Back From Germany

The trip went really well. We learned a lot about the Physcomitrella Genome databases after arriving at the hotel. After the rain we had a tour around the city. The part of Freiburg that we were introduced to was the old historic part of town. We walked through the third city graveyard. It was in use from the mid 1600's to the late 1800's. Now it is a park. There and how to use them, but I won't belabor the technical details. It was cloudy and rainy for the first part of the trip, but we did have this great rainbow were quite a few mosses tucked next to the gravestones and on the rock wall surrounding the graveyard. I didn't get the chance to take any up close shots or to identify any species but I did see some German mosses.

Our tour also included a walk through the center of the old city and the open square that surrounds the cathedral. They have a market in this area of town daily. When we arrived in the square late in the day most of the booths were taken down. A few flower stands and the bratwurst stand were the last ones open. We didn't buy any flowers, because 1) you can't bring them back into the US and 2) I study mosses. It would be a betrayal to purchase gaudy angiosperms in Germany when we didn't really have a chance to fully appreciate the native mosses in the surrounding mountainsides. However we did partake in the bratwurst and the awesome curry ketchup, which I brought back as a souvenir.

Overall it was a whirlwind trip. We were in Germany for only three days. I would definitely like to return for a longer period of time and to focus on collecting mosses in the field.