Grünes Gewölbe - 28.9.12

I spent the morning at the Fraunhofer building learning more about the PLC interface and how I can work on it for the next few months.  There was a student who was finishing an internship, so we took a little break and had some plum cake and some poppy seed cake.  We ate lunch at one of the Dresden University of Technology's cafeterias.  It's a really nice university, but it still has an East German feel.

Afterwards, I went to the grüne Gewölbe, August the Strong's treasury.  It was very impressive.  A lot of work went into making the art there.
I'm going to bed early again.  I've got a big day tomorrow.

Dresden - 27.9.12

This morning I got up early, ate breakfast, and walked over to the Fraunhofer building by the Technical University of Dresden where I spent most of the day learning about  Stephan Seidel's PLC interface that I'm going to be working on.  It felt a little bit like Los Alamos to be checked into a research facility, but the rectangular East German architecture with long plain corridors felt like I was in a communist country.  On the way home, I saw the ideal woman and I was bold enough to take a picture of her.  She's tall, and she seems like a hard worker to me.

I walked through a large park that had a kids' railroad complete with miniature train stations and working railroad crossing signs.  Then I went across the river to Neustadt to see a show that was kind of like the German version of Flight of the Conchords.  It was a lot of fun, but now I'm going to bed late.

To Dresden - 26.9.12

This morning I got up before sunrise and took the early train from Hamburg to Dresden. It took a few hours, but I got to Dresden with about half a day to look around. I started by touring what I thought was the treasury of Augustus the Strong, but it turned out to only be his palace and collections of medieval and renaissance art, porcelain, and armour. I'll have to see the treasury some other time.

I walked around the baroque part of town. I ended up buying the Italian shoes I was looking at before. I saw some interesting things,

and I saw some interesting people. This is my first blog video:

I actually did a lot of walking around town. It's a beautiful place. I watched a hot air balloon fly by. It seemed to fit in. I like the view from the bridge.

There are some interesting people here. Now I'm going to go to bed a little early. I didn't get much sleep last night, and tomorrow I'm going to learn about my main project I'm working on while I'm here.

Working From Home - 25.9.12

Since Ralf is in Ireland, he said I could work from home, so I spent most of the day in my apartment, which has been transformed into yet another window office. I'm wearing my new pants and black socks. I am in Europe, after all.

I actually got a lot done. I figured out how to work with all this javascript nonsense we've been doing at work, and now I think I'm almost ready to train a few people who have requested training on javascript customization.
I took a few nice breaks and walked to "downtown" Quickborn. The first time I went to look at some nice Italian shoes I might buy, and the second time I looked at the train schedule for tomorrow.

Hamburg - 24.9.12

There's nothing like a good english muffin in the morning spread with butter and rape flower honey, or canola honey as I like to call it.
I worked in Kaltenkirchen again today. Ralf's out of town and he said I could work from home, but I needed to figure out how to set up a mercurial repository server, so I went in and got it working. I answered the business phone when it range once, but it was some question about payment, so I told them just to email Ralf. After lunch I headed to Hamburg. This time I got off the train where there's actually something happening.

I bought some pants and a new wallet, both of which I have been needing for a while. I went to find my class, and it turns out my class starts next Tuesday, which kind of messes up my schedule. I'm going to have to miss a few classes, once for the Winter Simulation conference and once for the Linux/open source conference, but I think it'll be worth it.
In the trains I'm reading a German novel about Carl Friedrich Gauss and Alexander von Humboldt. It's interesting, and it stretches my German understanding skills.

Fock - 23.9.12

This morning I went to church by bus. Immediately after church, we took a train to Glückstadt to go see Nicolay Fock, one of my mission companions. His sister is in my ward, so she knew how to get there. We had lunch and walked around the city. We walked along the dike to go to a senior center to go visit his grandfather. Then I took the train and bus home. It took the whole day, but it was good to reconnect.

Ward Activity - 9.22.12

Today is not only the day of the less-vernal equinox of the year, but it is also the day that my less-old sister becomes less-young.  That hasn't happened on the same day since 2009.  Happy birthday Sarah!
Today started out gloomy, but it became less so as the day went on.

I took the bus to the church in Pinneberg where we had a ward activity.  There were various exercise classes, and I haven't felt so weak in a long time.  We learned a bit about nutrition, and I learned a lot of vocabulary about nutrition.  Then we had a nutritious lunch of carrot/potato soup and bread with avocado/boiled egg spread.  It was actually quite tasty.  I had a good chance to get to know a lot of people. It seems like everyone I met was either a computer programmer or part of the Stank family.
I got home and didn't have any plans, so I went fishing with my Serbian roommate for the evening.

