Topic: France
At breakfast I again met Andrey, who was heading to the laboratory at the University for tests of his KID detector, which he hoped would be mounted into a large array capable of imaging the millimeter sky at several wavelengths at once. Another prototype KID device was also to be detected. Andrey noted that the devices themselves weren't difficult to construct. A challenge was to be able to deposit the necessary layers on the large surface area required for widefield imaging--typically today several thousand detectors might be fit on a 5 inch surface. The technology was different for space than for earthbound telescopes, as on earth the atmosphere limited sensitivity so meeting the 10^-16 NEP noise figure was less daunting a task than meeting the 10^-19 figure required for deep space. Andrey was involved in the Russian Millimetron radiowave space projects, a 12m telescope. Although the full aperture would be used at 2 THz, the inner 3m or so were to probe up to 6 THz. Of course, this was still only a concept, with a meeting next week in Paris to further develop the science case to push the design forward. We discussed the plight of laboratories which produced the high tech but not very saleable devices needed for modern submillimeter astronomy. The foundry at JPL was threatened by a lack of appropriate space missions (hence the interest in Millimetron), that at Virginia by inconstant funding from the government--what was the situation with the European foundry at Delft I asked. Andrey shrugged and said that the problems were different of course--that group was centered on a professor whose retirement was only a few years away, and in the continental scheme would dissolve upon his retirement without a plan. But the Dutch had such a plan, to make the group independent of the professor, and he was confident that their plan would succeed.
Time to check out so I returned to the room to gather my things and head via the tram to the gare. The train was a minute late, but I soon found a seat (turned out that with a senior discount first class cost the same as coach for younger folks) in a private room and we headed to Lyon, an hour and a half journey. In Lyon, the Strasbourg train was easy to find and I promptly located my seat and settled in for the five hour trip to Strabourg. We passed through Bourg en Bresse, near a marvelous church in which rested Margaret of Austria and her family, who had spared no expense to build it, but there was no stop. Further stops at Besancon and Mulhouse before arriving on time in Strasbourg.
From my train seat to the hotel was only seven minutes' walk across a broad semicircular tree-graced plaza. I noted a few families on the grass, then saw a grizzled guy taking a whiz in the shrubs--I was to see a fair number of down on their luck types in Strasbourg. In the room, I checked the map and found I was only a short walk from the Cathedral; I tidied up and headed out. The city was beautiful--in two blocks I crossed the river Ill which encircles the old town and was on the Grand Rue to town center. Although there were nice shops, the street was torn up for utility work and not such a good choice for walking.
Before long, the stunning verticality of the sandstone cathedral spire, ascending to 142m, portruded above the half-timbered shops. The Alsatian architecture was a delight; clearly I had arrived in a different place. In a moment, the marvelous half-timbered Kammerzell house, a hotel and recommended restaurant on the Cathedral square, was before me. I headed straight for the cathedral and read that it closed at 7pm just as the clock struck. Ah well, I wandered the nearby streets another hour before heading for the Kammerzell, recommended by my friend Fred. They had a table and I was taken to a marvelous vaulted room, painted all over with ancient scenes, including one of Tantalus on the wall across from me. Great wrought iron chandeliers hung above. The dinner crowd was just arriving, the waiter brought a bouche amusee, a tiny little rectangle of pizzalike character. Fred had recommended the Choucouterie trois poissons and although my eye dwelt for a moment on the choucouterie de canard confit I ordered the fish. For the entree, I chose the salade aux poireaux, and the wine, a half bottle of Alsatian reisling, 2007 Mosbach reserve particulere. The salad was fine, a green and white cylinder of leeks in dressing with three tomato eighths and three lemon slices encircling it. The fish was absolutely wonderful, an oval mound of salmon on one side and a white fish (flounder) on my side sprinkled with dill and bits of tomato. On the side like ears were two halves of a mussel; all swimming in a butter sauce. I dug in...mmm some of the salmon was smoked. Beneath the mound was a pile of sauerkraut. It was all just wonderful. As I was pondering the final bites a violinist entered the room, serenading us with tunes from the nutcracker, Air on a G String, the march from Mozart's K331, a medley from Carmen and other crowd pleasers. The crowd was indeed pleased, and I think his hat was filled as he left. As for me, I had to decide on dessert. I chose a Sable Choco-crunch avec poires, always choosing the pear dessert especially when it involves chocolate. It arrived a small round tart with a few pear chunks, mounted by vanilla ice cream (from Madagascar, the menu gushed) and a trio of nut-embedded chocolate bark shards arranged to resemble the spire of a cathedral. Around it a sauce lapped the plate's edges. I shouldn't have, of course, particularly after all that butter but it was very good.
The tables next to me left, and I decided to do the same, choosing a different path home through the Place Gutenburg and Place Kleber then down the rue du 22 Novembre by the St Pierre le Vieux church, across the Ill and back to my room. Although I wished I had more time in Strasbourg and cursed my ill-considered decision to head to Cologne in the morning at 9:45, I decided to check the NPR newscast one more time, check out t
he TV and head to bed.
energetic
Arrived in Grenoble just after noon for the 'To the Edge of the Universe' meeting, in celebration of IRAM's 30th birthday. I traveled with Jeff Mangum but while he headed out with friends I crashed in the hotel for a nap. A few hours later, hunger prodded me awake so I thought I'd look up a nice restaurant. No doing. All the fine places are closed on Sunday it appears, at least the ones nearby (glad to read this news on the internet rather than by wearing out my shoes).
ded 'Le Privilege' so when I saw a sandwich board for them I sat right down. They had a nice pave saumon with grilled vegetables for an entree so I chowed down in the warm evening air. Turned out it wasn't the restaurant I thought it was--the tables all run together--but it worked nicely nonetheless.