Nancy vs. Sochaux

On Saturday, Sept. 26th, Jon and I took a 35 minute train ride to Nancy to see a Ligue 1 match between Nancy and Sochaux. I didn't plan a big trip this weekend because I had devoted time to my midterms during the week. The soccer match, was a good chance to see U.S. men's national team player Charlie Davies on his club team Sochaux. The crowd was much larger than the Metz crowd a few weeks ago, but still nowhere near as imposing as the Manchester City crowd. I tried making noise for Charlie a little bit, but the hardcore Nancy fan section was in full song most of the game, with their team up 1-0, then 2-0. Sochaux had the majority of the possession, but couldn't penetrate into the penalty area. Davies had one wide-open chance where he was one-on-one with the keeper, took a wide touch around him and had the ball poked away by a defender. Sochaux got 1 back late in the game, to make it interesting, but the score ended 2-1. These games are cheap - with a student price, we paid 10 euros. For highlights, click here.

Jungfrau Region, Switzerland

On Thursday Sept. 23rd, I went to my evening French class with a packed backpack. My French professor offered a ride to the train station, but I declined not wanting to impose. "I go right by there on my way home." I accepted her offer and we drove by my tripmates waiting at the bus stop and I invited them in. We boarded a 9 something train to Basel, Switzerland. I had hoped to nap on this leg, seeing as our 5 hour layover in Basel would take a chunk out of potential sleep time, Sohail, Phil and I played cards instead. Phil had done a little research on Basel and found a bar open till 5 AM. We were joined by an Irishman who was loitering at the station, rather than listen sleeplessly to his snoring hostelmates. The tourist sections of the city were eerily quiet - I half expected zombies to stumble out from the cathedral. We stopped for a kebab and discovered how expensive the food would be in Switzerland. It was a good kebab, but we made a pact to cook our own food for the rest of the weekend if possible. Eventually we found the bar marked by the red lights of the brothel above. The bar was classy enough, and we nursed our beers for an hour and a half. The highlight was the appearance of a middle-aged German-speaking Russian man with some heavy hardware in place of his teeth. He sat down with us, but spoke only German. The language barrier was absurd, but he taught me to count to ten in German, attempted to learn to count in English, indicated he was an expert marksman, and expressed some negative views on the war in Iraq, to which I was about to counter with Russia's prior engagements there, but thought better considering he was an expert marksman who had been drinking. We left the bar around 4, headed back to the train station and had plenty of time before our 530 departure for Interlaken.

Interlaken is a European extreme sports and outdoors mecca. An online search for the small Swiss city will bring up results for Paragliding, Hang Gliding, Skydiving and many more heart-pumping activities. For most, though, Interlaken is a waypoint to the lofty snow-capped Junfrau mountain range in Swiss Alps. We stocked up on some groceries in Interlaken and continued by train, bus, and cable car to Gimmelwald, a town a few hundred meters up a sheer cliff above the Lauterbrunnen valley. Map>> The cable car continues up to the Schilthorn peak, a ride costing around __ euros roundtrip. We thought we were being sneaky by continuing to ride up past Gimmelwald, but we were forced out at Mürren, where we locked up our heavier belongings and packed light clothes, cameras, PB&J and Toblerone. With a collective 5 hours of sleep among us, we set out on the 10-hour hike, to the Schilthorn peak, which, as we were informed by excessive signage, was the site of the James Bond film Her Majesty's Secret Service. The hike took around 5 hours, but could have been quicker considering my friends, avid photographers, seemed to pause to take a picture for every step up the mountain. The scenes were breathtaking and made my digital camera seem inadequate especially having reviewed the photos. I went to Interlaken with my family in 2002, but it was foggy all three days, and I wished I had been able to see the landscape. On this Friday, it was crystal clear, and every hundred yards up the mountain, a new vista opened up. The summit, however, never seemed to get closer, even when we were only separated by a 200 m stretch of steep rock.

My most vivid memory of the climb was the sounds. Cow bells rang, birds chirped, the wind whistled, and the occasional helicopter flew overhead, but it was generally very calm and peaceful. On the trip down, we figured out that the mountain was a phenomenal echo chamber. With a good high-pitched shriek or better yet, a yodel, we could listen to ourselves for nearly 10 seconds.

Sohail and Phil early in the hike

Strange rock formation

Paraglider

Finally above the grass, into the rocky zone

Memorial for a 1865 lightning victim

Me near the top

Artistic?