Kind of a Boring Day - 21.9.12

Today at work I was trying to set up a mercurial server and while downloading Ubuntu I noticed that Canonical is having a technology conference in Copenhagen in a few weeks. I have that day free and it's only a couple hours away, so what the heck--I'm going! I registered and everything. I'm so excited! Yes, I'm officially a nerd now.
I read a little javascript, had lunch, wrote a little javascript, and went home. Now it's Friday night and I don't have anything to do. I don't know anyone. Those of you who know more than a few people within a couple hundred kilometers should count yourself lucky. But my class in Hamburg starts on Monday, so I'll keep making friends.
I did meet my other roommate, though. He's from Pakistan, so we have quite an international apartment. He seems to prefer speaking English. He works in computer chip design, so maybe we'll talk about the latest in photolithography sometime. He's hardly ever around, though.

das Leben geht weiter

It was a little hard to get up this morning since I was out so late last night, but I made it to work almost on time. It's quite flexible, though. A client near Bielefeld had sent some specific things he wants to learn when I go down there, and some of the things still need to be developed, so I worked on that all day, except for when we had lunch. It seems to be an everyday thing to have lunch with the Grubers when the kids get home from school.
I realized that for the first time in my life I have a window office.

I hurried home a little early because I had an important skype call at 11:30 California time, and I didn't realize that California is an hour behind Utah and New Mexico instead of an hour ahead, so I had 2 hours to make dinner and chill. I skyped with Sarah and Joshua to test the connection and pass some of the time, and it was nice to see them.

Institut - 19.9.12

This morning I went to work and sent off a bunch of government paperwork to get my visa and to get my absentee ballot to vote for the next president of the United States, or for his rival.  Then I actually started doing a little work just in time to pack up and leave.  Off to institute in Hamburg!  I took the train there, met a few people, and rode back with some new friends.

Waiting - 18.9.12

I just got back from a little walk where I saw a hedgehog.  It reminded me of the first time I saw a hedgehog.  The German I was with said, "Look--it's an eagle!"  German word of the day: Hedgehog - Der Igel.
This morning I got up and called the Ausländerbehörde, the office that issues visas, or Aufenthaltstitel.  I absolutely need to get a visa, because I can only stay 90 days as an American tourist.  They gave me two extensions, and I left messages and continued to call them every 15 minutes until 2:00PM.  I got the information I need, and I'll apply for a visa tomorrow.  What a great day.  I walked around a little, went shopping, skyped with Chelsea, watched some TV, and did some leisure programming to pass the time.  Then I had an important skype call.

German Bureaucracy - 17.9.12

No shofars today, but it was a new start for me.  My internship has officially started.  It was kind of a slow start, though.  I got up and went to the train station to buy a monthly pass, but the Hamburg transportation system won't sell you a Monatskarte unless they put it in a little envelope with a passport picture in it.  Oh, and of course they don't accept my BYU ID card as proof that I'm a student.  So I had to wait until a photography shop opened, pay for four passport pictures, and then pay the full price to have them put a ticket that doesn't have my name on it into an envelope that also doesn't have my name on it, but it certainly has my picture and a serial number.

I finally got to Kaltenkirchen and I found my office. My coworker Ralf gave me a tour of the office building aka his house. The office is in the top floor, and it's quite nice. We went over the schedule for the next few weeks, he made some phone calls, and I installed a bunch of software on my work computer. When his kids got home from school, we all had lunch together. I took the train back to Quickborn and registered my residence with the government and got a little piece of paper with a stamp on it. Hooray!

Gemeinde Pinneberg - 16.9.12

I got up this morning and took the bus to church in Pinneberg. Somehow, there are stops on the same bus right outside of my apartment and right outside the church, so I only have to walk a few steps. I got out of the bus and started walking directly away from the church until I heard someone shouting "Alex!" Somebody knew I was coming. I thought I wouldn't know anyone in my ward, but as it turns out, there's a guy from my mission in my new ward: Tibor Franke. After church, a family invited me over for lunch. The missionaries and a few other people from the ward were there. We had burritos and got to know each other a little better.
When I got home, I decided to take a walk around Quickborn to get to know the area better. I sure am in a little village in the middle of nowhere, but I love it.

The only thing I found that is interesting is a 3500 year old grave hill like the one I saw a few years ago in Glauburg. Believe it or not, it looks like an old little hill. When I got home from my walk I found out that I can still watch the Colbert Report in Germany, which is great news about a great news show.
Work starts tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

To Hamburg - 15.9.10

This morning we got up really early, and Paul brought us to the Frankfurt airport, where I sent my parents home on an airplane and got on a train to Hamburg. It was nice to watch all the little villages from the train while listening to some music. I was picked up at the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof by my coworker Ralf Gruber and taken to my new apartment in a little village north of Hamburg called Quickborn. I finally unpacked after living out of a suitcase for a whole month, then I had dinner with my new roommate and his kids. They're from Serbia. I went shopping and watched some German TV this evening. It's been a long time since I just had time to watch TV.

