P6285972.JPGWe began the trip on a midnight bus from Bristol, with a few of us carrying colds in addition to our suitcases.
The 15th Eurographics Symposium on Rendering was held at the end of June 2005 in Konstanz, Germany (near the Swiss border). I traveled with Alan and his Bristol crew via London Stansted, after visiting my friends John in Leicester and Katerina in Brighton.
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We began the trip on a midnight bus from Bristol, with
a few of us carrying colds in addition to our suitcases.
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After transferring to a second bus at Heathrow airport,
we finally arrived at Stansted for our outbound flight
-- with just 4 hours to spare!
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Glad to finally be boarding a plane, the lot of us set
off for Konstanz, Germany.
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Our destination airport was Friedrichshafen, which translates
to "Fred's Shafen," I think.
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We had about an hour to kill before the bus would take
us on our final leg, so we got creative and decided
to eat and drink.
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The first (and smallest) of what would be many beers
to come.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Since no one part of the journey lasted more than a
couple of hours, we were all pretty beat by the time
we got there.
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Zzzzzzzzz....
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A fun and unexpected part of the bus ride was a short
trip on the ferry across the northern finger of Lake
Konstanz. (Our bus is the red one on the left.)
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The fresh air was most welcome.
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Everyone had their cameras out.
Photo by Richard
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I'm not sure what Richard was shooting behind Mashhuda's
back.
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Our first look at the city of Konstanz.
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We stayed at a German language immersion center called
the Humbolt Institute, which was a lot like a high-class
dormitory.
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The dining/commons area was very nice, when we were
allowed in it.
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As soon as we had our rooms, Alan led us the way to
the university. Notice how the grass is getting longer
and the trees thicker in the direction he chose for
us.
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Here's Alan helping Veronica up a steep bank while Mashhuda
holds onto him by his, uh, neck. Some of the students
were not too happy with the route, and had worn the
wrong flip-flops.
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At least there were some nice flowers along the way.
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And this old barn house (Farmbarnhousen).
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The main building of the university was a bit unusual,
defying German stereotypes.
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This fountain was particularly nice, I thought.
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The lecture hall where all the talks would be held.
KonstanzStairwell.tif
A high dynamic range image of the stairwell. (Grossendynamicrangefotografen)
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Kavita, the technical co-chair, speaking with Oliver,
the co-host of the rendering symposium this year.
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The early registration mob.
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All badged, we took a well-earned break. It was good
to see Erik, who was taking a summer sabbatical in Rennes,
France at the time.
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We went back the way we came, still unaware that a much
shorter, more paved route was available.
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Alan's Path
We later learned that ticks were a problem in the area.
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A view of the old building near the Humbolt Institute.
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The same building, seen from the bus stop on our way
into town.
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Climbing a bridge over the train station tracks, we
arrived at an outdoor beer garden that would be our
meeting spot for the remainder of the week.
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Der Biergarten.
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Die Biergartner.
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There was also food, if you want to call it that. Und
bier.
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Too much of a good thing.
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Too much.
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The atmosphere there was quite nice, and it was warm
as well.
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I don't know what to say about this image, except that
it summed up the evening pretty well.
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The following morning, we found a much more reasonable
path to the university, which took 15 minutes rather
than half an hour. And no ticks!
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Safety Bike
I imagine some safty-conscious cyclist owned this machine.
It looked like it needed a stinger.
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Back Way
The path we found was not without its unusual aspects,
but it seemed fairly direct in the end, and avoided
entering the main building, whose exits were extremely
well-hidden as we had learned the day before. (Even
when Rich took over navigation duties from Alan the
first day, we still ended up going in circles. I did
the same myself a few days later trying to exit the
building following a demo.)
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The back way also took us the nice fountain and this
cascade.
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One of the two lecture halls where the talks were held.
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It was a bit too warm the first day, despite the air
conditioning.
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Huh?
Someone told me the sign says "No smoking beyond this
point." In a word, German is wordy.
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The common area of the main building was attractive,
if baffling.
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Kadi & Alan chatting at the welcome reception.
Photo by Mashhuda
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We had a nice view of Lake Konstanz and the northern
part of the city from the cafeteria's balcony.
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Oliver welcomes his guests.
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Storm Front
Shortly after his welcome announcement, ominous clouds
loomed overhead, portending a spot of rain in our immediate
future.
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It hit like a hurricane, pretty much.
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Through a curtain of rain, we could see the sun shining
on the soon-to-be-wet villiagers down below.
Photo by Mashhuda
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The storm blew over, leaving patchy clouds and fresh
air for our evening festivities. Julie & I had split
from the rest of the group in order to change out of
shorts in my case and trade flip-flops in Julie's case.
KonstanzShop.tif
Here's an HDR shot I took of the old house at sunset.
Keywords hdr
KonstanzSunset3.tif
Sunset by the bridge into the old downtown area.
Keywords hdr
KonstanzSunset2.tif
More HDR sunsettage.
Keywords hdr
KonstanzStreet1.tif
One of the pedestrian streets in the downtown district.
