Random Picture Time

Its Friday and I'm tired of working for the week. So here are a few pictures for you to look at. The picture above is of me and a few of my classmates at Convocation. Convocation was in early June. I really don't know what date it was, but I was there, See. Well at least I didn't steal someone's body like Jeff did (Mike use to be on the far left, apparently). I only copied a body and pasted it. (thanks Pete)

These are a few of my co-workers here at Uni. Stuttgart. There are also a few visiting students from Holland and a few Professors in there too. It was taken in front of our building after a super-high-level-graduate course that I sat in on for a week. Right after this they brought out food and beer for us, like they seem to do on every occasion possible. There is a party whenever someone new arrives, and when someone leaves which is understandable. But the other day they celebrated someone being half finished, which I thought to be a stretch. Meh, Whatever.

Anyways, I'm headed to Berlin this weekend. I've been reading up and it sounds like its going to be a great time. I'm taking one of the Super-Super fast trains on the way there. It only takes 5 hours and I think it travels about 750km. I could work out the average speed of that journey for you, but I'd rather not look like a total nerd. I will tell you, however, that I shattered my land-speed-by-car record last weekend with my roommate on the way home from Karlsruhe. I won't divulge any details but I can tell you that it started with a 1, ended with a 5 and the middle was a 9. That's right Sherlock Holmes; my roommate got his 2004 VW Golf up to 195km/hr on the Autobahn. I think the previous record was probably 150k with James McLaughlain's Dad in 2003 on the 401 when we were late for a soccer game in Isslington. The Porsche that passed us was going way over 200k though and it was out of sight before I could take a picture. Apparently 195 isn't all that fast for the Autobahn.

This weekend I will probably break my land-speed-by-train record on the way to berlin. There seems to be a train heiracrhy here and the more letters or words in the name, the faster they go. The RZ (Regional Zug) only go about 150k, The IC (Inter-City) can reach maybe 200. The ICE (Inter-City-Express, shown above) I've seen reach 304, which is my current land-speed-by-train record. The Super-Super fast train, the ICE-Sprinter that goes to Berlin can reach 330-350k. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiii, thats what I always yell when we get up to speed, it really impresses first class passengers, haha, j/k.

Heidelberg and Karlsruhe

This weekend I went to Heidelberg with my roommate Garrit. He lives in a small town called HaBloch (the B is actually a beta symbol and is pronounced like a double s) which is near Mannheim, which is also near Heidelberg. We went to his parents house on Saturday for lunch (actually more like a feast than a lunch) which was very nice. His parents don't speak english very well, but I think they were happy that I was there. They asked me to say my best german sentance and then laughed when I said "Austig Im Factrichtung Links" which means "Exit the train on the left side in the direction of travel." Yeah, I guess I've taken a lot of trains.

In the Afternoon we took the S-Bahn (Communter train) to Heidelberg and toured the Schloss (castle) and the old town. My co-workers told me that Heidelberg is always full of American tourists, and its totally true. I'm really not sure why but Americans tend to shy away from the cities in the east, like Liepzig and Dresden. There is a big american army base in Heidelberg, so maybe they feel safe with all their WMDs close by. Heidelberg is actually the base that the B2 and B52s take off from when the US is bombing its favourite locations in Afganistan and Iraq. We had a great night out in Heidelberg and took the last train back to HaBloch and went to a disco where a bunch of Garrit's friends were. He knows a bunch of people that are preformers in the waterski show at the amusment park nearby. They were all Canadians and Americans. One of the guys was from peterborough. I think we got in at 5am but I don't completely remember.
On Sunday we stopped at "Das Fest" in Karlsruhe on the way home. It was basically a big outdoor music festival. We heard that it might be fun because there were 20 000 people expected. We got their mid afternoon and saw a crazy band from Spain who reminded me of Sublime. They had a trombone player who was thoroghly entertaining and acted like a backup dancer when he wasn't playing. He would go nuts and play air guitar on the trombone during the heavy parts of the song and then disassemble his trombone and wave it around while he danced.