Top of the Schilthorn - Me and the famous restaurant

And video of course

Finally we made it to the top of the Schilthorn and took advantage of the 360 degree deck for photos. We checked out the secret lair of the Bond villain - the restaurant and made some PB&J sandwiches. After a moment of indecision about how to get down, we decided on a new route that, at 3 hours 30 minutes according to a signpost, would put us in Murren around 8 pm, possibly less if we hurried. Hurry we did, first traversing for a while, then bouncing endlessly down a path that switchbacked every 5 yards. It was tough going compared with the hike up, which had been 2/3rds gravel paths. Three hours into our trip down we reached a sign that said an hour and a half to Murren. There was an hour of daylight left and we had an hour and a half to go according to the sign which assumed nepali sherpa pace. We started to run down the hill, pushing the pace as fast as we could while we could still see. Eventually it got dark and we slowed down, and eventually it became pitch-black and we still hadn't reached Mürren. It was difficult to stay on the path, and eventually Sohail brought out his Iphone and used it for a flashlight. We moved carefully in a tight formation and were eventually spat out onto a paved road with Mürren's lamps in the distance. It had taken us longer to get down than up. The cable car was still running when we stumbled exhausted and relieved into the Mürren station. The hostel had a great atmosphere, with college-age kids drinking, singing songs, and playing cards, but we were too tired to partake. In fact we were too tired to shower, cook dinner, or move, and it took an hour to get the process started.

One of many misleading signposts - Note: Mürren 3 hours 30 min.

As the sun began to set behind us, we were still pretty far up the mountain.

The next morning we cooked pancakes and left at the mandatory 930 lockout time, with baggy eyes that begged for more sleep. I told my friends about a path to nearby Grütschalp, which was a flat walk with a view, and they agreed to follow. We stopped at a small cheese shop/factory that had brought a huge smile to my dad's face in 2002 when we happened to walk by on that trip. There, Phil and I split a liter of fresh milk, which was delicious. The walk again way exceeded the 1 hour rating on the hiking signpost, but at least it was flat. In Grutschalp we took a cable-car down to Lauterbrunnen, and then headed up the other side of the valley to Wengen, the site of a world-cup downhill where Bode Miller tends to pick up some hardware.

Farmhouse between Mürren and Grütschalp

Grütschalp Cable Car Station - Wengen is the village visible on the opposite side of the valley

Wengen is a beautiful town, that, I told Sohail, is car-less. In the next few minutes, no less than 10 cars, some electric some gasoline-fueled, drove by, despite the city's no-auto claim. There was a great view of the valley from near Wengen's church, but Saturday was pretty hazy, and the mountains were obscured.

Next we took trains to Grindelwald, the busiest area of the Jungfrau.

View from Grindelwald train stop

We took a brief walk above the city, but went to sleep early because we needed to be up early to go to Interlaken for CANYONING!


What is canyoning? It's hiking down a canyon with a river flowing through it by any means necessary - rappel, slide, and jump. We left from Interlaken, drove 40 minutes along some unbelievably beautiful blue-green lakes, to the canyon. The company supplied us with a wetsuit, helmet, rappel harness, booties, life-jacket (pretty torn up, definitely not US Coast guard approved) and two friendly New Zealander guides, Rich and Koren. They led us into the woods and brought us into the canyon where we started off with a 30 foot jump into a narrow cylindrical pool with very little room for error. We were essentially jumping off a small waterfall, landing next to the falling water. "Can I land in the white water," I asked thinking the frothy area would be the softest, surest landing spot. "If you land in the white water, you will break you legs, jump a little to the right," Koren said to matter-of-fact for my liking. I assured myself that a lot of people do this without dying, and jumped landing successfully in the little pool. From then on, we had, more jumps, a bunch of massive natural waterslides where you slide on rock, and some rappells down waterfalls, where the guides dropped us swiftly through the pounding waters. The slides had some telling names: spaghetti slide, banzai slide, and guy slide among them. There was even a slide where you had to jump across some water and land in the slide, which took some commitment. Another of the slides required you to cover your face with your arms to avoid busting a tooth.

The guy slide was intense. Koren described it as a torpedo launching. If you started from the very top, you would have too much speed and hit rock at the bottom of the landing pool. I used a rope to lower myself down about fifteen feet, through some raging water, and let go, to slide down the rest of the 40 or so feet.

