Hello all,
I've finished my week at the African museum in Tervuren. I think it went well; there were no problems with the ShapeCam & I got through a lot of chimps. I didn't get them all, but I got as much as I could.
On Saturday I got a ride from Carla to Gent. She insisted on stopping to show me the Atomium at the edge of Brussels. It was built in 1958 for the World Fair; it's a model of an iron molecule, enlarged 165 billion times. She remembers when it was built & she stll goes a little nutty over it. It's very shiny & it's very big. Here's a photo:
Gent was very pretty. Gent had churches, cobblestone streets, a river -- it even had a little castle right in the middle of the city.
I wandered around for a few hours, then took the train up to Antwerp. Antwerp was cool. It's bigger than Gent, but just as pretty with more churches, more cobblestone streets, big historic squares, statues, waffle stands, etc. (I think there's got to be some kind of potent waffle-pheromone that they pump into the street from these stands, so that when you smell the waffles, you think: MUST EAT WAFFLE NOW.)
Yesterday I wandered around Brussels. Saw the Grand Place & the little Mannekin Pis fountain that's so famous:
Can you see the orange ad on the wall next to the fountain? It's for the "Chocolaterie Mannekin Pis", which makes perfect sense to me, because there's nothing that makes me crave chocolate more than a urinating child.
I'm enjoying the calm of staying in one place for more than a few days because I think it's going to get crazy later on. I've added a few more stops to my schedule. I 'm going to go to Stuttgart now (between visits to Lèige and Munich) to see the Steinheim skull, and I was given permission to see the fossils at the Musée de l'Homme in Paris! Sandrine has offered to act as my temporary advisor while in Paris & supervise my visit to the museum. Yay! (But that won't be until the very end of my trip. Quite possibly the day before I fly home.) London also finally got back to me & I'm trying to schedule a visit to the Natural History Museum during the 1st week of May.
On Friday I'm going to Paris for the wknd to visit with Sandrine & Téa. Museums (at least the research labs) are closed on the weekend, so I have no choice. I can't work, so I must go to Paris. You gotta do what you gotta do.
posted by Jodi @ 8:44 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Of course! In Belgium everyone has their chimps with mayo :)
What great adventures you are having! I am so so happy you are going to Paris. Climb the Notre Dame, its the best. Everybody wants to climb the Eiffel Tower, but you can't see the Eiffel Tower from the Eiffel Tower. Oh, and go see the Fountaine de Medicis in the Luxembourg Gardens. While you're in that neighborhood, get yourself something nice in Etam (a store along the Blvd St. Michel). And get some lunch at Pains de Paris (somewhere on Rue Gay-Lussac). Oh, I miss Paris so much that it hurts! Have a good time there for me, while I am in cold, windy Illinois preparing for pre-lims.
Melissa you'll do great on your prelims! (When are they? Will I miss the party? I hope not!)
I'm excited to just walk around Paris -- it's been 6 years since I was last there. I just want to sit in a nice Parisian café & drink good coffee!
I saw my first real Neandertals this morning (the 2 Spy crania.) It was the coolest thing - I still can't believe it :)
Oh, and Melissa? You're panicking.
Stop panicking.
Jar!
Go say hi to Jim Morrison for me, if they're letting people back there nowadays.
Sounds like you're having a fabulous time and that this is the funnest diss data-gathering trip ever! Maybe while you are in DC measuring stuff you can give us a talk and show us all the cool data you've collected already.
Melissa! You will do great at your prelim defense, just picture them all naked wearing black trouser socks. Actually, maybe don't do that :)
Ha ha ha ha. I think picturing my pre-lim committee naked (wearning black socks) would probably make me throw up. Jodi, the party will be April 28 (if i pass that is), so unfortunately you will still be shape-camming. We will have another party when you get back, for sure.
Be careful in Paris; all sorts of riots going on over there!
Negro, I hope you get over your sickness soon. Did you eat some of the living beans in Jodi's fridge?
Negro! Don't eat the beans!
And be careful, if you get too close, they might eat you!
Jer, how can I possibly give a talk in which I may have to say "shapesnatcher" in front of you, Barth & Brian?!
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