From owner-sc22wg5 Mon Aug 19 12:33:23 2002 Received: from nameserv.rl.ac.uk (nameserv.rl.ac.uk [130.246.135.129]) by dkuug.dk (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id MAA71669 for ; Mon, 19 Aug 2002 12:33:23 +0200 (CEST) (envelope-from jkr@jkr.cc.rl.ac.uk) Received: from jkr.cc.rl.ac.uk (jkr.cc.rl.ac.uk [130.246.8.20]) by nameserv.rl.ac.uk (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id LAA06847 for ; Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:34:12 +0100 Received: (from jkr@localhost) by jkr.cc.rl.ac.uk (8.8.8+Sun/8.8.8) id LAA12012 for SC22WG5@dkuug.dk; Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:37:54 +0100 (BST) Date: Mon, 19 Aug 2002 11:37:54 +0100 (BST) From: John Reid Message-Id: <200208191037.LAA12012@jkr.cc.rl.ac.uk> To: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk Subject: WG5 meeting in Dresden MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ----- Begin Included Message ----- From: Wolfgang Walter X-Sequence: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk 2511 Errors-To: SC22WG5-request@dkuug.dk Subject: (SC22WG5.2511) WG5 meeting in Dresden To: SC22WG5@dkuug.dk Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 16:48:59 +0200 (MET DST) Cc: wwalter@math.tu-dresden.de (Wolfgang Walter), Fortran-AK@GMD.DE (Fortran DIN Arbeitskreis) In-Reply-To: <200201211031.LAA47437@dkuug.dk> from "Michael Metcalf" at Jan 21, 2002 11:31:50 AM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear members of WG5, in the midst of severe flooding in major parts of the city of Dresden, I would like to send a quick note regarding the WG5 meeting in Dresden. Most importantly: YES, I will be able to organize the meeting here in Dresden next summer as agreed, from July 28th to August 1st. Even though Dresden and major parts of the state of Saxony as well as parts of other states, e.g. Bavaria are currently undergoing the most destructive flooding in recorded history, one year's time will certainly "heal a lot of wounds". Walt Brainerd had asked me whether it would be possible to organize a joint excursion to the beautiful city of Prague (which is also experiencing its worst flooding ever these days). My answer is that it is always worth going to Prague, which will likely remain one of the most beautiful and best preserved cities of Europe despite the current flooding. On the other hand, there might also be some interest in visiting Berlin or in staying in the Dresden area for a few days. I have appended my draft response to Walt's letter (I did not send it to him). If you have a few spare moments today or tomorrow, please take a poll on the following questions: 0. How many are likely to come to Dresden? 1. Who is interested in going to Prague right after the WG5 meeting in Dresden? I don't really need the names, but a rough estimate of how many people are likely to go. 2. How many days would you like to spend in Prague? Is "about 3 days" (e.g. arrival on Saturday, departure on Tuesday) what you had in mind? It is, of course, no big problem to take another train earlier or later - assuming the railway problems will have been resolved by then (the tracks follow the Elbe river, so they have been damaged by the flooding). 3. Who is more interested in going to Berlin right after the meeting in Dresden? I don't really need the names, but a rough estimate of how many people would prefer to go to Berlin. 4. If you are more interested in visiting Berlin, how many days would you like to spend there? Well, I hope to hear from you soon and hope to see you all in Dresden next summer, Wolfgang ====================================================================== Walt, I had been thinking along these lines already, but the choice of city to visit was not so obvious to me: 1. Berlin has seen a tremendous amount of reconstruction and new building activity in recent years and has some fantastic museums - my personal favorites are the museums for Mesopotamian, Greek and Roman history housing original reconstructions of large sections of temples, city gates (esp. those of Babylon), etc. Of course, you can also learn a lot about the recent history of the city and the GDR, visit Checkpoint Charlie or the remains of the "wall", etc. Berlin is certainly worth at least a 2 to 3 day visit, and it is only 2 to 3 hours from Dresden, by train or by car. 2. Prague is definitely one of the most beautiful and best preserved medieval cities in Europe and has a rich history as well as a very active music scene with excellent classical music, but also traditional dance and coffee house music, etc. Prague is about the same distance from Dresden as Berlin (3 hours max. by train or car) and just as worthwhile to visit. If you don't have time for both, the choice is pretty difficult imho. As far as I know, US citizens and even citizens of most European countries are required to have visas (German citizens only need a passport or personal ID card) to enter the Czech Republic. 3. Dresden has a lot to offer in its own way, with its many parks, chateaus, castles and fortresses in and around the city, with one of Germany's best opera houses (including ballet), and with some very fine museums (esp. "Old Masters" (paintings) in the "Zwinger", the court "paraphenalia" in the "Green Vault" (now partially in the newly reconstructed castle), the "Mathematical/Technical Salon" with a good collection of old astronomical instruments, time pieces, and mechanical calculators, and last, not least, the porcelain collection. European porcelain making originated in Dresden and soon moved to the nearby city of Meissen where every piece is strictly handmade up to this day. The typical visit of the factory includes a tour (multilingual headsets available) showing (live) and explaining the various stages of porcelain making (not in the actual production area) and a self-guided tour of the museum showcasing close to 300 years of porcelain production in Meissen. For those of you who are curious about the reconstruction of the Frauenkirche ("Our Lady" church), which was completely demolished on February 13, 1945, but whose ruins lay largely untouched until 1993: its exterior and parts of its interior will be finished by next summer - thanks to donations from all over the world. It should be interesting to see how much progress they have made. --- So the choice is yours . . . Best wishes, Wolfgang ----- End Included Message -----