Later on there was a 20 foot jump that we tried some flips on. I'd never even done a flip into a pool before, but I'd just done some other crazy stuff, so I figured why not, and did pretty well. Others tried successful backflips, but Phil didn't quite commit on his attempt. He landed in a beautiful upside down pike position, with his head at his knees, which would have hurt him pretty bad without the wetsuit and protective gear. We had a good laugh about it.

There were some situations where bad footing or lack of attention could have caused some long falls. We even clipped into a rope to traverse one particularly exposed part. Sohail didn't get the message, and was walking casually along, unhooked next to a forty-foot potentially fatal drop. Someone yelled out to him to clip in, so he turned around walked all the way back up the narrow rock and then clipped in. I was nervous even when I was safety-latched - I don't know how he wasn't scared. On that particular rock, we had a special knot tied through our harness - we had to hold two pieces of line in one hand and once we had been lowered part way, the guide told us to let go and the knot undid itself and dropped us in the water. It was pretty nerve-racking to feel the line slip a little in my hands as it began to bear my weight.

All in all, canyoning was pretty incredible - definitely not for people with heart problems because mine was racing the whole time. I do wish they had a bigger jump. There may have been some, but at this time of year, not much glacial melt is flowing, so some of the pools are less full, limiting the safe height for jumps. I was looking forward to a jump that would make me cry a little or at least have some serious second thoughts.

We were all really happy with the way the weekend turned out. It had been forecasted to rain Saturday and Sunday, but we only felt a drop or two and had plenty of sunshine for our Friday hike. I even bought sunscreen - the most expensive tube by volume I have ever seen nevermind bought. Check it out http://www.pizbuin.com/. The front page says it all.

Arsenal vs. Man City

On Friday Sept. 11, I left Metz headed for Manchester via London to see Arsenal vs. Manchester City. I began my trip on the 6:02 bus to the train station, planning to get on a TGV to Paris, and then another to Calais on the Normandy coast, where I would transfer seamlessly to a ferry, cross the English channel, and board a train to London. It was the first weekend of my Eurail pass and unfortunately, the TGV has much more room for high-paying commuters than high-paying Eurail pass holders, so I was obligated to pay full fare, or else blow up my itinerary and potentially spend even more money. I was also forced to commit to a full first-class fare for the return from Paris, making this my most expensive trip yet and I hadn't even left the country . I made it to Calais, where I got off a stop too early, but happened to hear the conductor on the loudspeaker mention that there was one more stop left, and I reboarded. The Calais Ville train station seemed not too far from the port according to google maps, so I began the walk, a 3 kilometer tour of Calais' industrial parks. The ferry complex was humongous, and catered mostly to passenger car and freight operations. I was one of about 25 foot passengers. We passed through customs where the agent tried to throw me off guard and asked, among other things to see my soccer match tickets, which I didn't have yet. The ferry was a massive mall of dining and shopping. I shied away from the ferry food, and took some pictures of the Normandy coast and later the cliffs of Dover, napping in between.

The Calais beach was inviting. The windsurfers and kitesurfers made me jealous.

Cliffs of Dover from Ferry

The Cliffs are beautiful, but they haven't been travelling since 6AM.

View from Dover

I took a train from Dover to London. The British rail system, including London's Underground was outstanding, in my opinion. The tickets I bought were good for any train all day long, and there were plentiful timetable options. Twelve hours after I started I was in London, walking from the Victoria station to my hostel in the Bayswater area near Hyde Park. I didn't get to see much of London, but did grasp the size of the city, based on the hour and a half journey to the hostel.





Before the sun rose on Saturday, I was at London Euston station, boarding a train to Manchester. The industrial northern city was surprisingly modern and well kempt, with a major, modern shopping district near the Picadilly station. I passed through the shopping area, stopped for a dense breakfast, and made my way to the Museum of Science and Industry. The museum seemed designed for ages 3-12. I checked out the steam engines, antique automobiles, and aircraft along with dozens of happy elementary-schoolers and their parents. The museum, a likely destination for K-5 field trips was more relevant to my education than ever; my thermodynamics course covers the basics of steam engines, while my history course on technology involves the early automobiles and bicycles found at the museum.

Tri-Plane Replica

This exhibit taught the mechanics of jet engines. I was excited to see the material statistics charts, similar to those I used in my materials science course last year.

