background. If you know anything about periods of architecture, you will note that this cathedral is truly a hodge-podge of styles. There are the Roman forum remains in the Baptistery that were discovered when renovations were being performed. The cathedral itself was started in the fifth century and additions have been made ever since. There is Gothic, baroque, Romanesque, etc. architecture throughout the whole place. It is quite fantastic to behold.

All of the signs for the thermal baths say "Thermes Sextius". I insist it's really THERMIES.

2008-06-10T16:38:00.004-04:00

To start, I would like to mention something I was warned about before coming to France. The French don't clean up after their dogs. I was told this and just stored it in the back of my mind because I didn't remember seeing droppings all over the place the last time I was here. My memory must be failing me. Dog waste is everywhere (they even advertise how much money the city wastes on cleaning it up since the people can't themselves). I have yet to step in it (as well as be the recipient of a gift from the pigeons above). I knock on wood. The stepping in refuse is supposed to be good luck, but I'd rather find luck elsewhere.

I must mention the most disgusting thing I have eaten thus far. It was a meatball wrapped in meat. When I asked what it was "beef" was all that I was told. Well, yes, but what part of the cow? The outside of the super meaty meatball was probably the toughest cow meat that I've ever eaten, so you can assume what part it was. Please let me know what you think because I really have no idea.

Today I went to the Roman thermal baths, which is why this town exists. The thermal baths are called Thermes Sextius, for the Roman ruler Sextius who founded the city because of the thermal spring. The town was originally called Aquae Sextiae, and Aix is a contraction of that. I'll put up pictures soon of the ruins, but not tonight because I'm too tired right now.

I also had a candy bar called "Lion" that wasn't the greatest thing ever, but it wasn't bad: chocolate, krispies (think like the cereal), caramel, and a wafer cookie in the middle. Certainly not a Take 5.

For the last two days I have walked to the apartment in a thunderstorm. Fortunately, today there was significantly less rain and a truck didn't splash water on me as it drove by. The weather here is grossly humid and changes at the drop of a hat. I expected it to be sweltering already, but I guess that's the weather that you have in the US.

I have much to comment on, but it is late here and I have to get up too early for school. I'll fill you in with more soon.

I want to come home to crèpes and Nutella everyday.

2008-06-08T15:26:00.003-04:00

Today was not the most exciting day ever. Most things are closed on Sundays here, but I managed to keep myself occupied.

On the Cours Mirabeau there was this fantastic antique sale. Last week it was a craft fair in the same place. The antique sale was far more impressive and expensive. There was much that I would have liked to buy as some things were just "old" and not "antique," but the practicality of that stopped me. There were lots of clear red things, but they were glass, and I didn't even want to think about the transport.

So today I walked around town photographing fountains (I'll save the pictures until I can point out where on a map they are to you). I walked around about half of the town and took pictures of twenty-five fountains. I know where a few more are. My quest is not complete!

At one of the fountains at the end of town I decided to sit on a bench. There were plenty of people walking by, and I was just taking in the view. Then Nikoli walked into my life. Oh, this was a real treat. He must have spotted me long before I saw him, or I would have gotten up to leave before he was right in front of me. This guy looked to be around twice my age. He apparently has a ban on deodorant and toothpaste. He realized I was a tourist (although he thought from England) and decided to tell me all of the fabulous places to go around Aix. I had probably a fifteen to twenty minute conversation with him in which he told me that I don't talk enough, I should not wear sunglasses so men can see my beautiful eyes, and I have a wonderful smile. He also offered to buy me a drink (this was around 11 a.m.). When I made my getaway he asked if I would like to meet up in the afternoon. Although it is good to practice French, I deemed agreeing to that a bad choice.

I had the best ice cream I have ever had in my entire life today. One scoop was caramel with pockets of the most delicious oozing caramel in the history of the world, and the other scoop was vanilla with delightful chocolate shavings.

I had a lot of goat cheese today. I think I'm done with that for a while. Same with the green beans. That's right parents, they serve me green beans and I eat them. Don't get any ideas.

The strawberry tart couldn't be passed up again.

2008-06-07T17:33:00.011-04:00

Today was quite the good adventure.

All week its been four hours of class, lunch, wandering around town, dinner, homework, e-mail writing, and bed. All week. Life isn't too interesting.

Today I went to St. Tropez. It is the famed summer spot for celebrities, aristocrats, and people that otherwise think far too highly of themselves.

The bus ride took about two and a half hours one way, and the driver made mistakes going in both directions as we ended up going around several of the same roundabouts twice. I don't think anyone else really noticed. I got some beautiful views of the French Alps, but good pictures cannot be taken through bus windows. I contemplated how I found myself so lucky as to get to see such things. I didn't come up with an answer and just stared in awe. I can't believe people slept through that bus ride. The views only got more spectacular as the day progressed.

St. Tropez is a cute little town where I got some caramelized almonds that all of you will be lucky to taste if they make it back home. I got a lot, so there's a chance.

Here is the harbor in St. Tropez: fancy new boats in front of fancy old buildings.

Not too much was done here other than eat and walk around a lot. It is a beautiful little place, but I'd hate to be there during tourist season, which is not June thankfully.

After St. Tropez it was off to Cap Taillat. If you Google Image search this place, you'll come up wit a bunch of images similar to this one. I assure you, this picture is not a fake. This is just one of the plethora of the beautiful, peaceful views from the obnoxious, rocky path I climbed to get to the perfect little beach.

If I'm ever in the south of France again in warm weather, I must return here (or somewhere very similar).

This is my reaction to the cold Mediterranean Sea. I was standing in it with my pants rolled up. I would have had my bathing suit, but my host family assured me that the weather was supposed to be cold and wet in St. Tropez, as did the Internet. Naturally, as a result of the removal of my suit from my backpack this morning, it was a gorgeous day and only my feet got to experience the cold water. Most of you know me well enough to realize how upset I am that I could have gone swimming, but didn't.

I think I really enjoy putting bad pictures of myself on the Internet.

Also, I reassure everyone, I had suntan lotion on. Naturally, I missed a spot on the back of my arm.

After returning to Aix, where it was really, really cold all day, I got possibly the best hot chocolate that I've ever had. It came from the café across the street from my school. It ranks up there with the Venezuelan hot chocolate I had in Philly. The other food of the last few days that should be noted are all desserts, so I look like a pig. I had some mint chocolate ice cream, another crèpe au caramel, another strawberry tart, and probably a few other things.

Last night I told my host family that my throat hurt when they noted that I looked tired and ill. It's just a cold, rest assured. I walk around in the rain too much. The weather here is very humid, but cold. The warm days tend to be a bit on the humid side, too. According to my host family, I'm sick because I don't cover up my throat when I'm outside. I guess that's why scarves are so big here...? To alleviate my throat pain (because I refused the need to go to a doctor), I was given some warm milk with honey in it, which actually worked.

Je recherche les étoiles avec beaucoup de taches!

2008-06-05T13:31:00.006-04:00

A public "Happy Birthday" to Dad. Either the parents were at work or out when I tried to call.
Lame. I paid $23.19 for 30 French minutes for the cell phone I was given so I can call home (specifically for this, Dad...). The guy at the store couldn't tell me if they were fine to use to call the United States or not. I am pretty sure there was no way I was going to avoid being ripped off, but I am pretty sure I'll get at least twenty minutes of US calling, which is more than necessary if no one is home when I call.

I came back to the apartment the other day to find that my laundry was being done for me, my room was being cleaned, and the pitchfork was hung up.

I just don't know what to say about this. At first I was afraid that it hung itself. Then it was explained to me that it used to be on the wall, but it fell at some point. I didn't get an explanation of if that's how it broke.

I really like this town, but I don't think that I could live here unless it's in this house:

Who wants to buy it for me?

It's in the "new" part of town. That just means that the roads were planned in a grid pattern a few centuries ago as opposed to the all-over-the-place roads like the part of the city that started with the Romans.

This could be considered a hôtel particulier, which just means a really fancy aristocratic home, not a hotel as the word is presently understood. There are a ton of these things all over Aix, and they're beautiful and old. Naturally, I love them. My school is actually in one. I often wander around the building wondering what it used to be like. I'll more than likely take pictures of that place, too.

How about some food? Recent delicious desserts include a raspberry tart and a chocolate éclair.

In my class we had to talk "freely" about something for around three minutes. I talked about my research. That could be categorized under "Bad Choice" because a lot of the words I needed I don't know in French, and no one had any clue what I was talking about. OK, the fact that no one knew if what I was saying was right or wrong could move it to "Good Choice" (note that everything I said was accurate, but overly simplified).

Saturday, I am going to Saint Tropez, or the "jetset" center of the Provence/Côte d'Azur region, as my hostess describes it (with that particular word).
Sunday, I will probably walk around the city taking pictures of the fountains. I hear that there are actually only forty of them. Don't worry, I probably won't post all of them on here.

Last night I watched Titanic in French.

2008-06-03T10:51:00.004-04:00

Oh hay, look! That last post posted...not the version I wanted, but I'll deal and you would never know the difference had I not mentioned it. Nice job internet!

Anyway, I have a present for you:

I sat on le Cours Mirabeau the other day and watched traffic. There are these fun features in the middle of the road that keep some order to what's going on with the vehicles driving on the sidewalks and whatnot. It is most amusing when tourists encounter them.
Here we see a confused tourist that eventually figures out what to do and then stalls his car.

I wish the inside of the car could have been seen in the video because the driver's expressions were priceless.

I sat on that street again today and got approached by some guy that was looking for money for something involving children, candy, and bicycles. He didn't like my response of "I have no money" and took his flyer back. Well, I didn't like that he touched my arm and my back, so we're even.

The delicious food of the day was the strawberry tart I had with lunch.
Yesterday, I had a raspberry lollipop, which I described as divine.

The other exciting feature of today was that 1.5L bottles of water that cost 0.70€ were discovered. I don't exactly enjoy carrying around the gigantic bottle, but that's the best deal I can find. Since the tap water is safe to drink, it looks like the giant bottle will be reused.

I came back to the apartment to find that my hostess had washed my clothes for me. I win.

I found out what I got myself into today.

2008-06-02T11:54:00.009-04:00

Today was the first day of class.
I admit that I was extremely excited for it, then I got there and met my classmates.

They are a special group of people. Some of them don't think that they belong in that class. Honestly, I was a bit shocked to see that I only placed into the second level...then class started, and it's going to be what I need. At least, I wasn't sitting there thinking that I am better than everyone else and asking pointless questions just to hear myself talk. Unfortunately, this is the sort of thing that happens when there are too many females in the same group: they try to best each other by any means. Unnecessary. You all know it's true. There is yet another reason to work in male-dominated fields.

There is one other student in the class who is there just for the self-enrichment, if you will, that I seek. However, when we introduced ourselves and said what we study and what activities we enjoy, I was the only one to say anything scientific.

I must note that the professor is fantastic. She loves teaching foreign students French and says that anyone that speaks English in class will be defenestrated.

The final aspect of class to analyze: homework. The homework is exceptionally easy, but reading and writing French is not where my problems lie.

After class, I went to a café and stuttered some fragmented French at the waiter. I really need to stop doing that...the fragmented French, not the eating. After lunch, I found some decently cheap ice cream, which really makes everything better (especially when I use one of those Lactaid pills).

Moral: Class is going to be a (good) challenge, but if it gets me down, I know where to find creamy goodness.

Who thought it was a good idea to buy me ice cream? I guess it makes up for feeding me lettuce.

2008-05-31T15:47:00.019-04:00

I return!

I have eaten far too much this evening to even consider walking around more tonight. I also was fed ice cream with dinner. You all know the consequences of that.

Tonight, I add some pictures (click on them to make them bigger if you want; for those of you who need further direction, after getting to the big picture hit the left arrow at the top of the browser to get back to here.). Eventually, I will link you to a site that has a lot more of the pictures that I am taking. However, that time is not now. You get these:

I have a pitchfork in my bedroom.
I have no idea why. It is behind the partially-functioning television that I will never watch. Unfortunately, the television is concealing the fact that the pitchfork's third prong is broken.
Yes, I did observe it that closely.
No, it does not match the rest of the room's decor.

I get to use this beauty every day.
I like clear, red plastic things. Apparently, the people that I am living with do, too.

Side Note #1:
My hosts are watching Law & Order dubbed in French. I heard the music.

If you see a picture of Aix, it is likely to involve this fountain. It is aptly named The Grand Fountain.
It is located at the roundabout Place du Général de Gaulle. Most of the busy streets in Aix intersect here.
A few of you will receive a postcard with this fountain on it. Get excited.

Nazareth Street. Honestly.
I saw this on a map and had to find it.

