For a change this post is not about a hike but about a canoe trip that we did on the Russian river. We got up early in the morning to arrive at Burke's Canoe Trips around 11am. After a short safety message and shelving over 60$ per canoe (one canoe …
read moreMuir Woods hike
Muir Woods National Monument is a very special park as you see many redwood groves with huge trees. The park features two short loops down in the valley that pass along a couple of different redwood groves. These loops are like highways, almost paved, and well looked-after.
read moreLake Anza stroll
Today was a sunny late September lazy Sunday and we just wanted to get out to enjoy the sun and relax a little. We packed our bag with swimsuits, enough water, some carrots, sweets, and sun lotion and set off for Lake Anza in Tilden Regional Park. As a side …
read morePhD: expectations and reality
read moreIntroduction
Deciding to do a PhD is a huge commitment as you are just dedicating a couple of years of your life to a single cause. When I decided to do a PhD in 2006 I was not completely sure what would expect me. I just finished my master of …
Bootstrapping at UC Berkeley
Wildcat Canyon hike
Mount Diablo State Park
When we visited the Black Diamond Mines regional reserve the ranger told us a bit about Mount Diablo. Mount Diablo is a pretty young mountain and when it rose all the geological features of the area changed. In the Black Diamond Mines you can observe that the different geological layers …
read morePoint Reyes National Seashore
After some time in the national parks we wanted to explore the national seashore as well. Point Reyes is pretty close to us and the reviews sound as if the park could be fun! The drive from Albany to Point Reyes was around 1hr in early morning traffic, not too …
read moreBlack Diamond Mines Regional Reserve
Our first hike from our new home location was in Black Diamond Mines Regional Reserve. We planned the hike one day before, bought enough food (two bagels for me, one bagel for Lumi, fruits, and some sweets) and around 3l of fluids. The drive took less than an hour from …
read moreAn expats start as a security postdoc at UC Berkeley
read moreWhat is this blog post all about (aka tl;dr)?
This post covers our first two weeks in Berkeley, California and includes our struggles to find reasonable housing, a car, pitfalls with Visa requirements, how to get a driving license, and generally how to start a new life in the …