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Month: June 2008

Beautiful Stockholm

Beautiful Stockholm

I’m in Stockholm for a conference (on boundary layers & turbulence) this week. It’s been a very busy week – the disadvantage of going to such a specialized conference is that I can’t really skip any sessions so I am usually around from 9:00 to 18:00 every day. I gave a talk yesterday, it went fine and it was a relief to have that done!

So there hasn’t been much time for sightseeing, and even most of the evenings were busy with receptions and conference dinners (at stunning locations!). Luckily the evenings are long – no midnight sun here, but it doesn’t get dark until midnight or so. Stockholm is an incredibly beautiful city! I’d love to spend more time here… The city is built on lots of islands, so there is a lot of water and ships everywhere, I love that. Here are some photos to give you an impression… they don’t really do the city justice though, as I have only been able to snap quick pictures while walking around town with a group of people.

Today is the last day of the conference, and it ends at about 15:00. So there finally is some time to see a bit more! I’m going to visit the Vasa Museum to see the ship that “sunk and then came up again” as my supervisor keeps calling it. Then I have to leave VERY early tomorrow (4 in the morning…) to fly to Geneva (through London). I’ll meet Paul there for the weekend, before he heads off to his paragliding course and I will go to a summer school in the French Alps. Busy busy… but enjoying myself!

Back in Tromsø

Back in Tromsø

Sorry for the long silence on this blog! Last Sunday, the KV Svalbard arrived back in Tromsø and Paul’s cruise is over now. I was supposed to fly here tonight, but I changed my ticket and arrived on Saturday instead. Paul knew nothing about this and it was fun to surprise him early Sunday morning – still asleep in his cabin, hehe.

They had an “open ship” on Sunday, for anyone interested in the ship or the science. The scientists presented what they had done on the cruise. Here’s Paul explaining how the Arctic Ocean works…

I was around for most of the day and later when I went home, I saw the ship going under the bridge on its way to the dock where they were going to unload the ship.

Tromsø has changed a lot since we were last here! Hardly any snow left except high on the mountains, trees are turning green and there are lots of flowers around. The weather has been sunny and warm as well, very nice! This was yesterday in the city centre…

I’m only here until Sunday morning, when I start my crazy tour of Europe – first a conference in Sweden, then 2 weeks of summer school in the French Alps and then a few days of holiday in Switzerland!! It will be very busy and lots of traveling, but I’m looking forward to it. Especially to being back in Switzerland (my favourite country!) – it’s been way too long since I was last there!

The midnight sun has arrived here so the days are very long. If the weather stays this nice, we’ll sure go for a couple of trips – as soon as the car is fixed! It’s been standing still for too long and the battery is completely flat. I’m going to buy a charger today so that should fix the problem. Hopefully more photos soon!