![[Title Bar]](/images/header.gif)
Much of my time in Bonn was spent attending the digital forensics
conference DFRWS-EU. But there was some time to explore a bit, and
after the conference there was an outing to a cold-war era Governement
Bunker (Regierungsbunker) that was turned into a museum and then a
vineyard/winery (Weingut Kloster Marienthal) which was 2.5 km from
the bunker.
Because most of the time I was going from here to there,
I only had the smartphone, rather than my D7000. It's very lightweight
and convenient, but the picture quality and controls are better on
the Nikon.
Favorite images from trip:
Sunrise
Pakmann
Library
Night
Recycle Beethoven
Gummi Rainbow
B&W RR
Cable Car & Fortress
Mini-Castle
Cable Car Ad
Rhine Telescope
Birdhaus
Fortress Moon
I did a little exploration of the university area and the Old Town downtown.
006-IMG_20230320_124...
Evangelische Kreuzkirche Bonn (Evangelical Church of the Holy Cross, a...(more)
008-IMG_20230320_130...
Flowers on a cart. I asked if the vendor minded if I took a picture. He...(more)
The activity for the end of the second day of DFRWS was a chartered boat
ride down the Rhine River, with a banquet. The boat was quite nice and
the food was good. The river was smooth and I didn't notice when we turned
around. The own downside was that it was warmer and lighter inside, so
that's where I spent most of my time. Since it was night, there wasn't
that much to see, and less to photograph. I took a few pictures with
the phone camera just to document the event a little.
At the end, the boat docked and those participating in the "Forensic Rodeo"
stayed on and participated. It required downloading and running software
that didn't work on my Linux machine, which made it kind of impossible to
get anywhere with it. I heard an organizer comment, "Why didn't you use
an online version?" "Why didn't anyone fucking mention that it existed?"
The day after the conference ended, there were two activities.
The first was taking a bus to see a cold-war era bunker. The
second was a wine tasting and lunch at a nearby winery.
The
Government Bunker (the German name is too long for me to write
out along with its translation) was built in the 1960s, completed in
1972 and was operational for about 30 years untl 1997. It was built
during the cold-war era (when Germany was literally split in two)
ostensibly as a place that could house around 3000 people in the event
of a nuclear war. Located between two railway tunnels, with 300 feet
of hills above it, it was supposed to withstand nuclear weapons attacks,
and had its own electric generators, fresh air and drinking water.
It had medical units, a dental station (with a foot-pedal-powered drill)
a hairdresser's salon, and its own TV studio for internal broadcasts.
It was meant so that key government personnel could continue governing
after initial attacks.
It had power for up to 30 days. After that, everyone either goes outside
or dies. And if there had been nuclear attacks, then they would die either
way. It was never tenable but was part of the game, the bluffing and
blustering. Russia had something similar. And both had spies infiltrating
each other's bunkers.
We took a tour of it. It was interesting to see the designs, the
engineering, as well as kind of eerie. And the tour guides had lived
in the area, with some having worked at the bunker (one had been a
guard patroling the area outside).
019-IMG_20230324_045...
We arrived in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and had a few minutes to get a snack or...(more)
020-IMG_20230324_045...
Cute houses. The bus could barely manage the roundabout, so we walked after...(more)
036-IMG_20230324_061...
There were electric carts that could shuttle thigns around stored here. This...(more)
039-IMG_20230324_062...
Coffee machines on the right and toasters in the middle. Religious services...(more)
040-IMG_20230324_062...
A telephone booth. I think this was for people to use while training or...(more)
042-IMG_20230324_063...
The unused train tunnel. The guide shouted "hello" and it echoed for quite a...(more)
After the bunker tour, we walked to the Weingut Kloster Marienthal winery.
There was some up and downhill component to it and at some point part
of the group wound up in the woods attempting to take a shortcut.
We were joking about how history books would say that in 2023, there
was a dramatic reduction in digital forensics research and perhaps in
2030 there'd be a news report that new information was discovered
about what might have happened to 30 forensic researchers that disappeared
7 years ago when a cell phone was found in a bear's stomach...
The winery was a pretty place in the remains of a church and monastery.
The problem is that I don't drink wine. I knew that going in.
What I didn't know was that for lunch they would be serving pizza, pizza,
and more pizza. And I no longer eat pizza. So I drank water and
ate...nothing. I had filled out the "food restrictions"
question during the registration, but... I talked to one organizer
who pointed me to another who pointed me to the woman running the
wine tasting, and when I asked her, she looked rather uncomfortable
with the request. I decided I'd just give up and eat later.
What's the worst that could happen? (Don't ask.)
It was a pretty place, despite how I was feeling towards the end.
044-IMG_20230324_075...
Wallfahrtskirche Calvarienberg und Krypta (Sanctuary of Calvary and Crypt?) was...(more)
It turns out Haribo, the company that makes Gummi Bears and similar products, originated in Bonn. In 1920 Hans Riegel Sr. created the company, combining the first two leters of his name and the city for the name. I noticed our bus passed a large facility on the highway that was Haribo, which I think is the corporate headquaters. In town there was a Haribo store that sold all-things gummi or related to gummi. I didn't feel like buying a 2.5Kg box of stuff so I just got a small size one. When leaving the store (right after a rain storm), I saw a rainbow in the sky and took a few pictures, as the rainbow got more and more intense and colorful with each passing minute. I did not notice that the rainbow was originating from the palm of the gummi bear outside of the store.
061-IMG_20230324_120...
The Haribo headquarters is the white building on the right side of the...(more)
Favorite images from trip:
Sunrise
Pakmann
Library
Night
Recycle Beethoven
Gummi Rainbow
B&W RR
Cable Car & Fortress
Mini-Castle
Cable Car Ad
Rhine Telescope
Birdhaus
Fortress Moon
