I am in Germany!

So, um, while on my European excursion I planned to post quite a few pictures here and some stories about the conference, traveling, playing in the lab here... but I didn't have internet access for awhile, so I've fallen quite far behind now. I'll put a few up today, and try to catch up.

The conference: ICN+T in Basel, Switzerland



Flying into Basel there were some really spectacular clouds! I took a lot of pictures. I'm sure the people around me thought I was nuts. The decent was pretty bumpy, but the clouds were beautiful and I actually enjoyed it. I guess this means my fear of flying was temporary, and is lifting. Not that all this mess in Heathrow (which I have to fly through to get home) is helping me enjoy the air travel experience. :(

So... Basel is a pretty nice city. The old part is quite small and nicely maintained. Unfortunately they are in the process of replacing many of the old tram tracks so the roads were ripped up in a lot of places, but I could still get a feel for the ambiance. I liked it quite a lot. So, I'll put a few pictures here, but most will go up on another website later (not too much I hope)...



The Muenster in Basel. Really impressively tall! Lynda and I went up into the bell tower and around on the outside. It was really high. I have more pictures... so I'll tell the story in detail later. Note the flags in the foreground. The red and white one is of course the Swiss flag. The other is the flag of Basel.




This is another picture of the Muenster tower from inside the cloister... it seemed to need black & white.



The Spalentor. A mediaeval gate of Basel with glazed tile roof... also impressively large. Note again the Basel flag.



The Rathaus (or town hall). Yes, in German, the town hall is called the "Rathaus"... is this some kind of cynical statement? I don't know. Does it seem apt? Definately. Anyway... the architechture is quite impressive. The stone looks extra red here because the sun was setting, but both the Rathaus and the Muenster are constructed from this reddish stone.



Basel as it sits on the Rhine.

Ok... so that was Basel, now maybe someday soon I'll post a few stories about the conference and then move on to where I am now!