Wed 10 Sep

Christine meets me at the Stuttgart Hbhf and we take the U-Bahn to her place, which is a very small walk-up. It's not very difficult getting there since I have only the two bags now. We go out for dinner with her friend Angelika at a Mexican restaurant and have a good time.

Thurs 11 Sep

We travel by U/S-bahn to Daimler Chrysler , finding after one missed train and a short walk. There, we met with Holger Meinel who explained how his group worked, introduced us to colleagues, gave us gifts, and took us to lunch. Then I held my talk, which was a fair success.

Along the way, we saw the new Mercedes sports car and the really cute new Smart (Swatch) sports car.

Holger was kind enough to drop Christine back at her place and take me and my luggage to Ulm. He had worked all day to locate my missing luggage. Aer Lingus said that it had arrived somewhere in Stuttgart that morning, but since Aer Lingus had no offices here, no one really knew where exactly. Eventually, after making a lot of phone calls all day, Holger got British Airways to promise that they had the Rucksack and would deliver it to my hotel in Ulm that night. Holger drove me into Ulm and fairly easily found the Schiefes Haus. Just how schief this house is, is best apprciated with a little distance. What is really wonderful is that all of the furnishings inside are modern, and every room has been done in a different style. The old beams are everywhere and the floors slant. But the bed and other furnishings are hand-cut to be flat.

I have dinner with Hogel, Ingo Melzer, and Alfred Katzenbach and a wonderful very small place in back of the Hbhf and wnen I stagger back to my room, wonder of wonders, the Rucksack has been delivered. Gottseidank, because Friday, tomorrow, I am traveling to Bechteesgaden to go hiking.

Fri 12 Sep

I walk around the Altstadt of Ulm in the morning. There is lots of Fachwerk here in the Altstadt built around the two small clear streams that run through the town.

I find the place where Albert Einstein's house used to stand. The memorial says "Here stood the house in which on 14 March 1879 Albret Einstein came into the world." In a nearby village, there is a plaque that says that Albert Einstein lived there until four months before he was born.

I buy my train tickets for later, and a new metal water bottle in a department store. They stocked the SIG .75l bottle in blue, just what I wanted. Now I am set. I got back to the Schiefeshaus to check out and wait Ingo by drinking water on the enclosed but outdoor porch that hangs out over the beautiful stream.

Ingo takes me to lunch at DC and also finds a way to get through their firewall so that I can read email and send picture files. Then I meet with Alfred for several hours. Ingo gets me to the Hbhf in time to catch my train to München, where Christine picks me up with a car that she has rented in Stuttgart and we are off to out Berchtesgaden trip .