Rome

Back at the end of January I went to the Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop meeting in Rome. I was invited to give a talk about pulsar timing arrays to an audience made of largely LIGO/VIRGO and LISA people.
It was snowing as I wheeled my bag through the deserted streets of Bad Godesberg at 6am but it was sunny (if not actually warm) when I eventually arrived in Rome. After I found my hotel went out to take a few photos. I made my way to the Coliseum, I've been there before but it was a long time ago. Coming from the city centre you would think that you could see it for miles but I walked for ages with no sign of it. I was just wondering if I was going in the right direction, when I turned a corner and there it was!

The meeting was interesting. The LIGO/VIRGO and LISA people have a great deal over overlap with the pulsar people but they come at it from a totally different angle. As one of the few pulsar people I gave a general review of the pulsar side of things. It's nice to see the interest the pulsar work gets now.

Unlike most conferences I didn't know most of the attendees but I met up with a few colleagues who I hadn't seen in a while and we had some dinners in town. The conference dinner itself was excellent. The restaurant had picturesque views of the city and the Vatican and the food was spectacular.

Before I left I went and had a look at the Roman Forum and some of the other sites in the vicinity. Unfortunately the weather all week was pretty miserable with overcast skies and drizzle. Still it stopped long enough for a quick tour.

Then I was back on the aeroplane to Düsseldorf (because there wasn't a flight to Köln) followed by a train ride home to Bad Godesberg where it was still snowing.

A trip to Besançon (from a while ago)

Well, it's been ages since I last updated this blog. Things have been very busy here and I haven't had time but now I'm going to try to fill in some of the blanks. Back in October I went off to a conference in Besançon. We drove down from Bonn and it was a nice change to be able to go to a conference without having to get on an aeroplane.

It was a very useful meeting, it brought me up to speed on the projects here and I think a lot of progress was made. I knew almost everyone at the meeting and it was great to catch up with a lot of folks I've not seen since in years. The food was great with lots of good cheese at every meal, not a good place for those who are lactose intolerant!

The town itself is set in the ox-bow of a river and is full of beautiful old buildings. It used to be a centre for the watch industry until the advent of quartz clocks. The conference was held opposite the historic transit telescope used for timekeeping and testing of mechanical chronometers. They organised guided tours of the telescope and the Musée du Temps in town as well as a spectacular conference dinner.