Category Archives: Arts

Europe!

I just got back (well, a week ago now) from a two week trip through Europe. The trip was actually a May Session Global Seminar offered through the University of Minnesota. The course was entitled “Mysteries of the Universe in the 21st Century.” Each link below goes to a gallery of pictures I took on the trip. All of the photos from the trip are on Flickr for your browsing pleasure.

To begin, we flew from Minneapolis to Detroit to Rome, and then spent 3 days in Rome sightseeing. After Rome, we stopped off in nearby Tivoli to tour Villa d’Este and Villa Adriana.

The next stop was the remote Assergi (l’Aquila) near Gran Sasso. Here we had some lectures given by researchers working in the nearby Gran Sasso Laboratory. Due to some political reasons and safety concerns, we were not allowed to tour the Gran Sasso Laboratory (which is located deep within the heart of the mountain, connected to one of the tunnels thru the mountain).

Leaving Gran Sasso, we took a bus to Florence for some more sightseeing. There was a little bit of class work when we toured the European Gravitational Observatory about an hour outside of town. The EGO is looking for gravity waves using a very large interferometer. Neat stuff, really.

After spending a few nights in Florence, we stopped for the afternoon in Pisa before continuing on to Torino. Torino was just a quick layover until we left promptly the next morning for the Laboratory in the Frejus Tunnel (you know, the one that’s closed now because of the fire that killed 2 people).

Next stop was the beautiful Geneva, Switzerland, where we stayed 4 nights to tour the nearby CERN research facilities. After the 4th night in Geneva, we drove to Montreaux located on the other side of Lake Geneva to tour an old castle, Chateau de Chillon.

We then took the TGV from Geneva to Paris, a trip which lasted about 3.5 hours. After spending 3 nights in Paris (so 2 full days of sightseeing), the trip ended and we flew home.

I’ll try to write more about my experiences when I get the chance.

Flickr Pro

I bought a Flickr Pro account a few days ago and went nuts uploading files, maxing out my 2GB limit for the month of April and using 10% of May’s allowance while uploading over 1700 pictures.

If you aren’t a friend or family, some 400 of those won’t be initially visible to you. If you are a Flickr user already, leave a message here and I’ll add you as a friend. If not, either leave your email and I’ll send you a password to get in, or sign up for Flickr and leave your screenname.

I’ve also put together about 30 photo sets that should be interesting to browse.

Durham & Boston

I just got back from the Women’s Hockey Frozen Four tournament held at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH. The Gophers won the national championship for the second consecutive year by beating Harvard 4-3.

I uploaded some pictures of Boston and Durham to Flickr. Enjoy.

3 Trips, 3 Weekends

This weekend will mark the 3rd consecutive weekend trip I’ve been on!

  • Chicago, Illinois: Visited Thursday thru Saturday for the Big 10 Men’s Basketball Tournament. I played in the pepband for the Gophers. We won our first game, but lost the second to Illinois.
  • South Bend, Indiana: Visited Notre Dame Wednesday thru Sunday to visit my girlfriend, Ann Marie. The trip went well. I especially enjoyed all the Irish flair on St. Patrick’s Day.
  • Durham, New Hampshire: Playing in the pepband for the Women’s Hockey Frozen Four. Go Gophers! We are flying out of Friday morning, returning Monday morning. I’ll let you know how it goes when I get back.