Is it a good or bad sign that the museum coincides so nicely with my current curriculum?

Working steam engines

Around noon, I crossed town again, hoping to get onto a map I had printed that excluded my current location. On the way I spotted this beautiful building.




Soon after, I began to see baby blue jerseys -Manchester City colors. I picked a group and followed them, hopeful that they would lead me to the stadium. Ten minutes later they ducked into the most discreet of bars, up some narrow steps. I wanted to join them - it looked like a cool place - but thought better knowing I couldn't blend in with the Man City fans. Heading back toward Picadilly, a location definitely on my map, I crossed the path of a man in an Arsenal jersey, walking with purpose, and a map of his own, so I began following him. I lost him twenty minutes later, and still not on my own map, asked a passerby where the stadium was. He was a fellow Arsenal fan, an Irishman named Andrew, who had flown in for the game. We walked together and chatted - he's a fish farmer and makes it to a few games each year. The stadium was in sight most of the way, and finally directly in front of us - a new, modern, hunk of steel and concrete splashed in blue banners. I retrieved my tickets without any sort of ID and returned to the visiting fan entrance. Only then did I put on my Arsenal jersey. Andrew explained earlier that he doesn't wear jerseys to away games if he is travelling alone in case he meets the wrong group of opposing fans. I felt the same way, but kept mine in my backpack. Inside, I checked out my seat in the second-tier, front-row with a completely unobstructed view. After a cider, I watched warmups - the players really push themselves and get a good sweat going before the game. Soon after, the teams lined up, posed briefly, and kicked off the game, at which point the batteries in my camera died and the replacements were duds.

Crowd control was neccessary today

The riot happened in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The players were incredibly skilled. In fact, it bothered me when they messed up not because they made a mistake and hurt the team, but because they were so good that it seemed irregular or out of character that the players would err. The Arsenal fans were boisterous from the start. They sang songs loudly and continuously. When their players did well, the fans serenaded them, and when they didn't, they were cursed out. Man City scored first and the stadium, a 47,000-person sellout - exploded. The concrete structure shook, and the roar left my ears ringing into the next day. In the second half Arsenal leveled the game, and my section turned insane. I joined a three-person hug with some complete strangers and screamed at the top of my lungs. In the second half, Man City scored twice and the Man City fans were in full song for the rest of the match.

Arsenal seemed to dominate most of the 2nd half with their pretty passing, and careful buildup, but Man City's counter-attacks were lightning quick and proved more effective, netting 3 more goals. Arsenal added a goal in the 87th minute and had a few more chances, but there was too little time.

Emmanuel Adebayor, a former Arsenal player who, Arsenal fans believe, quit on his former team mid-season and later made a money-grab transfer to Man City was making his first appearance against Arsenal as was another more beloved ex-Arsenal Gunner, Kolo Touré. Arsenal fans made it a point to boo Adebayor and cheer Toure during player introductions, and sang songs ridiculing their former star all game.

The game took a dramatic turn, not for its scoreline, but for Adebayor's antics with Arsenal players and the crowd. He stomped an Arsenal player in the face after that player made an aggressive tackle. After scoring, Adebayor ran the length of the field and slid in front of the Arsenal fans, who rained trash on him and began a small, but feisty riot in the section below mine. I definitely got the full experience, and, as Andrew explained, the Arsenal fans who had made the trip were the hard-core boisterous ones.

I took off my jersey and tried to blend in with the crowd as I exited. There was still some smack-talk and violence to be found, but the Man City fans were upbeat. I boarded the next train to London and returned to my hostel. Trying to avoid another huge fare from Paris to Metz, I spent four fruitless hours investigating new options, but alas, bright and early, I began the return trip via train and ferry to Metz. On the ferry, I met a friendly, chatty Malaysian man, and we took the same train to Paris. I helped him with the train transfers and he gave me some chocolate in return. He thought travelling to Paris was quite the adventure, and was eager to get back to Britain where, he explained, everything is better. He and his wife were scared off by the scent of a homeless man, who, with a gleam in his eye, got up every so often for no apparent reason. Later, I was joined by a French schoolteacher who taught English to middle-schoolers, and got some language lessons. First class on the TGV means a slightly larger headrest, but I took full advantage, sleeping the entire way to Metz.

