In Honor of Fred Browand, who is Actually Still Alive and in the Front Row.

well, then.

Day 3 of conference: complete.
Since I've unfortunately been getting very little sleep while staying up writing these blog posts, I'm going to keep today's short and sweet in the hopes I sleep more than 6 hours (I'm all screwed up with jet lag still anyway, so it might not make a difference).
Today was LONG, though they actually managed to get the air conditioning working, which was SWEET. It's ridiculously hot here in the middle of the day. We have lunch out in the courtyard of the cloister, meaning we're in about 95degrees. Fortunately, though, they understand that and feed us random cold things (it's also a great way to keep people from eating very much and thus saving on catering, cha-ching!).

Highlights of today:

• morning coffee break was spent with Lynn Gelhar in front of my poster, discussing AUVs and potential methods of calculating dispersal (turns out that was his niche of hydrology)
• played Set during one of the lectures with a random guy I never learned the name of 
• managed to catch Jon Nash and pick his brain for twenty minutes about how to identify internal wave packets in my data
• learned that my data might be crap, or that our IW calcs might be advected fluid instead of mixing...
• Larry Armi gave a ridiculously good lecture on the "touching case" of exchange flows 

Larry Armi giving a lecture on the "touching case" of stratified exchange flows *BRAIN CRUSH*

• one of the Canadian professors dressed up as Jorgen Holmboe in honor of Fred Browand, who has heralded the importance of Holmboe instabilities since the 70s (part of a set of two lecture blocks in his honor, Audric thought the guy was dead until "Jorgen" walked in and started addressing a guy in the front row)

One of the Italian professors (bottom left) as Jorgen Holmboe, the colors didn't turn out, sorry.

• visited St Peter's again, arriving 20min before closing, found that the cathedrals of California had sponsored a plate in the floor of the basilica (WHAT DOES THIS MEAN??), and saw the creche where Pope John Paul II is buried (is he a saint yet? I though I heard something about that)

inside St Peter's looking west. basilica panorama forthcoming.

• had a delightful Neapolitan style pizza at the first restaurant we've actually found open that was mentioned in my Rough Guide

Recafe ovoline pizza nom nom nom

• walked up the Spanish Steps (nothing next to Berkeley Hills!) and tried to convince one of the guys selling laser pointer things that we'd buy one only if he could catch the top of St Peter's from there with it (it was dark)
• walked past the crazy stores on the upper part of Via del Corso, and learned that you can spend >900eu on a down jacket in the middle of 95degree heat, and that Hermes scarves will run you in the several hundred euro range (what?????)
• walked along the Tiber and oggled the ridiculous summer restaurants on the banks (which must smell nasty, there's so much gunk and marsh), listening to a band pretend to be Simon and Garfunkel
• got kicked off the bus and a 50euro ticket for not having stamped my bus ticket correctly

This last one deserves some explanation. We got out of the conference around 5:45, back to the hotel around 6ish, and decided to head to St Peter's before it closed at 7. Now, this is rush hour, so we ran to the Via Nazionale to catch the 64 bus over to Vatican City (else it would have been about 30min walk). The bus was crammed to the gills, and we split up to get on. On Roman buses, you have to get a ticket at a Tabaccheria (tobacco/lottery shop) and stick it in a machine in the middle of the bus when you get on, or else you risk getting thrown off by the occasional police that come on the bus. Well. There was no way to the middle of the bus when we got on because it was chock-filled with people, and in my hazy post-conference-day-staring-and-sleep-deprivation-mode, I forgot to punch said ticket on my way to being shoved into a seat by oncoming passengers. So when the guys came on the bus to check tickets, of course I hadn't managed to get mine stamped. The guy asked for my passport (!?!) and took it with him (!?!) to the front of the bus and made me get off at the next stop (!?!?!?!?!). Fortunately, Audric and Julia saw this and got off with me. The guy promptly gave me the option of paying him 50 euros or paying 100 euros later at a post shop. I assumed this was a sour deal, but it would be cheaper this way (probably?), so I handed him 50eu. I'm not unaccustomed to having to pay people off (in other countries...). He wrote me a ticket for 50eu, though, so maybe that wasn't all crap... anyway. that was the most expensive bus ride I've ever taken. And we didn't even get to our destination! Boo. Note to self: no more traveling while tired.

Overall, though, I'd say today was a success, despite my wallet being $70 lighter. :)

And the best part of the day: walking by a restaurant late tonight and seeing this beautiful tomato art:

yes, please. all you ever need on one plate.