Panorama

Next time you find yourself in LBT, have a look out from the window. You have a handy guide (click on image to enlarge) to spot all the visible mountain peaks including some useful information such as height and distance. :)

Such a cool idea!

Dead

Something else I witnessed for the first time in my life while in Arizona was a dead cactus. Apparently, they can die of old age or due to all the expected reasons fire, humans etc. A rotting cactus is a sad sight though. Spotted on the way up to mount. Lemmon.

In the background you have the city of Tucson.

The Largest Binocular!

The Large Binocular Telescope - LBT is located at Mt. Graham in Arizona, USA.
It consists of two 8.4m diameter telescopes under one roof, and operates in the optical and infrared.

In the picture you see one of the two telescopes. The whole structure is so big that it was impossible to take a picture of the whole thing with my lens. I should have bought that fish-eye lens I wanted some months ago!

I was amazed by the smooth movement of this gigantic instrument and I am grateful for being there. We managed to get some good data and hopefully I will inform you about the results soon!

33 000 ft

Last week I have been observing the american night sky from a mountain about 10 700 ft high (3200m). I wanted to take nice pictures of the stars but it was impossible this time.
Instead, I took a picture of the sky on the way home to Munich. So there you have it, this is how the sky looks like from 33 000 ft (10000m) above the Earth.
Not very impressive? Try to keep your hand steady for 2-3 seconds in a moving airplane! That is impressive! :)

Tomorrow I will show you the telescope!!

Cactus

Cactus spotted in Tucson, Arizona. Very interesting place this is. More fun facts about it in the following days, for the moment the jet lag is calling me.

Cold

It is rather cold today! :)

p.s. I am getting my feet wet in time-lapse photography, stay tuned!

Green and blue, a statue and a lighthouse

Δεν μπόρεσε να μάθει καν το επ ώμου,
Κι όλο εμουρμούριζε "κυρ δεκανεα μου,
ασε με να γυρίσω στο χωριό μου".
Difficult to translate this verse by Kostas Kariotakis, this great Greek poet. I am looking forward to see this view again in summer as a civilian.

Oliven

Olives for our beloved friends.

Why everyone feels tired after a holiday break? Equivalent question to "why did the chicken cross the road?" I suppose.

happy new year!

The sky might be temporarily cloudy, but the sunshine in the horizon is bright.

From the bottom of our hearts we wish you a fruitful new beginning!

Kostas - Sotiria

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

Gray city: Munich

The snow lasted only for a day.
Warm winter (that is temperatures above zero) is plain sad.

Just because

Trying to cheer up all the people out there. Random flower from a long time ago...

White things

Finally!

The white things started falling from the sky again.

This winter has been very warm, only yesterday the temperature was about 10 degrees Celsius, but dropping dramatically was never really a problem.

Request 1

Dear Saint Basil (of Caesarea),

what about a small boat this year?
You see, there are some very beautiful and quiet places that we cannot reach on foot. We tried!

Keep me posted. But if you decide to bring one this year, please bring it directly to the island. It would be such a hassle to transport it from Munich all the way to Greece.

Cheers,

Sotiria

Jingle Bells

What are going to write in your letter to Santa this year?

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!!!

bitte berühren

When I was little, I was taught NEVER to touch any of the exhibits in a museum. This of course out of respect towards the works of art, since they will be quickly ruined if each and everyone of us touched for a example a statue or a painting. Imagine my frustration and the deadly looks I give to people when I realize that they are touching something (yes, I am looking at you!).
But, I have heard -on the radio perhaps- that special museums have been created especially for blind people and for children where you are encouraged to touch replicas of famous statues. What a great idea!
The Louvre, has a small room where you can touch the statuettes and this is where we spotted this little guy. I have to admit that I was hesitating to touch it :)

traffic lights: Munich

Desperatly trying to convince pedestrians not to cross the road. Perhaps a sign with something like: "Please pedestrians, don't cross the road :( " would be more effective. spotted: in Munich close to Marienplatz.

2012 Update:

The People have spoken, this traffic light is no longer in place :)

Dancing ladies

One of the things I like about Germany is the spontaneus events in streets and parks, involving happy people. This one spotted in a hot August day in Englischer Garten, Munich Germany, close to the Chinese tower.

Κουράγιο Αδέρφια!

Many people ask me what is the situation like in Greece. Well, there you have it, a picture is worth 1000 words.

No one knows how is the prime minister thinking. What worries me is that maybe even he doesn't know what he is doing. Maybe this is all part of a truly genius plan that we are unable to conceive.

Κουράγιο αδέρφια....

p.s. Ironically enough, the picture is from the East side gallery in Berlin.