Trier, Köln, Dusseldorf

On Friday Sept. 4th, I went with four others from GTL to Germany. It began to rain early in the several hour train ride, and continued to do so as we got off in Trier and consulted a map. Discouraged by the rain, but not deterred, we walked to the Porta Nigra, the gate to the old city built by the Romans.

Porta Nigra

Inside

View toward Trier city center

Sohail and John in Porta Nigra, are they laughing at me?

We climbed up into the stone structure and took some photos. My camera didn't quite capture the mystical effect of the fog lifting off the hills in the background.

This type of roofing was popular throughout Trier. I wonder what it's called.

Once beyond Porta Nigra, we were in an old shopping district, which culminated in a quaint plaza.

I believe we found the most beautiful Mcdonald's in the world...



As well as a Subway sandwich shop with a happy hour.

As far as I can tell, in Europe, Subway is the cheapest place to get food that won't give me a heart attack in less than 30 years. We elected to eat at a real German restauraunt. The waiter recommended schnitzel, which sounded exotic, but was a basic fried slab of meat. In the evening we again tried the local cuisine and were similarly disappointed.

Good Irony



This was an incredible fountain. The iron vines that form the structure were decorated with artisans and craftsmen, like masons and blacksmith.

We saw these ruins from outside the complex, as big black clouds approached from the opposite direction and lightning began to strike. I got a free retrospective peak at the ruins by poking my camera through a hedge. I just looked at it for the first time today and it was a much better view than I had from the outside.

We found shelter nearby and waited out the mini-storm. Umbrellas were opened and closed at least three times an hour for the entire day. As the rain eased a bit, we photographed this beautiful building.

Kurfürstliche Palais


Trier's Cathedral

Our hostel was on a path that ran along the Moselle river. Here we are looking from central Trier across the Moselle to the surrounding hills. The Moselle is the same river that runs through Metz. One of the tour boats docked was run by Tauck Discovery tours, which I think is based in Norwalk, CT.

Moselle River

The hostel had more families and elderly people than students. In fact, during our stay, I saw no one between the ages of 12 and 30 (aside from my group). It seems to me there must have been cheaper hostel options available. Trier was sleepy at night, though, which could be a factor. I taught everyone how to play pitch, a card game that my extended family plays at every reunion. Phil, an avid poker player, especially enjoyed the game, and prodded us to play throughout the weekend.


The next morning, we caught a train to Köln. We used the Happy Weekend pass, which covers up to 5 people for around 40 Euros for a day of travel - not a bad deal. Köln was a much larger, more heavily touristed city. Our first stop was a kebab shop. I had gorged myself on free breakfast from the hostel, including eggs, cereal, and two salami sandwiches, and gladly passed on a kebab. A European kebab is not skewered meat and vegetables, rather, it is a hot sandwich made of meat (usually lamb), veggies, sauce, and a thick bread or roll, similar in taste to a gyro. A huge cylindrical slab of meat is often hung pinata-style in plain sight in the shop and the "chef" uses a razor-like contraption to shave the meat off onto your sandwich. Watching this is pretty disgusting to me, although others disagree.


Outside the kebab shop, there were a few soccer fans from South Africa, dressed in Bafana Bafana gear, blowing their famous Vuvuzela horns that. Why were these soccer fans in Köln Germany? I speculated that there must be an international match nearby, and felt a little disappointed I didn't know about it.

We walked past the soccer fans to the cathedral, which was probably the biggest I have seen yet.

Kölner Dom (Cathedral)

Dom Stained Glass

The cathedral has an underground treasury, which, true to its name, contained ridiculously lavish religious items. There were gold-laced clergy outfits for special events, gilded, bejeweled, staffs and crucifixes, monstrances, chalices. Many of the fineries were out of space for any more precious stones.

Next, we hiked to the top of the cathedral via a single staircase that had both climbers and descenders on it. Someone could have caused a lot of problems by shouting "Fire". The view from the summit was obscured by wire cage and the surrounding areas were more modern than historic.

View from the top of the cathedral

Afterward, we crossed the street to the museum Ludwig, which housed an impressive modern art collection - much more extensive than the Centre Pompidou in Paris. There was a Picasso for every day of the artist's life, or so it seemed. There was also plenty of art that I didn't "get". Unfortunately, photos of the art were prohibited. In fact, as I entered the name of a piece in my ipod, a woman came over to see if I was taking pictures with it.

