Carolyn and Mark's German Eclipse Adventure

Carolyn and Mark's German Eclipse Adventure Rain or Shine

This was to be our fate -- the sun darting in and out of ominous rain clouds blowing from west to east (right to left in all our pictures here).

So, we had nothing to do but wait and hope for the best -- and savor the special dark beer served from our hotel, the König Ludwig Dunkel. This was not to be confused with the bottle seen on display in the window of the Ries-Krater Museum, a special commemorative eclipse brew, Schwarze Sonne ("Black Sun"). By this time, our party had grown to four -- an amateur astronomer from the conference, Greg Goldstein from Geneva, Switzerland, had joined us as well.

When it was clear, it was very clear. When blue skies and the partially-eclipsed Sun emerged, we'd run inside and tell one of the hotel managers and our waitress -- neither of whom had seen an eclipse before.

While Carolyn chatted with the hotel manager (who was from South Africa), Volker conducted a thriving business selling an eclipse viewing book with a built-in solar filter. In addition to his regular job with a huge theater chain, Volker has a little side business supplying astronomy books and materials to museum gift shops (and he represents Loch Ness Productions throughout most of Europe). He was really amazing -- throughout the morning he was out there selling these books at 4 Deutschemarks apiece. Once it was obvious that we might see the eclipse, he had a LOT of takers!

There was a lot of commerce conducted across the platz, too. We ate many good meals at the Italian restaurant Cafe Roma. Here the proprietor was rushing out to make a delivery -- pizza to go with eclipse goggles.

While we could see the sun just fine from the biergarten, the hotel blocked the view to the west, and we couldn't stand not knowing what was blowing in, clear sky or clouds. We walked a few steps down the path to the city fountain area.