Today was the last day of the 2008 Lindau Meeting. I took the usual 8.30am bus and alighted at the train station stop instead of the usual one, since my destination today was the Lindau Harbour. Some of the participants, who were taking the train straight after the boat ride, had checked-in the baggage at the counter in the Inselhalle. We just arrived in time and the participants had already lined up to enter the boat. (To fit in more than 600 people, you will need a big boat.) The boat departed at 9am, stopped and picked up the Nobel Laureates from Hotel Bad Schachen. The boat ride took around three hours to reach its destination, the Isle of Mainau, a place that resembles a flower park.
With three hours on the boat, the Nobel Laureates cannot escape, just like what Countess Bettina said. (Yes, another great opportunity to have personal chat with the Laureates.) As for me, I had a personal photo with Dr. Osheroff. He told the participants his stories, such as he found out that the common interest he and his wife shared is photography. Let me give you an idea how good his camera is, imagine one photo size of around 200 MB! He was also chatting with other participants about the techniques of photography. One thing I can say, he loves photography.
Say Cheese!
We finally reached the Isle of Mainau. Before the guided tour, we were reminded that there will be lunch break at 1pm. And of course, Dr. Osheroff was taking photograph. Anyway, I could not understand the brochure I got for the Isle of Mainau because it was in German. I wanted to follow the tour but the crowd is just too big and I decided to see the park myself.
Flowers, grass and trees everywhere.
More flowers.
We reached the lunch site at around 1pm; there were many delicious foods again. The buffet lunch was in the Castle and the Palmenhaus, much like a tropical preservation dome. I was too greedy and I took a lot of deserts for my lunch, which made me regret later. I was so full and could not walk. The sweetness of the desserts made me felt worse.
Tropical dome.
The farewell ceremony and conclusion of the meeting were held at the Mainau Castle at 3pm. The Nobel Laureates sit under the tents and the participants were standing around the farewell ceremony. There were many speeches given. First, the speeches of the State Premier of Baden-Württemberg, Günther H. Oettinger and Countess Bettina Bernadotte. Dr. David Gross was the representative for the Nobel Laureates and gave his speech too. The representative of Thai delegates was given the honour to represent the participants and gave a closing speech as well. The closing ceremony ended and everyone were walking back to the boat.
Farewell...
During the returning boat trip, the fire brigade boat did a marvellous water show. The boat spray waters and circled around our boat. So, what is so special about that? Well, when the angle is right, by law of physics, rainbow was created. A good way to mark the end of this wonderful journey. Later, we had also magic and ‘hair-dressing’ show in the boat while we were enjoying the nice scenery.
Somewhere over the rainbow.
The boat arrived again at the Hotel Bad Schachen to drop off the Nobel Laureates. As this was the last time the participants would be seeing the Nobel Laureates, we all gave them a big round of applause as token of appreciation. The applause was like never ending. Dr. Osheroff was very responsive to us and waved his elongated tripod. I felt sad as this was it, the end.
Bye bye.
When we reached back the Harbor, everyone was left to do our things. I was surprised that the Lindau Meeting ended just like this. Everybody greeted their friends, who they made during this meeting. As for me, I ended my trip here with a MacDonald’s Dinner.
I’m loving it.
Well, that is all folks. Stay tuned for the post visit.
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