Julie and I got quite lost trying to find our mates,
who were already on their third round of beers at that
point.
Keywords hdr
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Beer was delivered "by the meter" at the brewery they
had chosen for dinner.
Photo by Mashhuda
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It was a welcoming place, to be sure.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Despite the beautiful surroundings, I was a bit put
off by the idea of a heavy meal at 10 o'clock, so I
just watched.
KonstanzBrewery.tif
This is also in HDR. I want to see it on the new Sunnybrook
display....
Keywords hdr
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Alan makes fun of Abhi, who doesn't really need help.
Photo by Mashhuda
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The following day, Fredo and his student Addy hand out
copies of Wojciech's BRDF data, which had a requisite
form from MERL's legal department.
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That evening, we enjoyed a fabulous night of dining
and entertainment at the famous Steigenberger Hotel.
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Photo by Mashhuda
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Diego
Photo by Mashhuda
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Photo by Mashhuda
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A view of the Konstanz marina.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Longboats? In Germany?
Photo by Mashhuda
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Champagne was featured, and often mixed with orange
juice.
Photo by Richard
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It had its effects.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Ahhh, champagne on an empty stomach.
Photo by Mashhuda
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The hotel was originally a monastery, and its interior
walls were decorated with a mural history of the township.
Photo by Mashhuda
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I missed the tour, but it covered the history of the
area from its humble beginnings.
Photo by Mashhuda
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The artistic detail was exquisite.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Our dinner was accompanied by a jazz trio and later
by a pair of comedic jugglers.
Photo by Mashhuda
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This one was quite skilled with the free yo-yos.
Play movie
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Humor was an important part of the act.
Photo by Mashhuda
Play movie
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They also took at turn with juggling glowing, colored
balls. The RGB color scheme worked quite well on this
audience.
Photo by Richard
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As per tradition, a group of us rendered our version
of Monty Python's "Philosopher's Drinking Song." We
got mixed reviews.
Photo by Richard
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Kurt puts on his best face for the camera.
Photo by Richard
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Discussing which brewery to go to next, since we were
being kicked out and it wasn't even midnight, yet!
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This beautiful effect is the result of taking a nighttime
shot and putting the lens cap on without realizing the
shuter is still open.
Photo by Richard
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In search of more bier.
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Eureka! Der biergarten!
Photo by Veronica
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Veronica's "Self-portrait with Matt."
Photo by Veronica
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The Last Lunch.
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Walk to Soccer
A blurry image of a group of us setting out to play
soccer.
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In the end, there were more spectators than participants.
(Unfortunately, we didn't get a go on the climbing
wall shown in the background.)
Photo by Veronica
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We had a rousing match of 6 on 5 players, and nearly
everyone scored a point.
Photo by Veronica
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Kurt played despite a prior injury.
Photo by Veronica
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While we were kicking the ball around, another group
went on a tour of the city.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Mashhuda took these photos.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Swan & signet
Photo by Mashhuda
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A church, I reckon.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Full o' filigree.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Michael
The rabbit fish fountain. I don't know the story, if
there is one.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Giddyup!
Photo by Mashhuda
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Konstanz Harbor
Photo by Mashhuda
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After soccer and city tour, we met up again at der Biergarten
(again).
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After a few German beers, Alan thought it would be fun
to take a short walk over the Swiss border to try the
beer on that side. No one was manning the immigration
booth.
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We snuck past the gate with no one in pursuit.
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The bar Alan promised us was in fact closed, so instead
we bought canned Swiss beer from a little stand at the
side of the road.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Everyone posing with their beer. (Note that my beer
is in fact a chocolate bar -- I know what's good in
Switzerland.)
Photo by Mashhuda
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Next to the boarder, there was also a music festival
going on. I'm not sure who was playing, and it would
have cost 24 Euros to find out, so none of us did.
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Mashhuda took this photo of the railway bridge at sunset.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Back to the biergarten, and proper German beer.
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As usual, I skipped out on the remainder of the evening,
which went too late for me. This is one of the few
images I've seen of Erik looking serious.
Photo by Veronica
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Now, that's more like it!
Photo by Veronica
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How about a punch to chase that beer?
Photo by Veronica
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Matt & Erik
Photo by Veronica
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Photo by Veronica
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Cathy & Timo
Photo by Veronica
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Roland
Photo by Veronica
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The next day we traveled home without Alan, who had
another trip on the heels of this one and headed in
a different direction on another airline.
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With Mashhuda leading the way, we managed to make all
our connections.
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Waiting for the bus.
Photo by Mashhuda
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Some of us were still recovering from the final night's
festivities.
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Veronica managed to sleep nearly every moment we weren't
in motion.
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A skill much to be admired.
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The trip had us taking a bus to a ferry to another bus
to a train to our plane.
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Sleep, move, sleep, move, sleep, move...
Photo by Mashhuda
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Sleep.
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Move, sleep.
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I don't have a photo to prove it, but it's a safe bet
Veronica got a nice nap on the flight back to Stansted,
where I said my fond farewells to Mashhuda and the Bristol
bunch.
Page created July 6 2005 9:15:09a