Saturday, 30 April: Corfu to South Bend

I rose at 4:30 AM this morning, and met Sam Paolucci in the lobby at 5:30 AM, where we took a cab to the nearby airport for a 7:00 AM Aegean Air flight to Athens.  About 80% of the conference attendees were on the same flight, so our discipline might be in trouble if there had been a plane crash!

On arrival in Athens, we had to go through security once more.  The flight back to JFK in NYC was against the wind this time, and thus took 10:22 to complete.  The flight was full, and my book on Salonica continued to entertain.  On arrival at JFK, we had to recover our bags, go through customs, and then security one more time.  JFK remains as dumpy as when I left it.  We almost caught a 4:00 PM flight to Chicago, but had to wait for our scheduled 6:30 PM flight, which took off on time.  On arrival at the comparably pleasant O'Hare airport, we found we were in time to catch the 9:15 PM bus to South Bend, which arrived around 1:30 AM.  Sam's wife, Peg, picked us up on campus and dropped me off at my house, where I secured a long sleep.

Friday, 29 April: Day 3 of the Meeting

I was up early again for the 8:30 plenary, and attending talks all morning and early afternoon.  The meeting ended at mid-afternoon.  Colleague Sam Paolucci, former advisor Scott Stewart, his wife Marcy, and I went for dinner in Corfu City.  Street view posted below.

View of Corfu City

I had a fish platter, which was not up to the standard to which the other restaurant had set.  We returned around ten.

Thursday, 28 April: Day 2 of the Meeting

Day 2 began at 8:30 AM with a plenary lecture.  Here is a photo of the lecture which involved a methane detonation in a coal mine in West Virginia.

Plenary lecture at the conference

At mid-afternoon, the conference recessed, and most of us loaded into busses for an island tour.  We came to the so-called Achilleion Palace, built in the late 19th century for Empress of Austria, Elisabeth of Bavaria.  The main theme of the palace was Achilles, depicted below in a commanding victorious pose.

Achilles victorious

The palace is fancy, as can be seen from the photograph of the interior shown below.

Interior of the Achilleion Palace on Corfu

The palace was purchased in 1907 by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany for a summer residence and became a hub of diplomatic activity.  Here is a shot of a terrace on the roof.

Rooftop of the Achilleion Palace on Corfu

 Some of the gardens are shown below along with some conference attendees.

Gardens of the Achilleion Palace

We later recessed to another hotel which put on a fine buffet of Greek delicacies for us. This was accompanied by a live Greek trio playing folk music. Several of the elder statesmen and women of the group engaged, along with some of the children, in festive circular dancing in a spirited style.

Site of the conference banquet

The bus got me back to my hotel around midnight.

Wednesday, 27 April: Day 1 of the Meeting

I'm writing the remainder of these posts from South Bend, after my return as the Corfu internet was too slow for reliability.

The meeting began on Wednesday.  I delivered two lectures, and I was co-author on two others delivered by my colleague Sam Paolucci.  I also chaired a session.  I think the talks went fine.  After the talks, a short walk from the conference venue yielded the view below.

View of Pontikonisi ("Mouse Island") and Vlacheraina monastery seen from the hilltops of Kanoni

A group of about ten of us then commissioned two cabs and a private car in search of sea food.  We were successful.  The restaurant did one thing well:  fresh seafood. Vegetables, bread, atmosphere were clearly second fiddle.  But we were strongly encouraged to visit the kitchen and consider in some detail our sea food choices.  My decision to split a sea bass with two other colleagues was made soon after the viewing below.

My future meal:  sea bass in the hands of its preparer

The bass was great, and we retraced our taxi drive back to the hotel around 11:00 PM.