Stuttgart, Germany
This is a poster at the solar eclipse festival in Stuttgart. This was the biggest solar eclipse celebration in Germany.
Here is an astronomer who is trying to do some sort of demonstration with a tiny moon and earth. I'm not sure if this is a rehersal or the real thing, but it wasn't going the way it was supposed to. My german is not very good, so I couldn't understand the nature of the problem. But, I don't think I was helping, because the guy would glance at me with an annoyed expression every time I snapped a picture!
This a German family! The half-hidden woman on the right is my sister Tammy. (She's American like me) Tammy and her husband Marty (the guy in back) hosted a German exchange student, Jan. (the guy on the right) Tammy and Marty visited Jan's family for about a week. I visited for one day. They are very nice people! (Did I mention that they're German?)
Jan and his family live in Vaihingen/ENZ, which is near Stuttgart. I was at their place on August 11th, the day of the total solar eclipse. They live right on the centerline of the eclipse! (You may have guessed by now that I'm an amateur astronomer...) We had an eclipse cookout with their friends who drove over from Strasbourg, France. (which is really not far away.) Unfortunately, we missed the totality because of clouds! Oh well, maybe next time. At least the food and company were good!
Our friends from Strasbourg are getting the barbeque ready for our solar-eclipse cookout, as Jan's little brother looks on!
Little Raphael is pumping the bellows with his foot..
This is a shot of the solar eclipse festival, still going strong the day after the eclipse.
I met an english guy who was at the festival on the 11th. He said they missed it too. Nevertheless, the festival-goers look happy.