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Vikas Aggarwal took Victoria Argyle and I to the Technik Museum Speyer in Germany. They had all sorts of different types of locomotion including trains, planes, automobiles and underwater submarines.

We got strapped to the side of a Boeing 747 and taken for a flight. It was quite blustery but I managed to snap the following pic just after takeoff.

Flying on the side of a Boeing 747 at full pelt can be quite windy, I recommend taking some goggles along.

My plans of becoming a sub-mariner were squashed as soon as I entered this thing. It is the most seriously cramped place I

And to really put paid to my sub-mariner plans, these torpedo bays are only meters from the bedroom area.

A Cosmonaut suit.

Vikas decided to go first-class instead of wing-class on the Boeing 747.

Boeing 747

This was actually taken at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, but it seemed like an appropriate place to put it.

When in the Black Forest, we all went photo crazy with lots of pictures to be taken of the beautiful scenery.

Vikas Aargarwaal lining up another master piece

Vicki taking a photo of yours truly

Fabian shooting a small stream

Vikas Aggarwaal took us to the Black Forest in south western Germany. The scenery made it feel like home We took a short Gondola ride to the top of a ski field (summer season) and went on a scenic walk through the forest.

Our lab got renovated recently. It doesn’t look anything like this old school chemistry lab we saw at the Heidelburg castle though!

Here are some photos I found kicking around on my hard drive that I’d forgotten to upload to the web.

Vicki Argyle in an alcove at Davids Castle in Jerusalem, Israel

Vikas and Stephanie at the Heidelburg Castle in Germany

Vicki Argyle on a strange wooden seat at the Speyer transport museum in Germany

Vicki Argyle outside the Heidelburg castle's walls

After our day trip to Karlsruhe, Vicki and I met up with Vikas Aggarwal (another former labmate of mine) and headed over to Heidelburg. When we arrived, we met up with my old friend Sandra Panienka and Vikas’s friend Stephanie Jungkunz.

Sandra Panienka, Stephanie Jungkunz, Victoria Argyle and Vikas Aggarwal

The city is incredibly beautiful. High up on the hilltop is the famous Heidelberg Castle which went to visit.

Heidelburg castle

Entrance to Heidelburg castle

Stephanie standing in front of the castle

Vicki and Stephanie checking out the local architecture

Vikas - up close and personal

After galavanting around England, Vicki Argyle and I headed off to Karlsruhe in Germany, where Frederik Klöwer (my ex-labmate) picked us up from the airport and took us to the “Institut für Anorganische Chemie der Universität Karlsruhe”, which is the inorganic chemistry department of Karlsruhe university. We got to meet Frederik’s lab mates, including Julia Rinck who is coming to Dunedin shortly. Frederik also took us on a tour of the city of Karlsruhe and taught me some highly useful German phrases such as ‘Willst du mich heiraten?’.

Frederik Klöwer and Vicki Argyle

And the prize for the busiest tourist attraction in London goes to … the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

I took the photo below by standing on my tippy toes, waving my camera held high and clicking away in the vain hope that I’d get a photo of something interesting.

Vicki tried the same approach, but had a lot more luck than I did!

I travelled to Brighton in Southern England to visit my friend Kerry Perkins. There were lots of lobster coloured people on the beach, er stones. Nice place, but I’d recommend avoiding the fish ‘n’ chips, they’re a little nasty. Below is a nice photo taken from the Brighton pier at sunset.

After hanging out in Brighton, Kerry and I headed north to see London on skates