Ronneburg - 14.9.12

We awoke to a wonderful German breakfast with rolls, cheese, meat, and fruits. We then borrowed the Baumanns' bikes and rode them across rolling fields. I had ridden bikes along these fields many times as a missionary, and it was wonderful to bike across them again. Riding with my parents is a little slower than riding with another 20-year-old, but we got all the way to the Ronneburg. We were late for the falconry show, but we walked around and saw a few birds from outside the wall. We walked around the castle and saw all the castleish things. Then we biked back. We had dinner with the Baumanns again--potato dumplings, pork, and sauerkraut. It was the first time I have ever liked sauerkraut.

Back to Germany - 13.9.12

This morning we took a shuttle to the Milan airport, then an airplane to Frankfurt. I'm glad to be back in Germany. I had left a bag with the Merstrands full of things I didn't need for these three weeks, so I picked that up. We bought a few things in downtown Frankfurt, then took a train to Gelnhausen. Sister Baumann from the Hanau ward had invited us to stay with them, and Brother Baumann picked us up from the Gelnhausen Bahnhof on his way home from work. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and talked for a while. I like teasing the Baumann kids. Sister Baumann was directing choirs this evening, so we didn't get to see her very much.

Milan - 12.9.12

This morning we got up and went to see some palace in Genoa, but it wasn't very impressive, so we didn't go in. We got on a train to Milan, and when we arrived there was a band playing to welcome us. There was also an Italian celebrity arriving and lots of people taking pictures of him.
We took the subway and walked to the church next to where da Vinci painted the Last Supper, but we couldn't get tickets. Everybody painted the Last Supper, though, so we went and saw some other paintings, including a couple Last Suppers. It was raining most of the day, for the first time on our trip. I feel like I missed the London experience going to London without it raining. Anyway, we also saw the Milan cathedral, which is simply gigantic. Then we had an adventure trying to find our hotel. Here we are. Off to bed.

More Riviera - 11.9.12

Today was quite similar to yesterday.  We got up late and took a train east, this time to Cinque Terre. We swam in the Mediterranean. I cut my foot on a rock, so I watched our bags on the beach. Who knew there are rocks in the Mediterranean?

My fake Italian accent isa getting good, but I still can't speak a word of Italian. Spanish is understood a little more than English. I look forward to returning to the German-speaking part of Europe in a few days.
In the evening we walked along the cliffs and watched a peaceful sunset over the ocean.

The Riviera - 10.9.12

This morning we took it easy and slept in until about noon. Then we took a train down the coast a few kilometers to Portofino and walked around. We saw an old fortress on the hill. I swam a little in the Italian Riviera. We saw nice Italian villages along the coast. It was a peaceful day.

We took a train back to Genoa and had pasta at a little Italian restaurant by our hotel, followed by some Gelato. Yum!

Cacciarasca - 9.9.12

We went to church this morning with the Genoa ward.  We got there just in time for the sacrament.  A girl translated the meeting into English for us.  She was a missionary in Washington D.C. with the Packs from White Rock, NM.  Small world.
We rented a car and headed for the hills.  We went up to the mountains by Parma.  We had some really good Parmesan cheese.  I guess any cheese in Parma is Parmesan.  But the reason we were going there is to visit the home of my mother's (and my) ancestors: a little town called Cacciarasca.  It's only a few houses and a church, but her Italian great-grandmother told her about it when she was a child.  We think we found the house she lived in because it looks old, it has a lower level for animals, and there aren't many houses in the village, but the locals seemed to be saying that all of the Pizzagonis have moved away or died.  We were lucky to find a few people that spoke some English, and one guy spoke a little German.  I overheard him singing the German national anthem as he got into his car.
The locals also told us that the mushroom festival in Albareto is this evening, so of course we had to go.  It's not every day that you get to go to a mushroom festival.  We went and found them serving mushroom-based dishes, so we ordered some.

We drove back and got stuck in a traffic jam. There sure are a lot of tunnels here. We dropped off the rental car at the airport and took a taxi back. The taxi driver drove so fast the wheels squeaked, ran 2 red lights and a stop sign, and whistled "Yankee Doodle".

