Did I also see Irmtraud between 1990 and 1995?
This is a good question because with all these activities next to the telepanel, not much time was left to be at home with her in our nice house. One possibility to have more contacts was to travel together. That we did indeed. I have already mentioned above that we went together to Madeira and to Curacao and Suriname. However there were many more possibilities.
The ISI conference in Cairo
First of all we went to Cairo for the world conference of the International Statistical Institute. We stayed in the Marriot hotel in Cairo. That was already exiting because of the mixture of cultures. Certainly more interesting than the conference. The meetings were quite bad because all countries had to be represented. In general there was one good speaker and 3 bad ones.
After the conference we went on a big boat on the Nile from Luxor to the Aswan dam. That was a fantastic experience: the boat had all comfort of 20th century and we had nothing to do but look around us. Along the Nile we saw the life from the time Jesus supposedly lived. The only interruptions in that scenery were the temples. Except for the crocodile temple we have seen them all because we were impressed by the beauty of that culture even if the colors had disappeared form the reliefs. Finally we went back to Cairo and saw the Museum. What a color and a beauty from 3000 or more years ago! This was perhaps the nicest holiday we had.
First of all we went to Cairo for the world conference of the International Statistical Institute. We stayed in the Marriot hotel in Cairo. That was already exiting because of the mixture of cultures. Certainly more interesting than the conference. The meetings were quite bad because all countries had to be represented. In general there was one good speaker and 3 bad ones.
After the conference we went on a big boat on the Nile from Luxor to the Aswan dam. That was a fantastic experience: the boat had all comfort of 20th century and we had nothing to do but look around us. Along the Nile we saw the life from the time Jesus supposedly lived. The only interruptions in that scenery were the temples. Except for the crocodile temple we have seen them all because we were impressed by the beauty of that culture even if the colors had disappeared form the reliefs. Finally we went back to Cairo and saw the Museum. What a color and a beauty from 3000 or more years ago! This was perhaps the nicest holiday we had.
The ASA conference in Tucson
Every 4 years a conference was organized by the American Statistical Association in cooperation with other statistical associations. In 1991 this conference took place in Tucson in Arizona. We had been before in Tucson and liked the area a lot: the saguaros, the desert and the red mountains. Time the conference was organized in a beautiful hotel at the bottom of the mountains. The meetings were very good, we met all our SEM and survey research friends in the meetings and in the swimming pool.
Even more impressive was for us our trip to a visitor site for intercontinental missiles. This was a part of the nuclear defense system of the USA. First of all we heard that there had been 16 of such sites around Tucson. We didn´t know that when we were there 15 years ago. It was quite sure that Tucson would have been one of the first targets of the USSR if there would have been a war, just to prevent their own destruction. We could enter the silo to see the control room which was full of very big old fashioned computers. There was a corridor to the missile which was enormous. The control room and the corridor were built in such a way that the installation could survive an attack with missiles. Here we saw a part of the cold war which Irmtraud had described in one of her studies (the Cuba crisis) about decision making.
Every 4 years a conference was organized by the American Statistical Association in cooperation with other statistical associations. In 1991 this conference took place in Tucson in Arizona. We had been before in Tucson and liked the area a lot: the saguaros, the desert and the red mountains. Time the conference was organized in a beautiful hotel at the bottom of the mountains. The meetings were very good, we met all our SEM and survey research friends in the meetings and in the swimming pool.
Even more impressive was for us our trip to a visitor site for intercontinental missiles. This was a part of the nuclear defense system of the USA. First of all we heard that there had been 16 of such sites around Tucson. We didn´t know that when we were there 15 years ago. It was quite sure that Tucson would have been one of the first targets of the USSR if there would have been a war, just to prevent their own destruction. We could enter the silo to see the control room which was full of very big old fashioned computers. There was a corridor to the missile which was enormous. The control room and the corridor were built in such a way that the installation could survive an attack with missiles. Here we saw a part of the cold war which Irmtraud had described in one of her studies (the Cuba crisis) about decision making.
To Thailand
For holidays we also went to Thailand in an organized tour. The first night there we were expected to see a sex show which we skipped in order not to start with bad impression of Thailand. The next day we went to the center of the city, especially the palace of the King and an old temple complex. Both were of such an exceptional beauty and so different from our culture that we really got a cultural shock, much more so than in Egypt. The difference was that this still was a part of a living culture, in contrast with the Egyptian culture. I can´t describe this, therefore I try to illustrate it by a few pictures.
For holidays we also went to Thailand in an organized tour. The first night there we were expected to see a sex show which we skipped in order not to start with bad impression of Thailand. The next day we went to the center of the city, especially the palace of the King and an old temple complex. Both were of such an exceptional beauty and so different from our culture that we really got a cultural shock, much more so than in Egypt. The difference was that this still was a part of a living culture, in contrast with the Egyptian culture. I can´t describe this, therefore I try to illustrate it by a few pictures.
After a trip through the country , partly on elephants and in boats of the Red Kmer, they brought us to a beach area Pattaya close to Bangkok. The beach was not very nice and the sex industry was everywhere. Therefore we went back to Bangkok on our own and spend some more days there between the unbelievable temple sites.
If you realize that we also had our timeshare in Lanzarote then it will be clear that at least during these trips we found time enough through these years to be together . Besides we often were worked on the book that Irmtraud was preparing about her decision research.
If you realize that we also had our timeshare in Lanzarote then it will be clear that at least during these trips we found time enough through these years to be together . Besides we often were worked on the book that Irmtraud was preparing about her decision research.