Atomium!

Atomium is a 102 m tall model of an FCC iron unit cell. And we went to see it. Keith was really excited.

So for the non-materials scientists in the audience, atoms and molecules can arrange themselves in different unit cells (simple cubic, face centered cubic, body centered cubic, etc.). The type of unit cell that a set of atoms or molecules are organized in is based on a lot of intrinsic and processing factors and the resulting crystal structure dictates many properties.

Atomium was built for the 1958 World Fair and, like many other structures built for World Faris, it was supposed to be torn down after the fair, but it was so popular that the structure remains today. We went there around sunset and it was beautiful.


And, because I am required to so we avoid being sued by SABAM: © www.atomium.be - SABAM 2011 - Keith Fahnestock



© www.atomium.be - SABAM 2011 - some German guy


© www.atomium.be - SABAM 2011 - Keith Fahnestock

It really is beautiful lit up at night.


© www.atomium.be - SABAM 2011 - Keith Fahnestock

Brewery Tour

After the EU, we meandered through Brussels and eventually arrived at the Cantillon Brewery. It is Brussels' last traditional brewery of gueuzes and lambics. These beers are fermented with natural yeasts in the air. Since these yeasts are less powerful than those used for the brewing of other beers, it requires three years to make a beer.

This is where the wort is cooled and the yeast is deposited in the beer (hence the large surface area):


Here are barrels of beer that are fermenting:


After three years, the beer is finished. However, at this point all of the carbon dioxide (fizziness) has escaped from the barrels. At this point, the brewer combines 1, 2, and 3 year old beers to create a balance of taste. The mixtures are then bottled and the younger beers continue to ferment, adding fizziness to the beers. Right before the end of the tour, we met the brewery kitty:


Here are bottled beers either finishing up their fermenting or ready for consumption!


After the tour was a tasting, which was really great. We had never had the traditional styles of gueuzes and lambics and they're completely different from the ones we had drunk (not nearly as sweet and much more complex). We really enjoyed the beers and bought three for ourselves.

Poke Wars!

Looks like it's gone international, and the international version is fancy.

Keith: That must be a German girl

Me: Why?
Keith: Because she's holding up the Euro.

European Union

Brussels is one of the political centers of the European Union and is where the European Parliament, European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council meet (although the European Parliament also meets in Strasbourg). On our first day, we decided to take a tour of the European Union complex. We weren't allowed to see much, but we were able to see where the Parliament sits:


Flags of the European Union:

Going to Belgium!

Two weeks ago we decided that we wanted to travel somewhere the following weekend. After looking at plane fare and hotels, we decided to go to Brussels for a couple of days. Keith dropped Josie off at a kennel, we left lots of food and water for Loki, and we headed to Brussels!

It's really incredible that we can go to another country for the weekend.

Our hotel was really nice and in a great part of the city. It was right at the Montgomery Metro stop, which was on the main line but was removed from the super touristy areas. We got in really late, so we didn't do anything that night.

Pope Not Welcome

The Pope made his first official visit to Berlin two weeks ago. Around that time, we saw the following poster in many locations:


In addition to Northern Germany's Protestant leanings, people were not pleased with the Pope visiting because of his views on birth control, homosexuality, and his handling of the sexual abuse scandal. Also, some felt that his speech to the Parliament was in violation of the separation of church and state.

Fun fact: Places aren't open on Sunday because it is recognized in the German Constitution as a day of rest. However, there are 12 Sundays each year when stores are allowed to be open and generally they correspond to high tourist times. Additionally, these rules do not apply to travel places (gas stations, train stations, airports) and there are some exceptions for pharmacies as well. Also, convenience stores (Spätkauf) don't seem to follow these rules, but I'm not sure why. A very wily grocery store owner has taken advantage of the exception for travel and has a store technically in/under a train station, so it's one of two grocery stores I know that are open on Sundays.

Bike Ride!

A week after I got my new bike, we decided to ride out to Grunewald. We planned on following this bike path:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Berlin-Grunewald
However, the entire road through Tiergarten (that big green area in the middle of the map) was closed off and they were not allowing any traffic on it. We knew that the Berlin Marathon was the following day, but we couldn't figure out why no one was allowed to use the road a full day ahead of the marathon. Anyway, we ended up biking around the Tiergarten once we were able to get through the masses of people there and eventually made it out the Grunewald. So beautiful and so peaceful. At one point on the paths we just got off our bikes to stroll and enjoy being in nature.

We also found the Steffi Graf tennis stadium (not the full name).

Once we got home, Keith discovered the reason for the roads being closed: the rollerblading marathon.

Meet the New Member of Our Family!

I haven't named her (I think all Italian forms of transportation are required to be female), but she's great. I bought her from someone at work who wanted to switch to a touring bike. Keith fancied her up with new tires and (non-dynamo) lights. Unfortunately, the day after I got the bike, I became sicker than I've been since elementary school, so we had to postpone her inaugural trip until the following weekend. It appears that my resistance to European bugs is nonexistent.

My Apologies

Sorry for not updating the blog in forever. We've been quite busy lately, especially since we started searching for a new apartment (the lease for our current place is up at the end of the month). Anyway, I will get back to more regular posting starting tomorrow. Also, sorry for the weird sizes of a number of pictures. I'm going back through and fixing it now and I'll try to be better about it in the future.

To make it up to you, I've included some pictures of Josie. Who doesn't love puppy pictures?