Last weekend, I attended a conference in Germany. I used the opportunity during my sabbatical to return to this conference series, which I attended the last time in 2002.
The conference takes place in a small village in the Harz, a Mittelgebirge (I didn’t know that this is an English word!) in Northern Germany.
![](https://physics.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Post_ToConference_Hiking-768x1024.jpeg)
Because I had time, I chose to walk/hike the 7 miles from the train station in the next larger town Goslar to the hotel. It was wonderful and my most relaxing travel to a conference site ever. Because of the rain in the last days, some parts where pretty wet and some streams got larger than usual. But other people ‘built’ already crossing
![](https://physics.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Post_ToConfernce_Footprints.jpeg)
One thing I remembered, after it was too late: A shortcut is not always the best path to take. If you save on distance traveled in a mountainous regions you could pay with an increase in slope! Not surprising but interesting to realize.
![](https://physics.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Post_toConference_Shortcut.jpeg)
After my talk, listening to presentations, and talking to many friends and colleagues, I hiked back on Tuesday. I stopped at a lake and a bear cave until the sun started to get pretty low. This is when I took a picture of my gigantic shadow.
![](https://physics.wooster.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Post_FromConference-768x1024.jpeg)