Denmark & Germany

I got back from Europe on Wednesday evening. The jet lag is beginning to clear. The lag was rough this time around, but the trip was good.

The conference of the Association of Internet Researchers in Copenhagen went well. This organization and this conference are among the few truly international and interdisciplinary groups I've found in academia. Others claim to be international, and then 95% of those in attendance turn out to be North Americans. This one is different, and far more interesting. It's also kept intentionally small, which is a plus.

Copenhagen is a neat place (I was there once in the mid-'70s and again in the early '80s and of COURSE, nothing has changed (?)), but extremely expensive. Danes have opted out of the Euro and kept their own currency, the Krone. It's about 5 Krone to the dollar at the moment, which is a very poor rate. The dollar ain't worth crap anywhere (though I hear it's going up right now), but was particularly worthless in Denmark. A beer generally runs about $12 -- of course, that's for a half liter (a little more than 16 ounces), but still.... I did find some bargain beer for only about $5, but that's still not cheap. At least Danish beer is very good, which helps make it more of a value.

The fashion in Denmark these days is VERY short skirts and high boots. Danes also use bicycles more than cars. Women in short skirts on bicycles create interesting sight-seeing opportunities. That much was free.

Still jet-lagged at the end of a 5-day conference, I managed to oversleep and miss my flight to Berlin on Sunday. I've never missed a plane before, and this was highly embarrassing. It was also expensive, as I had to buy a train ticket and travel 8 hours with 6 changes for a trip that should have taken about an hour by plane. Danish trains are very good, and everything is both English and Danish. The German ICE trains are very fast (about 140 mph!) but the Germans are not at all patient with American dumkoffs who don't speak German.

I got to Wittenberg about 9 p.m. and crashed for the night, but spent all day Monday seeing the Luther sites. Two museums I wanted to see were closed on Mondays, but most things were open. I also got some good photos. Wittenberg is in the former East zone, and things have brightened up a lot since the '70s, but they still have a ways to go. Lots of vacant buildings in various states of disrepair. I had hoped to see Eisleben (also part of the Luther World Heritage Site) and perhaps the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach, but my missed plane excluded that.

Steve Godsall-Myers of the ELCA Wittenberg Center explained to me that the locals are perplexed about all this Lutheran stuff in the old city of Wittenberg The Communists pretty much killed religion during their time in Germany. Local people know tourists come to learn about Luther, but they don't know much about him themselves. He was presented as a political figure during the Communist era, who rebelled against foreign taxation. A Russian military cemetery is across the road from the Castle Church where Luther is buried. Interesting contrast.

Returning home, the market is down, Obama's numbers are up, and I've got tons of stuff to do. Best get to it.