| Der Planke Wahnsinn

The End 5^th October 2012

My last month was quite a busy one and so I am a bit late with this last blog entry. Please apologize this, but I may provide you with a bonus entry in November about my experiences in Bordeaux.
What happened in September? After the Labor day weekend, I had more less my last real weekend in Boston since I travelled to Washington and Toronto the weekends after and also my brother came down from Canada for a weekend. Certainly I also had to conclude my research and to give some final presentations.
Visiting Washington was on my plan from the very beginning, but due to some nice circumstances the Austrian government finally paid for it ;-) I got the chance to participate the Austrian Science Talks for Austrian Scientists in North America and all travel expenses were therefore covered. In the evening, the Austrian US-Ambassador even invited us for dinner to his Embassy in Washington which was quite nice, but nothing special at the end. I used the rest of my stay for some sightseeing and although I usually don’t like any kind of museum I visited quite a few of them. Not only because they are all free of charge in DC.
The weekend after, my brother Markus who is currently doing an exchange semester at the University of Toronto was visiting me and I showed him around Cambridge and Boston. But his personal highlight was probably all about food. First he enjoyed the inauguration BBQ of our new MIT president Mr. Reif at Kilian Court and on Sunday we prepared some delicious lobster by our self. (I think Diego taught me quite well the last time ;-) ).

Just a few days later I made my way up to the north and visited him in Toronto. Whereby I actually spent quite a lot of time in the US again, since we were going to the Niagara Falls and a few miles further on to Buffalo, NY. Why Buffalo? Good question. Because there is actually nothing to see at all, but due to a nice coincident the New England Patriots were playing in Buffalo; my brother is playing American Football himself and a big fan; and it is almost impossible to get (cheap) tickets for a match in Boston. So we took this chance and have witnessed and awesome 52-28 Patriots victory, after they were already back 7-21. A last “real American experience” after I had to leave this continent completely a few days later. Check out some photos below and see you all soon again!

Take care, Clemens

Washington (-Monument) and the Capitol in the background.

Tomb of the Unknown at Arlington Cemetery.

And a thousand other as far as you can see...

...but somewhere in between I found Roger Chaffee and Gus Grissom. Both died in the Apollo1 accident in 1967 at Cape Canaveral.

Tomb of President J.F. Kennedy and the eternal flame.

The Abraham Lincoln Memorial from outside...

...and the president from inside.

The White House front view...

and from the back (or vice versa?!).

The US-Capitol.

The original Wright Flyer from 1903 in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum...

...as well as the X-15 rocket powered experimental aircraft.

The beautiful Smithsonian castle in downtown Washington.

But for this Beauty, I had to travel a bit outside of the city...

...the SR-71 blackbird...

...with the Space Shuttle "Discovery" in the background. It was sure worth it!

The Discovery. Isn´t she a beauty as well?!

The X-35. A high tech fighter of today. At this point my battery died... otherwise I could show you so many more "appealing" air and spacecrafts!

Back in the city: the George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Memorial.

(1st and 3rd President of the USA)

The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial...

...again from a bit further down the walkway.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.

Back at MIT. Where Markus is quite excited about the bounce house...

...and the MIT-beaver mascot (sorry Markus, bitter revenge ;-) ).

Maybe he is more the Harvard-guy... nice shirt btw ;-)

And myself at his University in Toronto.

The Niagara Falls...

...from the Canadian side.

Still at the Canadian side, but the falls on the left are to be considered the "American Falls" and the bigger one at the right as the "Canadian Fall".