It started to get really packed by the time the headlining band started. It was such a nice day and I think they underestimated the draw of the band. The park that "Das Fest" was in probably could have comfortably fit about 30 000 people, but I think 40+ showed up to see "Die Fantastischen Vier (The Fantastic Four.) The Fanta Four were one of the original hip-hop groups in Germany back in 1986. I believe they are from Stuttgart and they sound a lot like the Beastie Boys, except better.

People went nuts when they came on. Garrit knew all the words and so did most of the people around us. They had some sweet songs: One mentioned Stuttgart several times, there was also one about a picnic which was quite funny. The video "Troy" above was one of the big crowd pleasers and shows their sweet background beats.

Belgium

In Belgium I stayed in a town called Brugges (pronounced kinda like Bruise, but a "g" instead of s) It was an hour train ride west of Brussels and about 20mins from the beach. Brugges is actually a town that was founded in the 12th century. Now it has a mix between historical buildings and touristy shopping streets. Brugge claims to be the Venice of the north because of its elaborate canal system which is actually pretty cute, but the smell is horrible.
Brugges has a few other claims to fame: In one of the churches there is a cylinder of blood that was carried on the crusades way back in the day because it is said to be from Jesus. This church was coincidentally named the "church of the holy blood." The Cylinder is paraded around town once a year in a big festival. I fortunately missed this day, I was grossed out by the story and really didn't want to see the cylinder. I did go to see the most famous thing in Brugge though. The "Madonna and child" by Michelangelo is displayed in one of the Churches. It is one of the few Michelangelo sculptures that isn't in Italy. I was purchased by two Brugge merchants in the 1500s and amazingly was returned to the church twice after being looted by french revolutionaries and the Nazis.

I really have no clue why there is water coming out of this mermaid's boobs. It may have some historical significance that I laughed through. Brugge was packed with British people, I think its a popular vacation spot. I met a bunch of people that braved the English chunnel to get there and again played the compass for a bunch of people who were lost or couldn't read the signs.

In the early afternoon on Saturday I grew tired of the Brugge tourist scene and went to the beach. I went to Oostende, a popular little port/beach town on the North sea. About 25-60 years ago, when my mom was in Belgium this is where an old man came up and thanked her for Canada's help in the Second world war. Although I did not swim (it was kinda windy and cold) I did have a nice day at the beach.

Highlights from the beach included:
- The massive parachute type kites that lift people off the ground.
- The windsurfers and Kite-surfers who kept getting lines crossed and bumping into each other.
- The super-cheap grocery store that I found.
- The cute little crabs that were getting washed around in the tide.
- The killer sunset (shown above)

On Sunday I spend the day in Brussels, One of the great cities of the world and home of the European Union. My navigational skills were really tested, but I definitely got my 4 euro worth out of my daily transit pass. Brussels is a really cool city and I wish I could have spent more time there. Full of palaces, statues, and sites where extraordinary historical events took place. Like Waterloo, where Napoleon met his Waterloo (haha) about 20k south of Brussels. Or one of the current high schools which was once a conference center where Einstein, Bohr and other Nobel prize laureates met to discuss the "new" quantum theory in the 1920s. The above picture is of the Cinquantenaire on the east side of the city. This Huge gate is in the middle of a beautiful urban park. All made possible by the highway bypass that runs under the city, and directly under the gates. (eat your heart out Boston, it didn't even cost 4 billion dollars)
The National Basilica of Belgium, the largest Church I've ever been in. It wasn't the fanciest and it was under renovation so all of the relics were covered, but the size of it is astounding. It took almost 70years to build (delayed by two world wars) and is the 5th largest church in the world. I couldn't find out how many people it holds, but I would estimate about 20 - 25 000 if you include the 2nd deck. Truly impressive.
Originally build only for the 1958 World Exhibition in Brussels, The Atonium exhibit had to be permanently extended because it was so popular. The 103m tall structure is complete with observation deck, museum, restaurant, and sleeping quarters for school groups. It is a truly unique part of the Brussels skyline and possibly the most out-of-place thing I've seen so far. Its actually modeled after an Iron Molecule (magnified 165 billion times), pretty sweet, in a nerdy kinda way.

