Another Year, Another Large, International Conference: Munich

I go to this conference every year, but every year it takes place in a different city. In 2019, it (ICIS) took place in Munich, a Bavarian city.

SLC > DEN > MUC. I dropped money to fly business class. It was more comfortable than coach. I still didn’t sleep much.

I got there a couple days early so I could explore a bit. I ended up going to a museum that wasn’t very interesting. It happens.

I still have a hard time getting my head around how cheap groceries are in Germany. Way to beggar Greece, guys, way to beggar Greece…

I went to Salzburg, but I think I’m going to put up a pan-Austria post separately, so let’s pretend that didn’t happen.

The best part of ICIS is seeing people I otherwise never get to see. That and also public transportation in foreign cities. Putting the two together is extremely next-level.

I don’t know why I cut their feet off. I probably should have asked them to sign a life-rights release before I posted the photo. I’m sure they’ll let me know. And the restaurant Thomas found for us was really good (I think it was the Augustinerkeller).

There was also a palace in Munich. It’s Europe, after all.

A lot of Taiwan being represented there also, interestingly enough. And Pratyush was the only one with enough ICIS pride to keep his name tag on. We should all be as loyal as Pratyush.

Conference center was way out on the edge of town. Kind of a joyless place, at the site of the old airport.

The geese there were particularly joyless. They may want to think about replacing the geese for upcoming seasons or perhaps going with an entirely different bird altogether.

And, since they could charge us whatever they wanted and we’d still probably pay, the hotels near the conference center were laughably expensive given the sub-Motel 6 quality. Well, sub-Motel 6 except that breakfast was decent.

And then I took the train to Kitzbühel.

And, on the flight home, it turns out that if you fly Lufthansa internationally on Christmas Eve, they serve roast goose — even in coach. Joyful goose. Best airplane meal ever.

bkd