One Year Gone!

I didn't actually get a chance to mark my one year in Berlin. It was either June 26 (departed the US) or June 27 (arrived in Berlin) and those were much busier than average. Given how much I've traveled over the course of the last year, it is typical that I spent neither of those days in Berlin and instead was very busy traveling to and working at the Sloan Digital Sky Survey collaboration meeting.

I'm going to take a short hiatus from blogging - probably a week or two - and then I will most likely start up again. I doubt I'm going to do anything every day, but I appreciate having a creative outlet and something that helps me stay in touch!

In other words, stay tuned!

One more Madison lake picture

Taken on my way out - Lake Mendota was looking quite lovely! 

Clouds and Sun

From yesterday, my early run on a cloudy lake: 

And sunny food trucks at lunch:

Pest inspection

My day was so full and busy that I didn't capture lakeside terrace views or nice food trucks or anything else. I did find this notice when I got back to my room, which I initially thought indicated I was entered in a contest. 

I suppose if they had found pests, they would have done something more than just leave a note!

At a science meeting

I'm running a bingo competition for students at our science meeting - my wonderful co-conspirators found s bunch of prizes! 

And our opening reception featured a sunset over Lake Mendota. Seriously pretty!

Shorter hair selfie

I got a haircut just before the Sweden trip, and I kept meaning to post a photo. So here it is at last! 

Giant air stairs

It seems to be much more common in Europe - and especially at Berlin's far outgrown airports - that the gate takes you on a bus that takes you to the plane. This is the largest plane I've boarded via the air stairs! 

Dog!

Dogs are on most of the transit, but this is the first time I saw one on the Regional Express. He wanted to cuddle my feet, and I managed to not sneeze!

TV Screens

Every bar and cafe with outdoor seating also seems to have a television propped up outside, presumably so one can watch the soccer outdoors.

Bike protest

I heard lots of bike bells and whistles outside yesterday, and when I looked the entire opposite street was full of bikes. The people were wearing vests that said GEW, and as far as I can tell I witnessed a bike protest by teachers.

Today in absurd

I bring you: a terrible idea for a chocolate bar: 

And a supposedly welcoming garbage can:

Swiss army?

This is vaguely Father's Day themed, as my dad always carries his Swiss Army knife. The street art version is a little more... Bizarre.

Variety post

First, a family of cranes:

Then, art in the club we were at: 

And David photographing an ad in the u bahn. 

Frankfurter Tor Tower

Yesterday was the first time I saw people up there!!

Sidewalk progress

Have been working at home lately got a variety of reasons, so the sidewalk was yet again the most interesting thing to photograph.

Just under my building, it looks fine but is still oddly roped off:

Further down on the next block, the sidewalk is still torn up.

Mini train

From yesterday, a short train. I'd seen these single car trains on the tracks, but this is the first one I saw at a station. 

I just checked, Jüterbog is 60km south of Berlin. 

Quick pictures

I took this poorly lit picture because there were flowers along the sidewalk, but with the sun there is no chance of seeing them.

I worked from home today, and David ordered me a surprise feast! 

Evolving street art

This is around the block from us - it's my third photo of this wall, but it seems to be constantly changing!

On our way home

We caught this statue outside Uppsala train station. We were running later than we thought - after this picture we almost missed our train to the airport! 

Missing Friday!

Either posting slipped my mind Friday, or I tried and failed. This street looked particularly Upsalla-ish to me (bonus point: find David):

And these sauces cracked me up.

Hack day

Instead of having a weekend, I participated in an astronomy hack day. We got together in a room and worked on daylong projects related to Astro! 

The venue was the astronomy deportment, apparently located near Uppsala science park.

Beach volleyball

Strangely enough, someone set up a beach volleyball court outside the conference center. 

Swedish Beer Tour

David and I went on a brewery tour yesterday. Like the best of tours, it was more of a tasting :-)

Three quick pics

Breakfast caviar (gross), conference venue, and lingonberry mojito! 

Uppsala in the evening

A pretty sunset that we caught just after dinner. The conference is great and busy!

From Uppsala, Sweden

First, scenery: 

And then, weirdly named candy:

Out and about

Today we saw one of David's friends play a gig (the bend is called Ray Man Three):

There was a really cool mural right next to them:

And on our way home I spotted these two:

And, the demise of the statue from a previous post (http://lifeadventuresandstars.blogspot.de/2016/04/ongoing-sculpture.html):

Half old house

Maybe it's tough to tell from the picture, but the house in the middle is old on the left and renovated on the right. Other than that, this is just kind of typical babelsberg!

Sidewalk construction continues

Despite mixed reviews, I've got another installment in the sidewalk series. This time, they were working on small paving stones. After hammering them in, they swept dirt over the entire thing to fill in the cracks.

And of course, then used the noisy mocking, aka vibrating compactor. 

The real point is, I think they are almost done!

Blurry train photo

The long train ride in to work is pretty scenic. I'd post pictures from it more often, but they often turn out like below, or worse.

I was hoping to show the tree painted on the opposite wall, but it's very tough to see. I guess I should have checked this picture and taken a new one.