Chris Always Runs into People He Knows

Ok, not that I'm a cool person or anything, (becuase I'm not) but I always seem to run into people that I know. When Dad and I went to NYC after my final exams I ran into my old supervising professor. It was 11:30 on a thursday night and Dad and I were waiting for a bus at the corner of 5th and 40-something. I looked across the street, "hey, that looks like Prof. Lindsay Anderson." and of coarse it was. I talked to her for a bit, she was just visiting NY with friends. Completely Random.

Last week, I got a message from a girl that I know that goes to the University of Ottawa. We went to student conferences together last year.
Heidi: "I was looking at your facebook pictures, are you in Stuttgart?"

Chris: "Yeah, I live in Stuttgart-Vaihingen for the summer. right near the University."

Heidi: "So do I, where do you live?"

Chris: "Thats incredible. I live at Allmandring 26D. Are you Stalking me?"

Heidi: "Haha, no. I'm working in Stuttgart for the Summer, I live in the residence next to you."

Completly Random.


Oh, and a couple weekend's ago I went to Noelle's Place in Germany and her kids were there... Who would have thought. completely random.

Yeah, the last one was stupid, but the other two are actually pretty crazy. I wonder who else I'll run into this summer ......

Vienna

I was in Vienna last weekend. I took the night train 11:30pm-9:00am, which was slightly convenient because it saved me a night in a hostel although it was actually a pretty slow train. Anyways, Vienna is possibly one of the most tourist oriented cities I've been to. I was really accessable and about 80% of the exciting things I had to see were located within a 3-5 block radius. Vienna revolves around the Hofburg Palace: The residence of the Hapsburgs. This picture shows one of the many wings that were added to the massive palace over the years.

Quick Hapsburg History Lesson: (some inaccuracies may exist, I'm an engineer, not a historian) The Hapsburgs were one of the houses that ruled in the Holy Roman Empire, which consisted of most of mainland Europe in the Middle ages. The details are incredibly complicated and there was a lot of inbreeding, but long story short, The Hapsburgs married royal families from all across Europe over a period of several hundred years and accumulated incredibly huge holdings of land and unimaginable riches in the process. Vienna's art, palaces, and jewels are the result of this growth. And it is beautiful. Shown above is the garden in the Summer Palace, the Schonburnn.

I visited the apartments (residence) of the Late Hapsburg emperors which display the lavish rooms and reflect their high-society lifestyles. Shown above is the Crown, Septor, and Cross of Rudolph II. which are only a small fraction of the wealth that is displayed in the Hapsburg Treasury museum, apparently one of the best on the continent.

Austria was once one of the strongest empires in the Europe, but that all ended at the start of WWI when Franz Ferdinand (a hapsburg emperor) was assassinated. The Grand Opera in Vienna, built by the emperor to entertain guests which I unfortunately could not attend. Opera and the Waltz are still "IN" in Austria, which is still holding on to its culture despite devastation in WWI and Literally not existing during WWII.
The eccentric youth of Vienna were holding a rather large but insignificant protest on Saturday by getting really drunk, taking off some of their clothes and blasting techno music in a parade around town. It was all really random and I later found out that they were protesting "Social Injustice." I just sat back and relaxed knowing that as and engineer I would never completely understand their point. I think it was just a big excuse to party and freak out tourists.

The Statue of Athena: One of about 50 Statues or fountains that I saw in Vienna. I think the nicest statue was Johann Strauss ( it was gold ). The Mozart was getting a lot of love from the tourists but I noticed that Sigmund Freud and Beethoven were getting no love. Probably cause the Beethoven was way out of the way, poor guy.

