Pilgrimage to visit with Gauss

Today we traveled to Gottingen (there should be an umlaut over the "o"), a two hour train ride away from Bielefeld. Gottingen is home to a university that employed some of history's most important scientists and philosophers, in particular, the mathematicians, Carl Gauss and David Hilbert. Even though Dave and I study very different mathematics, both of us are mathematically descended from Gauss, i.e. he is our Ph.D advisor's Ph.D advisor's Ph.D advisor's ... Ph.D advisor. Even if you are not a mathematician, you might know of Gauss. His face used to be pictured on the German 10 Mark bill (Germans value their mathematicians!), and the Gaussian curve is named after him, that is, the dreaded "curve" that students fear when tests are graded. Here is the whole family in front of Gauss' grave.

Gottingen is a beautiful town. Here is the sight we saw as we walked out of the Gottingen train station.When I say we see a lot of bikes in Germany, I mean, we see a lot of bikes.Strolling through the old downtown. Gottingen's old buildings are still standing, and it has a wonderful feel. From what we've seen of Bielefeld, it doesn't seem to have much for old quaint buildings. Perhaps Bielefeld was hit particularly hard in the bombings in WWII (it was a factory town).Katie was swinging on this swingset in downtown Gottingen as Grace and I watched.In the park where Gauss' grave is located. This was a playground for kids. It is all rocks imaginatively carved to look like animals.

Dave and Isaac enjoying the beautiful day. In this particular park, we saw a fellow practicing his juggling with bowling pins while simultaneously chain smoking, and a couple practicing their tight-rope walking on a rope they strung between two trees.All the following pictures are taken by Katie. This is Sam asleep on the train ride home. He has been such a wonderful traveler - he walks everywhere and doesn't complain. But it sure wears him out. (Today, he purchased a German "Lego" kit to make a Polizei helicopter. We got to see many polizei on our return to Bielefeld. There was a soccer match that had just finished, and the fans get a bit rowdy, so there were oodles of storm-trooper-looking police covering the train station downtown.)These are our compartment mates, a bemused German couple, on the first leg of our journey back to Bielefeld this evening. They got a kick out of Sam's instant sleep. The train was one of the older models, and boy, did it feel like you were riding on a train. All the windows were open, the carriage rattled, and the noise of the train was so loud you couldn't hear your seatmate.Dave enjoying the view of German farmland from the train window. He said it was the best train ride of his life. This is Katie's selfportrait, with Dave.