European Science Tour: Part I. Germany

I was fortunate to be invited to Europe for two separate science related meetings, back to back, which generated enough impetus for me to be allowed to spend Clemson money on a 10day trip! I first flew from Greenville to Chicago and then from Chicago to Frankfurt.  I landed at ~9:30 am local time after not sleeping. My friend Anita, who worked with me in my PhD lab, happens to work at Bayer CropScience in Frankfurt. She was able to meet me at the airport so I did not have to navigate hailing a German Taxi or talk any German besides "Danke". Unfortunately it was the beginning of her work day which meant getting picked up and going into work with her for ~ 8 hrs. Since I was there to visit some scientists at Bayer, I had many delirious meetings and talked a lot of weed science with some scientists who have funded my projects, past and future. I also got to get on the bench and help out troubleshooting some of there KASP assays.  Luckily Margaret and I do this on a regular basis... well Margaret does and I offer council if I can. As per usual with KASP they have been trying for a couple months with no luck.  I was able to show them exactly what Margaret and I do and it worked perfectly! 

The 777 that flew me to Germany... To big to pull up to our terminal so we had to walk over the tarmac.

Anita showing me her experiment.

Touching tubes and pipettes for the first time in over a year.

Feeling very silly following all of the extreme Germany safety protocols

A cool german pub where I was treated to dinner by Anita and Roland... We had traditional German food (Schnitzel, Spaetzle, and Green Sauce which is a Frankfurt specialty.) Traditional German food is incredibly bland. No Salt, No pepper unless requested. The beer is the best though.

Ancient walls that were part of some fortification and now houses shops.

More Old masonry.

Freaky Geese that wander the Bayer Complex.

I didn't get to see much in Germany hence no good pictures.  I had to fly to England the next night and I was in meetings 90% of my waking time there. It was exhausting but interesting.

After one night in Frankfurt I took a late night flight to England and took an hour long taxi ride north of London to St Albans to visit Rothemsted Research and my collaborators there. I was one worn out dude!