Vienna Rathaus, where they show movies every night on a huge screen. They've got bleachers and everything. I was pretty impressed. This is where I watched the Live Earth concert on Saturday night. Night Train home on Sunday night was pretty painful. It was late because it stopped in Salzburg for 3 hrs for some unknown reason. I wanted to get out and Frolic in the hills like the Von-Trapp children, but it was 4am and I was tired.

Bauigelfest (Builders Party) = Civil Engineering Party

Bauigelfest - Loosely translated, means Builders Fest. Essentially the 2nd year Civil Engineers hold a competition every year on the first Thursday of July. Teams from every Institute (department) on campus are invited to compete in little events and accumulate points. Some Professors participate and it has developed into a big rivalry between institutes. These are our two competitors (Anozie and Jochen) who came in second place. They won a Silver beer bottle with a digger on top, It is now proudly displayed in the staff room.

The competition is really an excuse to throw a huge party afterwards. They hold it in the open area in the middle of campus. In years past they have had up to 5000 people show up. The weather sucked this year so there were maybe 2000 people there. It was still a good time. These are a few of my co-workers. (From Left:Irana - from Russia, Bernd, Florian, and Wolfgang)

Jochen and Anozie also Volunteered to man the beer service for a few hours. I believe that this was just and excuse to serve beer for free to all their friends. Fortunately I was included in their circle of friends and was the recipient of several free drinks. Needless to say, it was a good party.

The party also extended into several of the surrounding buildings. One building had a disco, one had a band playing. I think that Germans are Obsessed with Johnny Cash. Its all that these guys played the whole night I think. Notice the out of place cowboy hat. also the Guitar player on the right didn't smile the whole time.

Weekend with the Cousins

I spent the weekend in Siegen, Which is about 250km North of Stuttgart. It was Erik's 7th Birthday. He had a number of friends over for a party on Saturday and they beat me at Soccer so I beat them up (I'm so much bigger than them, they didn't even have a chance, haha, j/k). I gave Erik soccer goalie gloves for his birthday. I was nervous about the size because I really had no clue how big a 7 year old's hands are. Luckily they fit. Bonus. They just happened to be his team colours too, also Bonus. We raced Erik's new RC car outside and he broke it (the day after he got it) We also set up a slot-car track. Robert and Erik have a sweet slot car track and a ton of cars which Robert tells me is a nerdy hobby, but it was cool to me. Does that make me a nerd?

I got a bunch of stickers for Anne-Marie. I figure you can never go wrong with stickers for a 4 year old girl. Anne-Marie is really funny because she doesn't like speaking English, so I really couldn't understand her most of the time. But I squeezed the odd English sentence out of her. Robert was also a good translator from the next room.
On Sunday we went cycling. The region that they live in has an annual festival where they shut down the autobahn (highway) over a 130km stretch. People cycle or Rollerblade from town to town along the autobahn and every town sets up food shops and stalls along the roadside. It was really an interesting event.

We were really slow at the start because Anne-Marie wanted to cycle and she has a very small bike for her very small legs. When she got tired she rode in the trailer on Robert's Bike with her bike tied to the back. Noelle also has a pole that comes off the back of her bike that can tow Erik's bike if he gets tired. They live at the top of a hill overlooking Siegen, so it was a fun ride down to the autobahn, but on the way back up I felt really bad for Robert who had a heavy load.

We stopped at their favourite Ice Cream shoppe near the end of our journey and had Spaghetti Ice cream. I think that Erik was a little disappointed that he was not allowed to get the Gigantic 6.70 euro plate of ice cream that I wouldn't have even been able to finish. Noelle and Robert let them eat a lot of sweets I noticed, but Tim and I were raised on chocolate and sugar as well, and we turned out OK (we think), so I say go for it.

I had to leave on Sunday night, and I came really close to being stranded at a train station. The first train that I got on in Siegen was late so I missed all of my connections and had to Freestyle my way home. Luckily my Rail pass allows me to use any train I want so it really wasn't that hard to get back to Stuttgart.