As we walked along the river and checked out the city center, we saw the Beer Bike go by. The Beer Bike is a bar on wheels propelled by patrons who pedal from their seats. Two of my friends were offered a ride with this bachelorette beer bike party, but hesitated to leave the rest of us and still have not forgiven themselves. I was in Subway a hundred yards away getting a sandwich at the time. A Beer Bike event is actually a decent deal - 20 liters of beer for 10 people for 200 euros and 2 hours. We saw another beer vehicle in Dusseldorf that night, but it was a bachelor party this time. There were many bachelor parties going on in both Koln and Dusseldorf, with the bachelor and his entourage wearing matching custom t-shirts. Not having matching shirts, we almost felt left out. We settled in outside a bar that was gearing up for the Germany-South Africa game. Intrigued by the Giraffe, a five-foot cylinder of beer, we ordered a three-liter variety and had our own tap for glasses of Kölsch, the popular, but mediocre signature beer of Köln.

Beer Bike

The plan was to ride over to Dusseldorf by train and see what the fuss is about its nightlife. We boarded a packed train for a half-hour ride, which spat out half the passengers at Leverkusen where the Germany game was played that night. I was now very upset I didn't know about the game and could have seen it for minimal travel expense as opposed to setting fire to cash on the way to Manchester the next week. Dusseldorf had an extremely busy line of bars, with hundreds of people passing by every minute. We did not sample the nightlife, but did sample some cheap and sadly delicious Pizza Hut.

In the morning, we returned to Köln and headed straight for the chocolate museum. The museum covered every part of the process from growing and harvesting cacao to packaging and marketing. Here are some highlights.

Ingredients of small chocolate bar

Chocolate wrapping machinery

Cacao plant growing in the museum's small, sweltering indoor rainforest

Molding Chocolate:

Molten chocolate is poured into a mold and placed on this contraption to create "constant rotation in every direction on its own axis" ensures uniform thickness throughout the finished product. This would have been a good gyroscope example for my dynamics class.

Cocoa beans were used as currency by the Aztecs, who deeply valued the bean. It was used as a sort of panacea to treat fever and wounds.

There was an incredible chocolate shop in the museum. I bought some absurdly high-percentage dark chocolate - 90% and 99% - for my mom who is a fiend for the 85%. I bought another 99% for all of us to try. My friends suffered through their tiny squares - someone said it tasted like dirt. I got pretty hooked and had finished half of the bar before our return to Metz. After a Italian lunch easy on the taste buds and stomachs rattled by German cuisine, we boarded the first of a few trains that would take us back to Metz, and played the first of many games of pitch.

Louvre Art

Here is some art from the Louvre that I appreciated.

Alexandre Decamps
The Walls of Aigues-Mortes

The lighting in this painting caught my eye. I guess I'm a sucker for sunsets, but Decamps' painting seemed to warm up the museum. Browsing through his other works online is also a joy.


Alexandre Decamps - The Monkey Painter

Decamps didn't have much of an ego, but did have a sense of humor.

I remember sculpting this in kindergarten.

Here is art from the Elles exhibit at Centre Pompidou:

Nike de Saint Phalle

Funky sculpture of a bride right? Wrong: "The bride is a sort of costume, ..., clearly totally bankrupt of individuality, due to male shortcomings in practicing true responsibilities, and I think we are reaching a new social state, matriarchy..."

Gloria Friedman:

"It seems to me that previously, for women, the question remained of whether or not they had a place in the cultural landscape: one day the question stopped being asked.

This is pretty deep, very simple, and so physical, tangible, and visually appealing - my favorite piece at the museum.

Lost the blurb for this one. I think it was titled "Hot Dog World". I liked the geometry. It was made of a transparency over an orange tinted graph paper.

Vera Lutter
Rheinbraun 1

Not all the works were fiery feminist statements. This giant piece of industrial machinery looks like it's on Mars, and the inverted black/white effect gives me the creeps. It takes up an entire wall. I saw Vera Lutter's name mentioned on the website for the Gagosian Gallery, where my friend Max works. I'll have to talk to him about seeing more of her photos.

Alisa Andrasek
Biothing


Definitely a novel idea. Created using selective laser sintering and CNC milling. According to Wikipedia, selective laser sintering is a type of 3-d printing or additive manufacture that makes a product from a CAD file. CNC Milling is the use of computers to control fine motor tools such as drills, welding components, etc.