To Italy - 8.9.12

This morning we got up early and took the bus to the Geneva airport where we bought tickets to Genoa.  We had some time, so we took naps in a park next to lake Geneva.  Then we took a long train to Milan and transferred to a train to Genoa.  We sat next to some other American tourists and some friendly Italians along the way, and we saw cool terraces in the alps.  We even had some time to grab an ice cream cone in Milan, but I didn't see the Milan cathedral anywhere near the train station.  I guess it's not Cologne.  We wandered around Genoa with our suitcases trying to find our hotel, and we had a lovely pizza dinner with some strange cheese that feels like marshmallows in my mouth.

French Wedding - 7.9.12

This morning we got up early, my dad returned the rental car, and we took a bus over to Thoiry, where we waited around for a little over an hour until many well-dressed French people started to show up at the town hall. We were all gathering for the wedding of Simon and Camille Cosentino. Simon and I were missionaries together a few years ago, and I happened to be in Europe during his wedding, so we thought we'd go. Of course, the whole thing was in French, but it was beautiful even without understanding the words. We all went into the town hall where many French words were spoken and a few oui's, then they signed a piece of paper with many more French words on it. Then we threw confetti at them and went over to the church, where many more French words were spoken. There were many yummy French hors d'oeuvres, which is the best kind of hors d'oeuvres. They're off to the temple in Switzerland tomorrow.

Now we're going to wash laundry, buy train tickets, and plan the rest of my parents' trip.

The Alps - 6.9.12

This morning we rented a car and headed for the alps.  We drove by a city of Interlaken, which is in one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen, with glaciers, two alpine lakes, and mountains surrounding it.  We were on our way to a spot just past Interlaken called Reichenbach Falls.  Our Sherlock Holmes tour didn't end when we left England--this is the location of his "death".  There was even a note to Dr. John Watson at the top.  Arthur Conan Doyle came here on vacation and decided to kill his character by pushing him off the cliffs to the left of the falls.  We tried the same thing, but it's a lot harder with the hand rails.

We drove through Bern and saw the temple in Zolikofen, ate at Aldi, and now we're heading back to our hotel in Geneva.  It's been a wonderful day, except for the traffic on the way home.

Geneva - 5.9.12

I had a headache today, so it wasn't as much fun as it could have been, but the cool breeze off Lake Geneva was nice. The water is very clear. We saw the visitors' center at the large hadron collider, but they won't let me in until I am a visiting professor. But we walked around and saw the reformation monument and split a small pizza for 18 swiss francs.  It was the cheapest thing we could find to eat in the city by far. We walked over the swiss border to our hotel. It looks like there used to be a barricade, but now it's an open border with no checks.

To Geneva - 4.9.12

Today we got up and took a train to Gatwick airport where we got on an airplane to the Geneva Aeroport. We took a taxi to our hotel, which is in France just across the street from Switzerland. Now I have dollars, pounds, euros, and Swiss francs in my wallet. We ate at a little restaurant in town with a friendly man from Morocco working there. Then I bought a liter of fresh milk from a vending machine. Yum!

Kent - 3.9.12

This morning we went down to Kent to see Winston Churchill's house. It was closed Mondays and Tuesdays, so we found that Charles Darwin's house is also in the area. It was also closed Mondays and Tuesdays, and it has probably changed since Darwin lived there, especially the plants and animals. So we found that a little wildlife preserve was nearby, so we went and did some British bird watching. I saw a bee, too.

We took the train up to London, where things are still open. We went to the national gallery and saw original paintings by Rembrandt, Picasso, Monet, and many other masters. I thought it was interesting that the light in Rembrandt's "Woman Taken in Adultery" is almost entirely on the woman, and not on Jesus. Anyway, we ate at a Spanish restaurant and walked back to our hotel. Good night.

London - 2.9.12

This morning we got up and went to church in Hyde Park chapel. Somehow the church got some land right next to a bunch of big museums, and we built a nice chapel there. After church I saw an enigma machine given to Alan Turing and a bunch of fancy art. Then we went to evensong in St. Paul's cathedral. We had some pizza and headed back to our room. I'm really tired, so we're going to bed early.

Tower, Sherlock - 1.9.12

This morning we met up with Ville Voutilainen, one of my mission companions from the MTC who is studying in London. We went to the Tower of London, where we saw the Great Star of Africa, a 530 carat diamond. No big deal. I'll buy something like that for some girl someday. But after seeing all kinds of medieval armor and a few torture devices and talking to beef eaters, we went to the Sherlock Holmes museum at 221B Baker Street, which didn't exist back in the good ol' days when Sherlock was "alive". But in spite of that, I read a few pages about beekeeping from the book on his night stand, sat in his Victorian study and thought great thoughts, as you can see here: