2007_1111MissionSanLuis0142, originally uploaded by deniseakob.
Eva was in the US for 3 months this fall and we had a great time! Please check out the photos on my Flickr site to see all of our adventures!

DSCN2504, originally uploaded by deniseakob.
We took a boat trip down the river Saale my last week in Jena. We had a wonderful time even though Grit and I capsized our boat! The area is so beautiful and I really enjoyed my time with everyone. More photos are on my Flickr site--including pictures from the party afterwards. My friends surprised me with a wonderful going away party and gifts to remember my trip. I miss everyone and can't wait to go back!!!

The Biology Department at the Friedrich-Schiller University Jena has an annual Bio Ball--a ball for all of the biology students. It was similar to a US prom but with a bar and dinner and standard dancing. I went with Grit & Claus, Kirsten, Marco and Eva and we had a great time! Check out the other photos on my Flickr site (just click on the photo below)

Photos are posted on my Flickr page from my visit to Eva's home city of Leipzig. I really enjoyed the visit and her parents were very kind to host me.

Grit and I took a trip to Erfurt on Saturday, August 30th to meet Ute and do some shopping. Erfurt is a beautiful city and had lots of great shops!

I stayed over at Ute's house Saturday night and spent Sunday sightseeing with her family and our friends Marco and Janine. The first photo is Janine, Marco and Ute standing a wall around a church in the center of Erfurt.

As we walked through the city we came to a unique street of shops and houses that was actually a bridge! The photo below shows a view from the river-side of the street and you can see the houses. I saw a similar image on lots of postcards since this is a very unique thing to Erfurt.

Ute's husband Andre and her daughter Paulina met us for ice cream. Here Paulina is trying on my sunglasses--I think they are a bit big!

Our next stop was the Petersburg Fort. We took a torch-lighted tour through the underground walkways of the fort. This was interesting! It was pitch-black below and without the torch we would have been lost. More photos are on my Flickr site and I took lots of photos from the wall of the fort --it was a great view of the entire city!

Bremen (71), originally uploaded by deniseakob.
At the end of June I took a trip to Germany to visit the Kostka family (Joel, Beth, Laurel, & Lilly). Bremen was a great place to visit with lots of interesting things to see. My first night there we had dinner with Heath, Jen, & Jordan Mills and a British family that Joel and Beth know from a visit to Berlin.

On Saturday, we went to Universum (a science center) with all of the kids--this is my favorite way to visit a science center because I can play on all of the exhibits with the kids! Universum was the best science center--and everything was in German! We all really enjoyed it. That afternoon/evening we walked around downtown Bremen and saw the marketplace and the glockenspiel. The glockenspiel or 'play of bells' is quite famous in Bremen because part of the wall next to the bells turns. It is quite beautiful and you can see all of the faces of the wall with the various images (just click on any of the photos to go to my Flickr site).
The Bremen Marketplace:


Bremen (10), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The glockenspiel:



Bremen (15), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

On Sunday, we spent the morning at Botanica, a fantastic botanical garden within walking distance from the Kostka's flat. Laurel and Lilly had a great time in the gardens and I really enjoyed seeing new plants and the exhibits.




Bremen (40), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

In the afternoon, Joel and I met Heath, Jen and Jordan at the cathedral downtown to climb to the top. After lots and lots of steps, and getting a bit dizzy in the circular staircases, we made it to the top. The view was spectacular! Below you can see the view of Bremen and a gargoyle on the roof of the cathedral. After the climb we went to a nice pub along the river and enjoyed good German food and beer!


Bremen (68), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

On Monday, I tagged along on a sample collection trip to a Fen with a few of Kirsten's graduate students.......in case you are wondering "what is a Fen? "....

Well, according to Wikipedia: "a fen is a type of wetland fed by alkaline, mineral-rich groundwater and characterized by a distinctive flora. Fens are often confused with bogs, which are fed primarily by rainwater and often inhabited by sphagnum moss, making them acidic. Like other wetlands, fens will ultimately fill in and become a terrestrial community such as a woodland through the process of ecological succession."

The fen Schloeppnerbrunnen, located in northern Bavaria, is the site of a collaborative ecological study composed of 6 test areas. The purpose of the study is to look at microbial processes in the context of global climate change (for more detailed info check the link below).

A view of the entrance to the Schloeppnerbrunnen fen site:


All of the monitoring equipment is run by solar power and can maintain the equipment for up to 5 days without sunlight:


What we were here to collect...sediment cores (0-40 cm):


Some of the flora and fauna I saw....

a lizard...

a small creek with Sphagnum moss...


...and there is more on the Flickr site (just click on any photo above).

Click here to reidrect to Kirsten's website and information about the fen research: Peatlands

BUGA '07 = Bundesgartenschau 2007

Located in the cities Gera and Ronneburg within the state of Thuringia this is a 6 month long garden show that changes locations each year.

You may remember that Ronneburg is the same site that we collected samples for uranium-conatamination experiments! The photos posted will show a sign for Wismut and a large waste heap (to the right of the photo below). Wismut was the uranium mining company that since the reunification is in charge of environmental remediation. Part of the BUGA is to show the "success" of the remediation activities [--I say "success" because I am too cynical to be fooled by the pretty flowers, sorry.]

The BUGA was a great experience! They had an entire exhibit of carnivorous plants (my favorite!!!), an exhibit of the Wismut activities, a Lego garden, and more. The Lego garden was quite fun--you could build your own Lego flower and add it to the garden! Eva and I had quite a good time making our own flowers!!! Please take a look at the Flickr site for more photos!!!

This evening I had the chance to visit the viewing platform of the Jena Tower. Finally after looking at the Tower from the ground for a whole month I was able to enjoy the view!

JenaTower (11), originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The view was incredible!! I could see the street that I live on and the Wagnergasse--the area with pubs and cafes! On my Flickr site I have posted notes showing these areas!

Berlin 041, originally uploaded by deniseakob.

The weekend of June 9 I went to Berlin and stayed with Marco and Janine(picture above)--Marco is a PhD student in Kirsten's lab and his girlfriend Janine is a PhD student in Berlin. They were fantastic hosts and made my visit a wonderful experience!

On Saturday, we spent the day kayaking in an area called Spreewald which is ~1 hour from Berlin. The kayak trip was organized by friends of Marco and Janine and it ended up being a large group--9 boats! We had a great time paddling around the area and stopped for a nice picnic lunch at a grassy spot. The Spreewald is a wetlands area with some small towns and man-made canals weaving through it. The area is now mostly nature preserve and a popular tourist spot for Germans. It was interesting to see the area because in some ways it is similar to a Florida swamp but the plants are a bit different and there are no alligators! It was funny because early in the trip I had to remind myself that the log in the water was not an alligator! The Spreewald is also a famous place for pickles and I tasted an authentic Spreewald pickle at a canal-side stand. You can just paddle the boat up to a stand, coffee shop, cafe or pub!! They make a variety of flavored pickles--some good, some not so good! I would love to share photos of the trip but, unfortunately all of the photos were lost from my camera. I am hoping to get photos from the other kayakers or find a way to retrieve the pics.

On Sunday we went sightseeing in the central part of east Berlin--we walked a total of 11 km in 6 hours! Luckily we were able to make the best of a single day in Berlin and saw lots of the main sights. I'll post more info soon but for now there are more pics at my Flickr site.