Woke up really late, and found I’d been robbed! My wallet was missing from my bag!! I couldn’t believe it at first and then noticed that my small supply of emergency cash had also been stolen. Yikes! I wasn’t really worried about the money–it came to about $80 in all–but I was really concerned for all the documents in my wallet, like my Swiss residence card, or even my US driver’s license–losing them would mean weeks of logistical pain.
I wasted no time berating myself for not sleeping with the wallet or locking it in my locker with my passport and laptop, and rushed down to the front desk. I was shocked and grateful to find that the thief had abandoned the wallet after removing its pecuniary filling; all my cards, even my debit card, were there. Man, thieves must really fear getting identified!
Overwhelmed with relief for earning such a relatively cheap lesson, I resolved to go out anyway. I hiked across the city, fortifying myself at the Pizza King Express, crossed the river, and went up some switchbacks to see an old citadel. The citadel and statues weren’t that amazing but the view was, and I got some good exercise. I’d agreed to meet my mathematician friends at a Christmas market (Weinachtmarkt). So I got near the market and holed up in a Burger King for wifi. Found them not long after.
We were standing next to a big cathedral, facing the market square. And SOME CRAZY YOKELS had gotten it into their head, as part of the market, to set up a giant projection booth in the market and PROJECT, CUSTOM-MADE, CHRISTMAS-THEMED ANIMATIONS onto the cathedral, in such a way that the film used the windows and columns of the cathedral as part of the experience. It was totally absurd. Some of the stands were selling 3D glasses. #absurdity!=majesty
No sooner had we all gathered, after watching several (!) animations, than we split up again. I went with Iris and Saffa. We got some delicious hot wine, walked around for a while looking at the stands :) That was really fun, I actually like walking around fairs with friends, commenting on the stuff. I even acquired a bottle of honey wine to bring back for the Culmann secret santa :D We got some more hot wine at a place I’d found for super cheap (it was amazing). Iris left, so Saffa and I were left drinking the wine under a hot lamp (it was freezing!). We had some really fun conversation, about little local things like next year’s plans and our siblings. We finished the wine and decided to get this amazing chimney cake that Saffa had recognized earlier. Saffa bought the cake for us to split (she also bought the honey wine, since I was nearly broke; I’ll Venmo her the balance once my stupid rental bike deposit is refunded). We watched the chimney cake being made (after he saw me looking the cook worked with an adorable flair), dough wrapped in spirals around a cone-shaped roller, flattened, rubbed in sugar, and rotated slowly over hot coals with a great deal of ceremony and coals-shifting. The result, a big cylinder toasted on the outside and soft on the inside, was INCREDIBLE! It stayed hot way longer than it should have for having so much surface area; it could be unpeeled in great glorious rolls. We sat under another hot lamp and devoured it. We parted ways with big grins and I headed back to the hostel.
Started writing an email to Andrea Fratalocchi to ask him the “how did you pick a field” question; started looking at little bios of all his current students; was reminded of Judea Pearl and started looking at his lab; found an awesome book he wrote that was the first AI thing he did before Bayesian networks, on heuristics. His writing is so good! Got caught up in that. Got up to get some tea and started joking around with Jordan and his girl of this evening, Emiy (? (Israeli)). Said goodbye to Maria when she came up and hit the hay. Then as the socialization continued I started to feel worn out by it and knew I had to book it out of there; I headed to Pizza King and got myself a third, final gyro and wrote this log.
And now I’m heading back to the hostel to sleep! Cheers :D