Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Scenic yet Strange Sights of Stockholm

So, in my third trip in a row across the Atlantic, I went to Stockholm, Sweden for the International Conference on Cyber-Physical Systems. Guess what? Our paper was the very first talk in the very first meeting of ICCPS! But enough about that.

My first day, I got to do some sweet sightseeing. The city was really pretty, but there were definitely some strange things about to see. The downtown area is all on the water, with bridges connecting to the mainland:

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Apparently this guy really liked it too... Hope he doesn't get too cold with just that helmet on:

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There were some really nice little squares in Old Town; here is me trying to take an artsy photograph from a cafe where I had coffee:

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Also in old town: a whole shop full of trolls. They had a little guy out front as advertisement:

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I also found this very interestingly titled bar, and I couldn't resist taking a picture:

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After all that sightseeing on Monday, I had to get serious for two days and go to my conference. Wednesday night, the conference hosted a banquet, complete with speeches and opera singing! It was held in the fabulous City Hall, which apparently was built in the 1930s to hold the celebrations for the Nobel Prizes. Our banquet was in the "gold room" (appropriately named), which apparently is not where the Nobel banquet is normally held, but it is where they have the dancing afterwards. Here are some sweet pictures:

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The conference lasted through Thursday, but I had to leave early to catch up with Nicci in San Antonio (see our next post...). Thank goodness I did! I got out just before the Iceland volcano. In fact, I was probably the last flight to leave Stockholm Thursday morning before they closed the airport. Just about everyone else who went with me to the conference is still there, as of today, the following Wednesday!

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