The people at work secretly think that I'm crazy because I travel so far every weekend. I guess Europeans aren't use to such long trips. Whereas a 5hr train ride for me really isn't that long. I've decided that every country has its own relative distances. (Eg. A long trip in Switzerland is 150km. A long trip in Germany is 300km. A long trip in Canada is 1500km or more.) So when you tell someone from a different area how far you are going they will think that you are crazy on their own individual length scale.

Stuttgart: During the Week

You may be wondering what I do during the week.

Sure, I go away on weekends, but do I hide in the office during the week?

No, Not all the time.

These are my roommates. Garred and Karlsten (sp). I actually have three, but these are the two that I hang out with. They work at Daimler-Chrysler in Stuttgart on an Internship-type thing. They speak english really well and are usually looking for something interesting to do at night. We frequent the weekly outdoor residence parties. At this particular party there was a sweet band playing. They were called the Dicken Kinder (The Fat Kids). They were a bunch of regular looking people that just went up on stage and played a bunch of killer covers.

The highlight of the night was when they broke out the always exciting "Dancing on the Ceiling" by Lionel Ritchie.

Munchen ( Munich )

Munich! Got a bunch of mixed reviews about it from people. Some said that if you were to see one city in Germany, Munich should be it. Others didn't really understand what the big deal was. I have "seen and done" Munich and formed my own opinion, It was without a doubt the best city I have been to so far. There was sooo much to do and see, It was actually more than I expected. In the background of this picture you can see Frauencirche (sp.), which is the stereotypical image of Munich with its double Domes. Frauencirche is also where the Josephe Ratzinger was Cardinal before he became Pope.

Munich was completely reduced to rubble in WW2, apart from these two Domes because they acted as perfect landmarks for bombing the rest of the city. Munich chose to rebuild the city after WW2 with the same street footprint. The restorations were not entirely completed until recently. Most of the restorations were made possible by Nazi Photographs that were taken before the war.

I was in Munich for two days and estimate that I walked about 35-40km. I saw ......................
The Glockenspiel (Large ChoCho Clock type thing)
The Hofbrauhaus (most famous beer hall in the world)
The Corner where the Beer-Hall Putsch occurred in 1923 (Hitler almost Died)
The Munich Equivalent of Rodeo Drive. (saw 17 Porsches in about 10 minutes)
The Bavarian Provincial Parliament (during a coincidental free open house)
The German Museum ( Kinda like the Smithsonian )

One of the Two Best things about Munich is the Huge Park that is located near the city center. The English Garden is like a garden of Eden in the middle of Munich. This standing wave is on the river that flows under the city and emerges at the east end of the English Garden. I now think that the inventor of Waverider owes his millions to Municipal engineers from Munich, because this was clearly his inspiration. The English Garden also has huge open areas where people play Football and Frisbee when they're not laying around with no clothes on. I also visited the Chinese Tower and sampled a litre of Munich's Finest.

The 2nd of Munich's greatest attractions was the 1972 Olympic Park. Architecturally Amazing and packed with people because of two events that were happening on the grounds. Toolfest Outdoor festival was going on in one of the open fields near the park. I could only describe it as a Beerfestival where they sell clothes and jewelry as well, I really didn't understand what the occasion was.

The 2nd event that was going on at the Olympic Park was the European Cup of Track and Field. I arrived at the stadium with about 30mins left and wasn't about to pay 9 euro to get in. I asked someone on the way out for their ticket and snuck into the stadium.

Olympic park in Munich is actually a beautiful space, which somehow surprised me. Maybe I've been jaded by Montreal's useless venues and huge debt. Munich has really made use of its facilities. The Olympic pool is used for public swimming and the other buildings were converted to aquariums, indoor soccer fields, and auditoriums. Also, The tower apparently has the best view of munich, although I didn't go up it. The Spider-Web suspension roof stuctures were definitely my favorite.

As a sidenote, I would like to thank Mrs. Pryma from grade ten CommTech class who taught me how to take decent pictures. I promise that If you are a tourist and give me your Camera I will take a better picture than this one.