Out and About in Berlin

Today we wandered over to the TechEd Conference centre to register.

This is the front of the centre. Very big. However, the most surprising thing was the sheer scale of everything around this part of Berlin. It must be the conference centre of Europe. All around there are enormous halls set out for these kind of sessions.

Next we ventured into uptown Berlin again. Peter wanted to climb to the top of the Bundestag. So we did.

On the way we took in the Sony Centre, which is absolutely huge.

On top of the Bundestag they have this amazing glass dome with mirrors inside that reflect down onto the parliament below.  Very impressive.

This is the view from the top of the Bundestag at the blocks they are assembling as part of the 20th anniversary celebrations of the end of the Berlin wall.

Tomorrow the conference itself starts properly.

Heading for Berlin

Today I was up at 3:00 am. Not that I’m complaining that much, after all we are going to Berlin for TechEd 2009. We had a nice shiny hire care to drive to Liverpool airport where we would board one of the few direct flights to Berlin. Once we had arrived and unpacked it was time for a stroll. Of course I took the camera.

The Russian Embassy

Brandenburg Gate

I love the colours of the stone in this light.

Nice buildings at night.

I’ve put some more pictures on Flickr. I think we are going to like it here..

Have a Cow. Or Two

Got today’s picture nice and early.

Oh, and Happy Friday! Have a cow.

Bonfire Night

I tried to get some pictures of the fireworks around our house tonight. Set the camera up, opened the shutter and got lots of pictures of a window frame.

Oh well, here’s a tea strainer instead.

Daily Pictures

I’ve decided that there is no point in having a nice camera if you never use it. So from now on (until I get bored with the idea) I’m going to take and post a picture every day.

Don’t you just love those Zune plug caps…

Question of Time

So…. What time does the clock say?

London Trip

Off to London today. In a brand new train. So new they didn’t have any  cups to dish out the free coffee for the posh people in First Class. Heh heh.

Millennium Bridge Handrail

View from Tate Modern.

We went off to Foyles, best bookshop in the world:

The bad news is that the Computer part of the shop is now the Cookery part of the shop. Then again, perhaps more people need to eat than need to write programs…

The good news is that they had three copies of my book. Go me!

Nice Weather

This morning the weather here was horrid. Wet and grey and just right for going out and not getting what you want from the shops.

So I did.

In the afternoon things picked up a bit.

Nice tree and sky.

Hull Fair

Went to Hull Fair tonight. Some of the rides are deeply scary. The kind of things I’d pay good money not to have to go on.

I went up on the Big Wheel to get this shot.

I took the little camera and we had a good look around. Won a prize on the Hook a Duck and then headed off to Fudge for tea. Great stuff.

Team Fortress Game Afternoon

Hull University, like most others, reserves Wednesday afternoon for games. So does our department now. Hull Com. Soc. is using one of our labs for Team Fortress 2 sessions every other week. I went along with the camera.

The event was something of a success…

I would have liked to have had a go, but they had people queuing outside the door, waiting for their turn. Apparently there were also students taking part from off campus too, since we were using the Departmental Games Servers. The next one is in a couple of weeks, I’m going to try and get there early for some multi-player action.

Incidentally, if you are in Hull this weekend there is a FragFest organised for Saturday 17th at the Lawns. You can find out more at the Hull ComSoc web site.

Masters Welcome Party

We had another party tonight to welcome our Masters level students. Same format, different quiz questions and some different winners.

First prize

Second prize (they actually got a higher score, but since the team was all staff and contained Warren, Head of Department, it wasn’t allowed to win.

Third prize

We had a wooden spoon (or plastic microphone) prize for the team who made it into last place.

Then it was on to Rock Band, Wii Sports and dance mats for the rest of the evening.

Hull Pictures

I made a quick trip up town today to pick up some bits and bobs. The weather was nice, and of course I had a camera with me.

You really wouldn’t think this was the middle of Hull.

Undergraduate Welcome Party

Today was the day of our welcome party for those new to the department. There was free drinks, free food, silly games and my evil quiz.

This is the team that won. You should have seen this picture before I removed the red-eye…

These folks came in second. The prizes this year were a bit smaller than previously, so we could pay for extra beer…

This is the third placed team, obviously deeply moved by the generosity of the department.

Autumn Trees

Some nice looking trees this morning

Ocean in Motion in Whitby

We took a day off today to celebrate a birthday in Whitby, in the best possible fashion with a meal at the Magpie cafe. The cafe even got a mention in one of the push food reviews recently, and it seemed they liked the food there as much as we do. Which is nice.

The weather was a bit grey, and tide was definitely in. The boat trips around the bay were specially discounted, and seeing just how much the boats were going up and down, it is not actually an experience I’d pay for.

Hardy Souls only

Clipper Race at Hull

The Round the World Clipper Race does exactly what it says on the tin. Ten yachts from various countries are setting sail around the world. The different thing about this race though is that the crews are made up of ordinary folk who have signed up, got trained and will join their boats for various stages on the round the world trip.

It starts from Hull tomorrow, but today the boats were in Hull Marina so we went for a look. I took the little camera for some snaps. I had a go at making a panorama shot of the side of the marina.

It seemed to come out OK.

The atmosphere was great and the weather amazing.

Warwick Castle

Warwick Castle is ace.  Having great weather probably helped, but the place was pretty cool too.

View from the top

Castle and Mill

Ballista power.

The two big round things on each side take a person each, who walk inside them to lift up a four ton weight that is used to propel the payload a heck of a distance. If someone rocks up outside your castle with one of these you should really let them in, because in the end they are coming in whether you like it or not…

Not Writing Code

I’ve hardly touched a keyboard or mouse for the last few days and I must admit that I quite like this. I have had to use the computer to get pictures off the camera though…

The weather is being very nice to us.

Tools and Trains

Went down to Bewley today and took a look at their town museum that promises “A surprise around every corner”. I wouldn’t quite go that far, but there were some nice photo-ops.

A bit like my garage

Then we went on to the Severn Valley Railway.

Not steam, but nice all the same.

Ho For Holidays

And so to the holidays. Packing up the cameras and the computers so we can go and live for a week without broadband.

Maybe we could be in for some good weather, which would make a nice change.