By Gluten Morgen! Yesterday was a full day and today promises to full and long as well. The meeting is now in full swing, but yesterday morning’s schedule of speakers wasn’t quite applicable to our group so we went for a little walk instead.
The streets were really quiet, surprisingly nothing is open on Sundays and we had the sidewalks to ourselves. Lots of green space, mature trees, and flower beds along the route. We even found smurf houses in some bushes! I’ve never seen mushrooms growing like these and never in a city. I may have missed church this week, but not really. Gloriously coloured hydrangeas and these giant pink flowers.
And then we found the Biergarten. Hello! Seriously, how cool is that?
We came across a sign indicating that our neighbourhood is where a number of Jews tried to hide to escape the Nazis in WWII. Looking down into the cobblestone we found plaques listing the names of people who lived in the buildings nearby, their birthday, date of deportation, where they ended up, and their fate.
Really there are no words.
Finally, the afternoon and evening were filled with sessions and the opening ceremonies. I spent one session learning about anticoagulant reversal and another on hemophilia assays and patient management. You probably stopped being jealous right there.
The end of the day was the official opening ceremony which is always a little bit fancy. Spotlights and acrobats bookended speeches about the history of medicine, the congress, and some awards. Reception afterwards and back to the hotel.
Today’s agenda: lots and lots of sessions to attend, drink coffee.
contentedkitchen 