European cities in the spring

European cities and towns are invariably interesting from an historical perspective and I had the great opportunity to visit a few of these on my recent trip across the pond.

Partec 2013 was held as usual in the Ost part of the Nürnberg Messe. It’s a tri‐annual event with Powtec held every 18 months. Thus every 3 years there’s a big combined exhibition and technical program that also includes Pharmatech. This is always an ‘easy’ event for me because of the familiarity with the hotel (Arvena Park – where I once was surprised to see the Dylan Project – and they were even more surprised that I recognized them!), the familiarity with the mega‐efficient U‐Bahn, and the friends in GmbH and other distributors that I get the chance to meet again.

And then there’s Nürnberg… What a city! By the way I hate the Anglicized spelling of Nuremberg. And I’ll not even start on Köln….

There’s the historical side of Nürnberg with the magnificent castle and church combined with the more modern history dealing with the Second World War and its consequences. So it’s never a trial to go to Nürnberg; it never runs rings around me, and I always rally round. I arrived early – on Saturday night giving me a free day on Sunday to get over the 6‐hour jet lag before the Malvern GmbH stand build on Monday. So, no debate – a day wandering around the city of Nürnberg until I was more tired than a tired man. The one thing that fascinates me is looking up at all the ‘little things’ on the big buildings:

And then a town I’d never seen before. It’s called Goslar and is in the Harz Mountains. And the reason for being there? The ISO Particle Characterization meeting was held at the Clausthal Pulverhaus. So, after a train journey from Nürnberg to Göttingen Note the umlaut) and a taxi ride with Steve Ward‐Smith, we were there:

Now Clausthal is a fascinating mining town (the 2 main mining shafts being called Dorothea and Caroline with Gothe being a famous visitor saying that he’s never seen 2 such dirty girls…) with the world’s largest wooden church and the Upper Harz Mining Museum. Goslar is something else…

The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines of Rammelsberg are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It was silver that brought Goslar and its people wealth. There’s so much history that I should refer you to the website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goslar. Again the decorations on the buildings (many immoral and facing the church!) are incredible. We had a guide (“Holly) who was originally from Texas and lived in Oregon. She spiced up the historical events and made everyone laugh and forget the steady rain that was coming down. And then a traditional Bavarian meal to complete the evening. I had the Huntsman’s pan. I could finish the wonderful food in it but not the pan itself – made of cast iron…

And talking of towns who can forget Malvern on a gloriously hot May Bank Holiday with the bluebells, primroses, and some remaining daffodils out on the hills?

Home Sweet Home! And for another 6 months…