Carlo's expressions

Kiel — Altstadt

Today featured a lot of sleeping, not just by Carlo. The weather continued sunny and was not so cold as yesterday. We did get in a nice afternoon walk through some of the older parts of Kiel. Among the interesting features were a few statues and bronzes commemorating German unification in the late 19th century. The last bit of raging crocuses were blooming. And I learned that Max Planck was born in Kiel. Carlo is content to sleep in his stroller, so he's easy on long walks.

Kiel — day 1

We arrived in Kiel this morning for a visit with Alexis, Elmar, and Carlo. Rani joined from Japan. The journey didn't go as expected because Lufthansa pilots declared a strike. Our nicely scheduled flight from SFO to Hamburg via Frankfurt was cancelled. No help from airport staff. After returning home from SFO, Ingrid managed to arrange an alternate routing. That's the good news. The bad news: back-to-back red eye flights with a 12-h layover in Newark. Anyway, we made it.

Our outing today was a walk along the Kiel Canal (Nordsee Ostsee Kanal) starting at a free ferry crossing (for pedestrians and cyclists) and ending at a most pleasant coffee and pastry shop. It's still early-spring cold here, with a high temperature of perhaps 6 °C (43 °F) and a brisk chilling breeze. After seven months in Singapore and two absurdly warm winter months in Oakland, I wasn't quite ready for the chill (and I didn't pack enough warm clothes). At least it was sunny!

Clouds and Branches

Happy Birthday, Ingrid!

A rare Thursday off. Lunch at Green's in Fort Mason. A long walk along the San Francisco waterfront on a surprisingly warm late January day. Nice!

Our final Singapore weekend

Saturday feature: We hosted a potluck dinner for several of the research staff working on our team, including Jinwen, Jenny, Rita, Yan, and Ailu.

Sunday feature #1: Cicada (we hear them frequently, but never before saw one here).

Sunday feature #2: Walking the Southern Ridges, from Vivo City to Kent Ridge MRT.

New Year's Day in Singapore

We visited familiar areas, but found new features and new views.

Winged angel at the Armenian Church

Sally port at Fort Canning

Support and Displaced (Aileen Toh)

Study in contrasts: Tropical foliage

Javanese influence is evident in this wall tile

Brick walk in Fort Canning Park

Bird's Nest ferns in a magnificent tree

The "Earlier Mona Lisa," on display at the Arts House

Stylized Christmas trees at the Esplanade

Gardens by the Bay domes seen from Singapore Flyer plaza