July 16 - Vienna
I visited the Natural History Museum (Naturhistorisches Museum) across the square from the Art History Museum.
We are the Crystal Gems
Garnet,
Amethyst,
and Pearl
And Steven! (Rose Quartz)
Opal
Lapis Lazuli, stone of the royals, like the night sky streaked with stars
Jasper
Ruby and Sapphire
It is a stunning and thorough collection.
The Venus of Willendorf! I did not even know she was here, so this was a real treat to find. The hall in which she usually resides was under renovation. I am glad they moved her to an open hall. There were lots of kitschy trinkets related to her in the gift shop.
A Copernican (heliocentric) planetary machine-a grand work of engineering that measures the movements of the heavenly bodies.
This dust came from the goddamn moon. On loan from NASA (USA!).
Mars rocks. These rocks came from Mars. MARS. I was on the other side of (rather thick but still) glass from rocks from Mars. I’m still having difficulty fully absorbing the enormity.
A fantastic iron-nickel meteorite that fell on Cabin Creek, Arkansas, in the late 1800’s. The patterning comes from the fact that it fell in a directed fashion (like an arrowhead) rather than tumbling through the atmosphere.
The museum also hosts a large collection of fossils.
Stromatolite - fossilized biofilm-like communities of microbes. Stromatolites have been found dating back 3.5 billion years, meaning this is a record of some of the very earliest forms of life on this planet.
A cut-section of a stromatolite of cyanobacteria and algae, evidence of some of the very first photosynthesizers. The importance of the evolution of photosynthesis, insofar as the development of life is concerned, cannot be overstated.
Graptoliths (giant plankton) - the geometric shapes look almost machine-cut.
“We were so preoccupied with whether or not we could, we never stopped to think if we should.” - Jesus probably
Rawr - Platecarpus
Unfortunately many of my pictures of the stuffed birds did not turn out-the sun was glaring off the glass cases and the whole affair was just rather messy. But there were some fine raptors there, and corvids. And penguins. I did not have time to get to the mammals. There was also a rather lovely human evolution unit, but, again, the photos did not turn out due to glare on the glass cases.
That evening the conference had a concluding dinner at Wolff winegarten. Buses collected us from the conference center and shuttled us about 20-30 min (to be honest I lost track because I was trying not to get sick) to the outskirts of Vienna to a lovely, quiet neighborhood. There was a very tenacious bee who kept trying to get into our food, and when we ordered a pitcher of apple juice, her efforts became quite earnest. I put a napkin over the mouth of the bottle but only managed to trap her in there, somehow. (I could have sworn I checked the bottle before I covered it; maybe she got in under the napkin and then found herself stuck. She did get out safely.) I suppose from her point of view she helped pollinate those damn apples, so she deserves a little of the nectar. For our party, at least, we had unlimited wine and juice and a buffet of typical Austrian fare, schnitzels and sauerkraut and the like. Talked with the Japanese researchers for a while. I still don’t know if Japanese folks tell me my Japanese is good out of politeness and surprise or if they really mean it.