Mater dolorosa

When You descended - Οτε Κατήλθες

And Joseph from Arimathea with Necodemus buried Jesus in a newly built Tomb...

Tegernsee

I had the good fortune to visit castle Ringeberg overlooking lake Tegernsee in Bavaria. The weather has been extremely kind to us. Two gorgeous "Indian Summer" days, with the nature around us being breathtaking!!

I don't know exactly what it is, but I find Bavaria a very welcoming place.
In a post to follow, I will give you some more info on the interesting history of the castle we stayed at.

Bis dann!

Many Thanks!

Done!
I have to say, it was the most enjoyable examination I ever had in my life.
A large part was due to my close friends who stood next to me during these three years and during the last hour of the defense.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart! You are the best!

The Sun today

In case you missed it, the Sun was shinning bright this morning!
Click to enlarge and count the sunspots! (Minus the dirt on your screen...)

Compare to this image to see if you got them right:

http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/SunInTime/2012/05/31/l4500.jpg

Request 2

Dear Santa,
I have never asked something very fancy. This year I will be more demanding.
This year I would like a time-machine.
I know I am being too irrational for a physicist, but, heck, you are the Santa and have a sleigh pulled by flying raindeer, and you can distribute a billion presents overnight and all. I am pretty sure you can't do it without a time machine.
If you can't find one more, could you please change the calendar so that after 7 Jan I can get a 27 Jun?
Anyway, if you insist that I should obey the laws of Physics, please give to me and my beloved, health, peace and a healthy level of insanity to overcome the complexities of 2012.
Ah! I could also find some good use for an one way ath-muc ticket for 5-15 Jul.

Yours

Kostakis

new M.A.Sc. in the house

Shout-out to my good friend Idipous who successfully defended his Master thesis today!
He is not in Paris, but I know that it is one of his favorite cities!

Best wishes Idipous!!!

Now the plane and the full moon

I feel extremely lucky tonight! I welcome you to enjoy the full moon from my balcony.



p.s. Best spent money of the last year

Now the moon

Finally, a warm day! Enjoy a rarely seen Moon from cloudy Munich!

Behind Eros and Psyche

 

Have you ever wondered how some of the famous sculptures look from behind? I did. And here I share with you the rear view of "Eros and Psyche" which is on display in the Louvre.

The Louvre is a great (in terms of both size and quality) museum in the centre of Paris. In order to get in you have to wait in a looooong queue or use a more convenient workaround (knock the door and we will answer). It is essentially an attempt to gather every single piece of art created in the world up to the mid 19th century and put it in one museum. Most of the items on display are taken from palaces after the abolishment of monarchy, and "souvenirs" brought by Napoleon and other French officials during their trips. Good thing, the short guy didn't invade China, because Louvre is not big enough for the Chinese wall.

We confirm rumours that Mona Lisa is NOT a reason to visit Louvre, especially mid-July! It is a small painting which you will have to see from a distance due to the crowd of tourists who are there to see Mona Lisa. I guess because they have seen her everywhere and wish to confirm the good reproduction. Da Vinci was a very productive artist and Louvre has many better works of his. May we suggest the Madonna of the Rocks?

conGRADs!!!

Thumbs Up for Costas defending successfully his PhD Thesis today!

hundredth bottleth

100 cheers for our 100 posts!

Spotted in a classic bar in Plaka, Athens.

Kostas-Sotiria

P.S. Q:What does a hiccups of a Physicist sound like?  A: Higgs!

The river and the castle

 

Heidelberg. One of the most beautiful towns we have ever visited. And the locals are really kind and helpful.

When you go, visit the castle and find the big barrel. There is a sign "zum grossen fass".

Did you know that the University of Heidelberg used to have a student prison (studentenkarzer), where they condemned students for misbehavior like womanizing, drinking etc? Apparently the locals don't. A taxi driver told us: "Student prison? We have a prison but it's for all the people". After some search a greek student told us where it is. Unfortuanatelly it was closed...

Observing the sunset

Nowadays, the National Observatory of Athens is located on hill outside the city, in Penteli.

The buildings there are not as pretty as the old one but the view is amazing. Quite ironic for an astronomer to watch the sunset while leaving instead of going to work!

Even the new site is inappropriate for observations but nevertheless, the 62.5cm Newall telescope is used for public outreach and educational purposes.
In case you would like to visit during one of the open nights, here is the site :)

Belgian Bier

Q: What could be better than an endless amount of true Belgian bier?

A: Our good Belgian friends who brought it all the way from Belgium! :)

Zaganiari by night

Summer time. Tranquillity. Landscape lit mainly by stars. Once in a while a car. A capture of 30 seconds. Theetsa's culinary art enjoyed in the balcony later that night.

Home.-

Spiral galaxy

Example of how it would look like living inside a typical spiral galaxy.

La Luna

Ok, this is not a good quality picture. I find it a bit difficult to take pictures of the moon, day or night. I bet a zoom lens would help a lot.

Nevertheless, it is a day to remember in Munich. The sky is clear! :D

Vassilopita

 

Happy new year everybody!

In greek households, we hide a coin inside a round cake called Vassilopita and cut it just after the turn of the year or in one of the following days. The host distributes the cake between Jesus, St. Vassileios, the Poor, the House, members of the family and the guests. The person who finds the coin in their share is the lucky one of the year.

Kostas Sotiria

cookie 1. Vassilo-pita has no gyro or tzatziki. However it is still a pita.

cookie 2a. Vassilopita is the pie of St. Vassileios, bishop of Caesarea, today Kayseri in Kappadokia, Turkey.  This custom is in memory of the pies he gave away to the people with coins inside to return some money gathered by the church.

cookie 2b. He is the saint that brings presents to good children in Greece. Although while alive, he was a rather ascetic figure, today is dressed in red, is fat with white beard and of course drives a sleigh pulled by flying raindeer. Sounds familiar?

cookie 3. There is no coin in the cheesecake.

Ballet

We spent the evening at the Staatstheater in Munich today. We enjoyed the "sleeping beauty". Everything was amazing, but I liked especially the costumes.

On the way home I rehearsed my "slipping into the new year" if you know what I mean ;)

Merry Christmas to everyone!