Stammtisch and more

Excursion to Gutach 2017
Excursion to Gutach
Excursion to Freiburg 2017
IScO's excursion to Baden-Baden on 25th March 2017
Excursion to Mercedes Benz Museum 18th February 2017
Family Excursion to the Albtal, August 6th 2016
Freiburg im Breisgau 21th May 2016
Baden-Baden 19th March 2016 Kurhaus picture courtesy of M. Bostenaru
Impressions of a regulars' table in summer - BBQ roof terrace of the International Guesthouse
Baden-Baden 20th June 2015
Speyer 4 June 2016
Traditional Carnival in the Black Forest - Gengenbach picture kindly provided by Gengenbach Kultur- und Tourismus GmbH
Excursion to the Mercedes-Benz Truck production plant in Wörth
Excursion to the Zoo Karlsruhe, 21st January 2017
Excursion to the Weingut Münzberg

Every month  IScO organises a “Stammtisch” (regulars’ table) which weather permitting takes the form of a BBQ and every two months an excursion. This is a brilliant opportunity to meet other international researchers, postdocs, doctoral canidates and scholarship holders from all over the world in a relaxed ambiance. You could also ask your partners, friends and colleagues to accompany you. Everybody is welcome. Exchange information, make new friends and have fun!


If you are interested in receiving information about the date of our next Stammtisch and excursions, please send us an email to visitingresearcher∂intl.kit.edu.

You will then also be informed about other events that are organized by IScO.

Impressions of past excursions

IScO's Regional Seminar - Advent on December 1st 2018 

Pictures and Traditions

 

IScO's excursion to Baden-Baden on March 24th 2018

The “International Scholars and Welcome Office” organized an excursion with a guided tour to the city of Baden-Baden on 24 March 2018. Baden-Baden is a highly elegant Spa Town which lies south of Karlsruhe and on the edge of the Black Forest. Its hot springs were already used by the Romans and are still very popular today. When night falls in Baden-Baden, the famous Kurhaus with its grand casino reveals its best side: radiant and full of life. Marlene Dietrich described Germany’s oldest casino (established about 1830) as the most beautiful casino in the world. Well-known names from business, society and politics, stars and celebrities from near and far have played their roles. Together with the magnificent Lichtentaler Allee, the concert hall at the Festspielhaus, the two thermal baths and the many hotels, restaurants and cafes, there is a lot to see in Baden-Baden.

 

Our guided tour started at the impressive casino with its different rooms where you can play e.g. roulette, blackjack or poker, decorated in a lavish style. We made a stop at the so called Trinkhalle and went on through the old part of Baden-Baden, which was lucky to escape systematic bombing in World War 2. After our informative and entertaining tour, we said goodbye to our guide and went for a typical Chinese lunch in a Chinese restaurant. In the afternoon, the group walked to the Merkur Funicular Railway (Europe’s steepest funicular railway). It takes you to the highest point in Baden-Baden, where you can stand back and admire the beautiful view.

 

IScO's excursion to Gutach on August 12th 2017

On Saturday, August 12th a group of 27 researchers and scientists met at the main station in Karlsruhe to join our excursion to the open air museum “Vogtbauernhöfe” in Gutach, Black Forest. We were very lucky with the weather, after a long period of rain it was quiet dry on this Saturday. At eleven o`clock we arrived in Gutach and joined a private guided tour through two of the six traditional Black-Forest-houses. Mrs. Reiser our guide told us a lot about the intelligent concept of the house’s structure and the life of the inhabitants four hundred years ago. A highlight of the tour was the visit of the fully functional water powered mill, which was impressively demonstrated by Mrs. Reiser. After the tour ended the participants of the excursion had the opportunity to discover the museum by their own, or try a piece of the famous Black forest cake. 

 

Excursion with IStO to Siemens on July 17th 2017

Siemens is one of the biggest companies in Germany and well known all over the world, as well as the largest private employer in Karlsruhe. 17 students and scientists joined us to a company visit in the ‘Siemens Industrie Park Karlsruhe’ on Friday July 21st to get an inside look and experience how this company works. A center for process automation, factory automation, building automation and industrial services can be found here. The focus of the site is on process automation, process instrumentation and power instrumentation.

During the 1,5 hour factoy tour we had the chance to get a bigger insight and especially into the production site of this company.

After a short break, we continued the tour and visited the „Remote Expert Center“ which can access power plants worldwide. It is used for maintenance as well as repair purposes, service and of course supervision and control.

It was highly interesting to get the chance to have a closer look at a large company like Siemens.

Excursion with IStO to Heidelberg on 17.06.2017

On Saturday, 17th of July 20 students and scientist from all over the world met up at the main train station in Karlsruhe to take the train to visit the town of Heidelberg. After a relatively short train ride and a change into a tram in Heidelberg, we reached our starting point for this eventful day. Firstly, everyone got the opportunity to explore the town for about an hour until we met again to start our guided tour through the old town of Heidelberg. The tour offered us the possibility to learn about Heidelberg’s impressive history, the progress of the castle and the student life. Heidelberg is known as the town with the oldest university in Germany and a quarter of its population are students.

A big group of us accepted the offer to have a joined meal at ‘Alte Münz’, a traditional German restaurant which offers a huge variety of different versions of ‘Schnitzel’. All of us were very satisfied with our meal.

After a pleasant break at the restaurant, we continued to explore the town further. The group visited the castle ruins. We therefore used the funicular railway to reach the impressive ruins. The hill offers spectacular views of Heidelberg and the Neckar valley, as well as an inside look into the castle ruins. Plenty of other people visited the castle, so we decided to form smaller groups and meet up again to walk to the train station. A great and exciting day came to an end when group jointly took the train back to Karlsruhe.

Excursion with IStO to Freiburg on June 10th 201
On Friday June 10th, a group of 15 students and scholars gathered at the main station to start their excursion to Freiburg. The easiest way to get there is to use the train and choose the ‘Baden-Württemberg Ticket’. Around 11 a.m. the group reached the city located at on the western edge of the Black Forest. 
Starting from the train station in Freiburg, we got to know the city with the help of our tour guide. The 1,5-hour tour showed us the beauty and history of this picturesque city, for example the unusual system of gutters (called Freiburg Bächle) that run throughout its center, as well as the tiny alleys. We also learned that the city is an ‘eco-city’ and therefore people like to cycle or use public transportation. 
Freiburg is known as the warmest city in Germany and we got to experience this on our own. The weather was beautiful and allowed us to enjoy the day even more. When our guided tour came to an end at the ‘Münster’, the group decided to get ‘Bratwürste’ and other German specialties for lunch at the farmers market with is located directly next to the Münster. Afterwards, 12 of us explored the city on the way to a café where we got the chance to try an authentic piece of the famous Black Forest Cake. Strengthened from this coffee break, the group hiked to the top of the ‘Schlossberg’ to experience a wonderful view of Freiburg and the region. 
At the end of a long day, we enjoy the still sunny evening in a Beer garden on the hill. After an eventful day with many new impressions and great conversations, we took the train back to Karlsruhe. