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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.

000-IMG_20230320_115333016_HDR-header: Downtown Bonn and the University Area 000-IMG_20230320_115333016_HDR-headertext:

I did a little exploration of the university area and the Old Town downtown. 000-IMG_20230320_115333016_HDR: The hotel was right over a highway, but had surprisingly good sound insulation. 001-IMG_20230320_122622158_HDR: The university's Botanical Gardens. 002-IMG_20230320_122634165_HDR: Kind of freaky looking trees, like in Stuttgart. 003-IMG_20230320_122649961_HDR: A bridge over a pond by the Botanical Gardens. 004-IMG_20230320_122715245_HDR: Don't feed the ducks. 005-IMG_20230320_122748184_HDR: A small pond surrounds 3 sides of the Botanical Gardnes. 006-IMG_20230320_124335117_HDR: Evangelische Kreuzkirche Bonn (Evangelical Church of the Holy Cross, a Protestant church). 007-IMG_20230320_125521172_HDR: Beethoven recycles. Shouldn't you? 008-IMG_20230320_130026645: Flowers on a cart. I asked if the vendor minded if I took a picture. He didn't, though it would have been easier if I had said photo. 009-IMG_20230320_131435496_HDR: The (JF) Kennedy Bridge (Kennedybrücke) across the Rhine River. 010-IMG_20230322_124956207-header: Rhine River Boat Tour 010-IMG_20230322_124956207-headertext:

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?" 010-IMG_20230322_124956207: The inside of the boat. Two levels and a good bit of space. 011-IMG_20230322_125029926_HDR: The outside was smaller. 012-IMG_20230322_125039093_HDR: From the stern, looking fore on the port side. 013-IMG_20230322_125102903_HDR: From the stern, looking fore on the starboard side. 014-IMG_20230322_125213423: The buffet, before dinner was served. 015-IMG_20230322_154545908: The starboard stern side of the boat at night. 016-IMG_20230322_154553737: That might have been the Kennedy Bridge (Kennedybrücke). 017-IMG_20230322_154600901: The starboard side looking fore at night. 018-IMG_20230322_154709632: From the stern looking forward to the inside (first the bar, then the tables). 019-IMG_20230324_045236604_HDR-header: Government Bunker Tour 019-IMG_20230324_045236604_HDR-headertext:

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_045236604_HDR: We arrived in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler and had a few minutes to get a snack or bottle of water at a grocery store before we began our walk. 020-IMG_20230324_045302942_HDR: Cute houses. The bus could barely manage the roundabout, so we walked after that. 021-IMG_20230324_045911977: There are vineyards all over the area. 022-IMG_20230324_050554403_HDR: The entrance to the bunker. 023-IMG_20230324_054814130: 1960s and 70s era computer equipement, like TTYs with paper punch tape! 024-IMG_20230324_054818163: More old computer terminals. 025-IMG_20230324_055705531: A crappy panoramic picture of a control room. 026-IMG_20230324_060141228: Controls and mics! 027-IMG_20230324_060227074: More panels with buttons. This might have been generator controls. 028-IMG_20230324_060608625: Status displays. 029-IMG_20230324_060612298: It's like out of some James Bond movie! 030-IMG_20230324_060619323: Or maybe the '60s Batman TV show, minus the labels. 031-IMG_20230324_060934638: This was the fire fighting equipment room. 032-IMG_20230324_060952094: Oh wait, maybe THIS was a control panel for the generators. 033-IMG_20230324_061026417: There are HUGE doors that could seal off sections within a couple of seconds! 034-IMG_20230324_061040972: WHOOOSH! CLUNK! PSSHHHH! They had videos showing how quickly they moved. 035-IMG_20230324_061356851: An anti-contamination suit, since outside could be radioactive. 036-IMG_20230324_061407325: There were electric carts that could shuttle thigns around stored here. This was a big space that was a multi-use meeting area. 037-IMG_20230324_061717151: Megnets that could be used on the map to the left when war-gaming 038-IMG_20230324_061720827: The guide explaining the war-game operations they could use. 039-IMG_20230324_062029126: Coffee machines on the right and toasters in the middle. Religious services could be held here too. The sign indicates the capacity for Catholics and Protestants for their services (33 and 43, respectively). 040-IMG_20230324_062314518: A telephone booth. I think this was for people to use while training or maintaining the facility. 041-IMG_20230324_062340611: The TV studio where the President could broadcast messages. 042-IMG_20230324_063239672: The unused train tunnel. The guide shouted "hello" and it echoed for quite a while. 043-IMG_20230324_075544263-header: Winery 043-IMG_20230324_075544263-headertext:

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. 043-IMG_20230324_075544263: An in-camera (read: shitty) panoramic photo of the vineyard and valley. 044-IMG_20230324_075615039_HDR: Wallfahrtskirche Calvarienberg und Krypta (Sanctuary of Calvary and Crypt?) was a former Ursuline Nunary (I think) by the Ahr River. 045-IMG_20230324_075701290_HDR: Walkng towards the winery there's a nice view of the valley of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. 046-IMG_20230324_075709254: I believe the big-ass bridge is the Ahrtalbrücke (yeah, I look these up). 047-IMG_20230324_082003131_HDR: Half the group splits off to pursue a "shortcut" through the woods. 048-IMG_20230324_082024364_HDR: Every fucking German fairy tale begins with getting stuck in the woods. 049-IMG_20230324_082106383_HDR: Let's go down! This railing and stairs are visible in #047. 050-IMG_20230324_082112481_HDR: We wander around further. I'm glad I wore boots that morning. 051-IMG_20230324_082543104_HDR: It's muddy and we have to walk over fallen trees. Fun! 052-IMG_20230324_083556578: Eventually we make it to the winery. Well, those not eaten by wolves. 053-IMG_20230324_084047979: The camera takes better close-up pictures. I drank a lot of water. 054-IMG_20230324_102020712_HDR: The ruins of a monastery. They have events there like weddings. 055-IMG_20230324_102128290_HDR: I walked up from the winery to the vineyard. 056-IMG_20230324_102158490_HDR: Looking back down at the winery. The tasting was in the building on the left. 057-IMG_20230324_102808660_HDR: In the ruins. 058-IMG_20230324_102841749_HDR: It was a beautiful day. 059-IMG_20230324_103035657_HDR: The awning/tent is where some summer events are held. 060-IMG_20230324_103156564_HDR: Outside the ruins looking in. 061-IMG_20230324_120625234-header: Haribo 061-IMG_20230324_120625234-headertext:

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_120625234: The Haribo headquarters is the white building on the right side of the overpass. Taken from a moving bus, sorry. 062-IMG_20230324_131158580: Look closely where the rainbow begins. This wasn't intentional on my part. 063-IMG_20230324_131241481_HDR: A gummi rainbow over downtown Bonn! Bottom: