Project Meeting in Innsbruck
I mentioned earlier that I am currently involved in a bi-national project called Meet and Greet. The project is about Roman fora, or public places, and how they were used. It is a joint project of the Universities of Cologne and Basel, but we are also working with the University of Innsbruck in Austria. This year’s project meeting (15.-16.11.2024) was in Austria and we were guests of the University of Innsbruck.
The meeting
I don’t want to bore you with too many details about the meeting. Basically, we got together to update each other on our progress and to welcome a new member to the research group. The meeting itself could have been virtual. However, I agree that meeting in person at least once a year is essential for the progress of a project. It is not only about updating everyone, but also about talking to each other during coffee breaks and over dinner.
It was really quite nice. We had a full day of lectures, got a tour of the new Archaeological Institute and it’s integrated museum (which wasn’t officially open yet). It was a really nice building and studying there seems like a good idea. I also gave a talk on my progress in automatic analysis of RTI images, but it was a rather short presentation. Nevertheless, we had some new ideas afterwards.
The city

On the first day, the Christmas market opened in the city and we had several opportunities to walk around it. On the day of our meeting, we actually spent our lunch break there, as there are lots of food stalls. The old town of Innsbruck is actually very nice, with medieval alleys, old houses and many individual shops (as opposed to Starbucks chains…).
The first thing you will notice is the view. From almost any point in the city you can see the Alps. The view was stunning and I found myself staring at the mountains and missing my green light a few times. I don’t know what it is, but staring at the mountains or the sea is immensely calming. I decided that one day I would like to come back for a few more days to climb those mountains…
The Strudel!
Then there was strudel! Well, there were lots of things to eat and I tried a lot of them (for research purposes). The strudel was really good though, so I ended up taking quite a lot back to Germany for my family. There was one place in particular that I really liked: Strudel Cafe Kröll. If you go there, you can’t go wrong.
Innsbruck is a city you can walk around. Well, not all of it, but the inner part with the old town, the university, the river Inn and countless cafés, bars and restaurants. It is nestled in the Alps and you can see them all the time. Also, the air is fresh and the people are nice. If you have the chance to go there, I would recommend it. There are also archaeological museums in the area, if you are interested…