Monday, December 31, 2007

Photos from the Trip to Rome, Italy (Dec 2007)

Michael (Papa) Johnson, fellow Beta Theta Pi (BH 1358) and Senior Skulls (Class of '97) alumnus, flew over to spend a few days in Stockholm before and after our trip to Rome, Italy.

As usual, don't hesitate to let me know what you think! You can access the full-size uncompressed images by clicking on the link to the right.

We started with the Spanish Steps. Mercedes-Benz seems to have a lot of advertising in high profile tourist areas. They also had a few billboards at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin.













Next stop was Trevi Fountain. As suggested by local lore, if one throws coins over their left shoulder into the fountain, they're ensured a return trip to Rome. We were believers so we threw a few Euros in. Every morning, over 3000 EUR are removed from the fountain and used to run a food pantry for Rome's needy. Which makes sense, because we arrived early and the fountain was more or less devoid of any coinage.











Before we traveled to Rome, we heard that scooters were used everywhere, but we were still shocked by the sheer number in use. Here are two photos depicting the narrow streets full of scooters.





We weren't paying attention and ended up at the Piazza del Popolo while trying to get to the Pantheon. It was a very nice detour! However, in the first photo it looks like someone stole the soldier's swordblade.









We did finally arrive at Pantheon and we were quite impressed with it's stature. It's very hard to believe that it was built without a specific purpose in mind.











Our next destination was the Colosseum. Luckily, the Metro exit led straight to the site. We agreed that it must be one of the best exits to an Metro station in the world.

From the outside:









From the inside:











These were taken on Palentine Hill (the mythical origin of Rome).













These final few are from the Roman Forum

















Friday, December 14, 2007

Swedish TV Footage of the Research Group

Nobeldagen (The Nobel Day) was Dec 10th.

A TV crew interviewed Gunnar (Chair of the Nobel Committee in Chemistry) and shot some footage of us inside the lab. I am the tall dorky guy waving at the end!

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Research Group Christmas Party (Dec 2007)

A few people have wanted to see photos of the research group.

It's an eclectic group with a mix of nationalities. Swedish, Finnish, Swiss, Korean, Portuguese, Italian, South African, Australian, and of course, American. I'll let you figure out everyone's nationality.

















Trip to Kraków, Poland (Nov 2007)

I recently traveled to Kraków, Poland to celebrate my previous roommate's defense of her dissertation. It was an excellent trip, both the people and the city, and I hope to return as soon as possible!

While I was there, I had a chance to walk around Market Square in the city center. One of the most fascinating things about the city is the remaining fortifications. The city is still surrounded by the original wall.





















I added this one to demonstrate how different Polish is from English or Swedish. The sign depicts the parking ordinances for Zone A (Market Square).

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Trip to Täby Sweden (Nov 2007)

We recently took a short daytrip to Täby Centrum and Täby Kyrkby with one of our colleagues that lives there.

Right before the visit, I bought a new camera lens (Nikkor 50mm/f1.8). The great news is that the lens is very, very sharp. The bed news is that I need some more practice using it because I have been using a 28-90mm zoom. The picture quality is much much better than the old lens, but it requires much more patience to use correctly.



The next few are of Täby kryka, which was built in the 13th century.







Scattered through Sweden are several hundred, and possibly even thousands, of runes that depict Viking lore. The church has one integrated into its outer wall.



Here are two of the colleagues: Daniel Mattle (Switzerland) and Karl "Muscles" Enquist (Sweden).





Muscles lives on the 14th floor which has quite a nice view of the surrounding area.



He was even nice enough to cook us dinner! Meatballs, what else would one expect from a Swede?!?