Things To Do In Bonn Between Proofs

I feel like this blog has gotten boring. Too much math, not enough extreme. Which is weird, because my life is more extreme than ever. It's been important for me to carve out my niche as a math blogger, but i think it's also important to remember who I am and what I stand for: adventure, experience, and always more fire.

So in the interest of combining those efforts, I thought it might be nice to share some pictures and stories from the time I spent in Bonn doing things outside of math, other than cutting off Faltings' tie -- which, let's be real, was the ultimate. It occurs to me that if you are a mathematician, chances are quite likely that you will find yourself in Bonn someday, so allow this to be my official mathematician's guide to chilling out in Bonn.

While it is true, I was mostly all business, a sunny Friday (or Thursday, or even Wednesday) late afternoon would find me and my Kollegen at Alter Zoll, the greatest Biergarten in Bonn, situated on the Rhine right near the University Hofgarten.

If you go here, it is advised that you order the Bananaweizen, the beer of choice of Professor Gerd Faltings. Strong heuristic evidence suggests that the Bananaweizen will make you smarter.

From Bonn it is easy to access the Rheinsteig, a 320 trail along the Rhein. It is a very well-maintained trail, and as one companion pointed out to me, "if we get lost, just keep walking, there's no way we'll get more than 100 meters without seeing a map." God bless the Germans and their attention to detail. Several of us went for a great hike from Königswinger to Bad Honnef, which was about 18 km.

This was a reasonable day-long hike for people of all fitness levels -- although some of the more complainy members of our cohort might disagree. You know who you are. Highlights of the hike: the ruins of the ancient castle Drachenfels, beautiful views, an encounter with crazy Germans celebrating Männer Tag pushing homemade Schnapps to passers-by, oh, and I found my first ever geocache.

And finally, visiting Köln is a must if you're staying in Bonn. I'll readily admit that I was a bit of a weenie and forwent (is that a word?) most of the museums and cultural attractions in Köln. But the Dom is a must. It's directly outside the main train station, and it's a great place to just sit for while, reflect, and enjoy the sitting among gigantic and overwhelmingly beautiful art and architecture.

Also, in case you're in Bonn, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about Cassius Garten, a deliciously amazing if somewhat overpriced vegetarian take-out cafe. But the best kept secret in the world until now, every evening from 7:45 to 8:00 they do an 'Alles muss raus' special, and you can pile one take-out container to the brim for 4 Euros, and it's incredible. I don't have pictures or much more to say about it, but let it be documented here, that place is amazing. Also it's just around the corner from Max Planck, so you can also think of it as insurance that you'll work until 7:45. Ugh.

And now I'm on my way to Sweden. My world tour continues.

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