Shcick & Hating It ...

I am officially and unofficially shcick. Who to blame? The weather gods who deceived me with a week of glorious sunshine that made me prance outside in joy in shorts and t-shirts ... only to revert to rain, gloom and below 10 degrees forecasts for this week. And the teaser award also has to go to the weather god this week for suddenly doling out sunshine, and just as you've one step away from opening the door ... there, mr. sun, go right behind those clouds please, thank you very much for your brief and enigmatic performance. Uff.

Had an enjoyable weekend with an old friend from Bombay (and one of my readers!) who dropped in to check out happenin' Aachen. We did the ol' wild partying, non-stop drinking and crazy clubbing scene that Aachen is so very famous for ... nothing fancy :-) (HAA! Right.)

Finally decided to put up the pictures from Gottingen that have been long overdue. They've almost developed a thin layer of digital fuzz from lying in that corner desktop folder for so long.

Gottingen is possibly one of Germany's oldest university towns ... it still has almost all the buildings from pre-WWII times due to a rumored 'arrangement' with the Allies. Although they were fairly merciless in decimating Germany, the deal was that the Allies wouldn't touch Heidelburg and Gottingen, and the Germans wouldn't bomb Oxford and Cambridge in return. Additionally, Aachen and Cologne were also largely left alone, especially the Doms / Cathedrals, since the Allies feared more divine reprisal :-)

Inside the Rathaus / City Hall ... some really lovely work ...

And this is Gottingen's most famous attraction ... if you have been following my blog, you may recognize it as having been ravaged by crazed German football fans celebrating their first victory. It is officially called 'Ganseliesel', which translates to 'Geese Girl' or something equally unfancy.

Phd students are encouraged to climb up Ganseliesel (the fountain, the FOUNTAIN you perverts!) and plant a big smack on her cheek once they are through with their monstrous Phds. So almost all Phd students from Gottingen have a mandatory fotu of theirs with professors and classmates in tow the day they don the gown.

The only other actual 'visit' at Gottingen was driven entirely by my husband who was determined to visit Mr Carl Friedrich Gauss's Tomb (of the Gaussian Mathematics fame) ... some random idea of the genius rubbing off on him. Of course, it took me a little time to figure WHO Gauss even was ... have to admit even now am a little sketchy on the details. However did pick this interesting incident off the net - Gauss was an ardent perfectionist and a hard worker. According to Isaac Asimov, Gauss was once interrupted in the middle of a problem and told that his wife was dying. He is purported to have said, "Tell her to wait a moment till I'm done." What a charmer.

I was rather dismissively told that I could never experience the paroxysms of delight mathematicians, statisticians, micro economists and astronomers would when they were in the presence of such greatness ... deceased and in the ground as they may be. Oh well, damn I guess.

Random pictures from around the town ...

(Sorry - I need to include pictures of myself sometimes, else I get frequent complaints from family about how there were only pictures of 'everything but you ... why do we even visit your blog etc etc' ... once in a while I bow to family pressure like all other good Indian girls :-)

It is dinner time and my nose is still running like the Brahmaputra in the monsoons. Pictures from our trip to the Tripoint tip next time ... the point where Belgium, Germany and Netherlands meets. Thanks Kedar for 'point'ing it out! :-)

Cheeri ... oh whatever. Blah.

Suuuuuuu-schoooooooooo!!!! Sniff.