Denmark Day 3-- Aarhus for ICER Conference

After breakfast at the hotel I met Sue and we walked to the conference taking a side trip to plant the travel bug in the cache. Once more interesting talks. This time I had my laptop (instead of the iphone which wouldn’t work at the venue because you needed two windows open). I was able to multi-task and get my email down from 406 to 76. Not bad for a mornings work. Another buffet lunch. At the afternoon break, I walked back to the hotel so I could find out how long it would take to get to the airport bus stop. I found that fairly easily after getting lost going back to the hotel! I hadn’t done the walk in that direction before. I took a quick tour inside the Domkirke and was delighted to hear an organist practicing wonderful music.

I decided to walk back to the conference via the botanical gardens and once again got a little lost.

I used the GPS but its compass didn’t seem to work. However, I did make it back for the pizza fabulous) and wine party. Back at the hotel I packed and then joined several folks at the outside café for conversation before going to bed.

View pics from all three days on Flickr

Denmark Day 2 -- Aarhus for ICER Conference

I met up with several folks from the ICER conference at breakfast. Some decided to take a bus and I went with the walkers. The university was a little over a mile and a half away (much up hill) but we arrived in plenty of time. Registration yielded yet another backpack – very nice one. All the talks were really good as were the discussions. Lunch was a smorgasbord of typical Danish food and the coffee breaks had super pastries.

The excellent keynote by Moti Ben-Ari was later blogged by Mark Guzdial.

Sue Fitzgerald went with me after the meetings finished to try to find the Women in Science geocache on the Aarhus University campus (we had had no luck with a micro near the venue). I quite easily found the cache whose coordinates were a puzzle about mostly Danish women in science. I had forgotten to bring the travel bug, so it meant another trip for the next day.

I walked Sue back to her hotel (A Best Western called the Ritz) and met her roommate, Beth. Then Sue and I walked to my hotel and we were escorted by Michael Casperson’s daughter Christina and her boyfriend to the restaurant for the banquet. Again it was excellent food with a very entertaining owner.

I sat between Colleen Lewis and Leigh Ann Sudol acting as a buffer between Leigh Ann’s definition of a misconception and Colleen’s. Also talked with Orni Meerbaum-Salant, from the Technicon in Israel and her husband. Back to the hotel where I had an email from ACM about the SGB meeting in New York for which I had booked tickets to Chicago. Yuk!

Walked 17069 steps. View pics from all three days on Flickr

Denmark Day 1 -- Aarhus for ICER Conference

The plane got to Billund on time and I had to wait around about an hour for the bus to Aarhus.. The bus ride from Billund to Aarhus, although in the rain much of the time was interesting. We drove through rolling wheat fields and old farms built with three buildings forming a courtyard. Lots of farmers were working to bring in their hay (Buchele bales, naturally). There were many windmills, but now of the modern, metal variety.

In Arhus I decided to take a taxi to the hotel. It drove all over (avoiding all the pedestrian streets) including a side trip past the harbor, The ride cost 100 kroner which seemed a lot since the two hour bus ride only cost 200 kroner. (There are about 6 kroner in a USD). The Cab-inn hotel was just as pictured – I had a tiny efficient room but it did over look a canal and cafes. I unpacked and turned on my GPS. Much to my surprise it beeped immediately upon finding satellites and looking for the closest cache.

Although it was right outside my window, I had to walk around the block to get to the canal where I spotted two college age kids who seemed to be looking for the cache. I asked them if they were and I soon joined their search. They were new to caching, so I was able to find the cache – one of the very tiny micro magnetic ones.

I then walked further down the canal and spotted Mark Guzdial and Mike Clancy and his wife Karen, so I joined them for a while. before heading off to the restaurant to join the doctoral consortium folks. I found it easily with the directions I had taken from google maps – including a pleasant walk on a pedestrian shopping street. I was the first one there. It was like a French bistro but with very old rough furniture.

Our table for 13 was made of planks, and the place was decorated with old bottles, etc. The food was fabulous and very French). The owner was entertaining -- he made steak tartar for the woman next to me and made crepe suzettes for the next table telling outlandish stories.

It was fairly expensive, though, and didn’t take credit cards. The owner said not to worry we could come back the next day or next week to settle! Instead several of us went to the ATM and got cash. All in all a lovely evening and good start.

View pics from all three days.