As expected, today I ventured to Marseille (Hey, look! The right spelling the first time!).

I saw a lot of boats, had a beggar touch me while asking for money, stumbled through some litter, went to an old fortress, ate some cookies, and smelled some soap. Soap is one of the main industries in these parts. My host informed me that he is a master soap maker. He makes soap out of olives. It's all over this apartment and smells like olive oil.

Anyway! Marseille! A less than 10€ trip (well, the bus ride there and back...)!

Since Marseille is a port on the Mediterranean Sea, there are lots of boats. There were also beastly cruise ships spouting off their diesel waste while the tourists invaded the town. My situation was only slightly different: the bus that brought this tourist in gave off less pollution.
This is the view from the boat that took me to one of the four islands that protected from invaders!

Here is the boat that brought me to the island.
The mate could be described as a mighty sailor man, and the skipper, well, he was brave and sure.

Side Note #2:
Parents: I got to ride on a boat this weekend, too. I bet you didn't get sprayed with salty, clear, blue Mediterranean Sea water. I bet it was smelly, opaque, brown bay water.

The point of the boat trip to the Frioul Islands was to visit Château d'If.
Having heard about this château in nearly every French class, I had to visit. It is where the Count of Monte Cristo was allegedly held.
I don't have any pictures of the whole fortress, but here is an arrow slit! I have an irrational love for these features. I also like to take note of a good portcullis when I come across one. Fine, I admit it: I like really old castle fortifications.

In case there is any questioning of whether I am actually on this trip or if I am just posting pictures from the internet, here is a set of typical Traveller Rachael images.
I am on top of Château d'If. I love that the island's name is If (pronounce the i like an e in English). I am so thrilled that my picture is being taken, but I do have the Mediterranean Sea and the French Alps at by back.

There is a lot of restoration going on at this place. That explains the the metal floating behind the walls.
This was the highest point. Underneath me is a hemisphere-shaped ceiling. What I'm sitting on was actually curved.
Being the gigantic nerd that I am, I noticed that I was surrounded by a circular set of walls. I was sitting in its center. I knew that if I sat there and made any sort of noise it would echo back to me, thus amplifying my sounds.

There's an Arc de Triumphe in Marseille! Really, it is, but it's not the same as the one in Paris.
This is where the bus dropped me off and picked me up, a smart move on the bus company's/city's part. You can't miss this thing.
See the rubbish? That's one of the main reasons I like Aix better. The trash wasn't as out-of-control in the rest of the city, but it was still there. It's not like that in Aix. Marseille also isn't referred to in a song by The Decemberists.

Apparently, I think about food...a lot.

2008-05-30T17:06:00.001-04:00

I am in France. This blog will tell the stories...or something. At the very least I will include the foods that I have consumed. Just because I eat them here does not mean that I wish to eat them when I return home (frozen, fried fish and eggplant, for instance).

Let me begin my tale with the fact that my plane did not take off from Newark until 11:30 p.m. (scheduled 8:05 p.m.). On top of forgetting my phone in the car, that was a great start to this trip. Magically, the French train people changed my ticket without a problem or charge. While waiting for the train, French Customs approached me. I apparently looked like a foreign traveller.

Long story short, I then got to Aix-en-Provence after paying something like $60 for the taxi ride. Planes, trains, and automobiles.

The family that I am staying with is nice. It is a couple and their 8-year-old daughter.
They feed me a lot. Breakfast consists of croissants and various biscuits (usually with chocolate) and unrefrigerated orange juice.
It is at dinner when I am being fed way too much. The meals consist of salad, seemingly two main courses, sides, and dessert. The most stand-out/very-French portions have included quiche, some egg concoction that really could have used cheese, flan, strawberry juice, and of course, frozen, fried fish.
Best moment involving food: I had a crèpe with caramel sauce from a street vendor. That was a good decision right there.

For the most part I have just walked around the town a lot. There is a cathedral in town that has segments built in all different eras. Apparently Gregorian chants are sung there on Sundays. I will find out. I went to a bunch of the fountains in the town, which was originally built for its thermal springs by the Romans. Apparently there are about 100 fountains. I doubt that I will find them all. I enjoy walking around aimlessly and enjoying the architecture.

Tomorrow, I think I will go to Marseille, which is just south of here. I think I need to get another crèpe sometime soon.