pasadena / california in the usa

in february 1996, i visited the "conference on magnetic storms" in pasadena/california on the grounds of jpl (jet propulsion laboratories) and held a talk there. during my one week stay, i took some slides...

flying to la in a lufthansa 747 jumbo jet...

taking off from the frankfurt airport, a 747 takes 11 hours to arrive at lax airport in california. as a tourist class blighter, this is quite tiring i can tell you. the plane takes a quasi polar flight route over scotland, iceland, greenland, hudson bay/canada, northern rocky mountains to finally arrive in california.
here you see greenland mountains covered in ice and snow...
	frozen fields in canada. the regular irrigation patterns are quite noticeable...
the northern rockies... a bit disappointing i have to admit :)
	approaching california and los angeles, i noticed this huge water reserve...(f=200 zoom)...
mt. san antonio 'old baldy peak' (10,064 feet, 3067m), tallest mountain on the eastern edge of the la basin...

pasadena city center

after that long flight, my professor and i tried to overcome the jet-lag, so we took a little walk, checking out the city center.
	city hall...
city hall, some art in the foreground and an 'old' church...
	architecture in california is a lot more creative than here in europe, this evangelist church is a good example...
dawn... since i was stuck on the jpl grounds ("no wheels man!") each day of the conference, i got up each morning around 6 o'clock and went for a walk around the block. in crossing the road this slide of the city hall was made...
	small garden on the back side of the city hall... at dawn...
another example of californian architecture... you would expect to see this hotel somewhere in india, not here in pasadena...
	interesting mix in architecture, classic city hall left, gothic church on the right and neo something or other ;) building in the center...
every weekday, my professor (he did the driving) and i, navigated through pasadena (i did the navigation sort of :), and took the foothill freeway to jpl (jet propulsion laboratories)...
	leaving the rose bowl stadium behind us we approach the jpl grounds...
palm trees are quite common in pasadena, and also here on the jpl grounds... i really liked these mediterranean surroundings...
	i lived in the pasadena hilton for that week in a very nice quiet room, on the eighth floor. this is the view i had at dusk...
...and this is the view west, where la is...

excursion day...

on saturday, just before i had to leave california, i took part in an excursion to the big bear lake way up in the la foot-hills, to visit one of the very few solar observatories, maintained by caltec...
	in about 20 minutes we gained height very quickly, leaving the mist covered la basin below us... way up here (>1000m) the sun came out... boy did riding in the cars back seat make me feel sick...
after an about 1.5 hour drive from pasadena, we finally arrived at the big bear lake solar observatory... we discovered interesting things there, like several vc20s and a c64, dust-covered in some forgotten shelves... we also had a closer look at the sun and its sun spots...
	science made us hungry, so we had a huge snack... a baguette about 1.5 meters long, richly laid with several sorts of meat, cheese, salads, and dressing (scarf city!)... then it was time to leave the lofty mountain heights...
... and return to the mists of the la basin... luckily, this early in the year (february) the famed smog was not yet around...

huntington gardens...

15 minutes from pasadena's city center by car, this park is wonderfully kept, and a joy to visit several times. in fact i visited it three times.
æon standing under a very old oak tree... with that far away look ;)...
	japanese garden: arced wooden bridge, view south...
japanese garden: view north-west...
	japanese garden: arboretum... view east...
zen garden: wonderful old trees...
	japanese garden: replicas of japanese buildings...
exotic trees...
	desert gardens: the sun is setting...

returning...

after only one short week i had to return back to germany... *sigh*... but it was a lot of fun while it lasted...
	the day of the departure... driving along the high way through downtown la...
flying into the sunset...
	california / nevada desert foothills...
dawn... somewhere over greenland...

æon's site is...

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last updated on monday, august 17th 2009 up since: thursday, june 1st 2001