Did Someone Say Look Up?!?!?!

The year was 1530 and the Bebenhausen Monastery ceiling needed a little bit of primitive painted sunshine.  This is what they got :)

Pikes R Us

Visited a military museum in Germany when I was traveling around with my parents. Not usually my cup of tea, but dad wanted to go and it was interesting. This is set of old pikes on display and I liked the shadows. However, if you look closely at them you can see that they are well used. Yuck! ;)

Butter or Parquet?!?!

Here is a bit of fun with patterns! When visiting Munich, Germany I swung by the Residenz Munchen which is palace of the old Bavarian monarchs. There were many a goopy decoration as one would expect in a palace but I was especially struck by the parquet floors throughout the palace. Each room was done in a different pattern of inlaid wood. Some were a bit busy for my taste if I were to try to live with them, but the craftsmaship was impressive to say the least.

Ppfffttt!

Hanover, Germany in June of 2005--I found this sculpture just outside of city hall--I think it sums up many a political battle very nicely :)

The Window to Nowhere

While traveling around in Europe I became obsessed with windows for a while. Each country has such different architectural styles and the winds seems to reflect that. This little door/window was taken in Germany. I love the lines of the 1/2 timbering surrounding the window. It has a very primitive/earthy feel to it.

The Universality of Nerdvana

Just a quick note today between meetings and office hours :) It is good to know, sometimes, just how universal Nerdness can be! When in Munich in August of 2005 I visited the Deutsches Museum (Official name:Deutsches Museum von Meisterwerken der Naturwissenschaft und Technik) which is the largest science and technology museum in the world. Founded in 1903 this one is a biggie! There are a lot of interesting exhibits, including many on the technology side, especially in manufacturing and farming. But there is plenty of pure science as well and there was a demonstration of Tesla experiments at one point. Photographing lightening is a bit tricky at times, but fun to try! In this example the lightening is confined to a large (~10 foot across) square of glass. It danced across the glass for a few seconds so I was able to snap a couple shots. It was amazing to hear and, actually, smell. You could definitely small the ozone that resulted--not sure what ozone smells like? Go smell the room a high powered photocopier is in after it works on a big job!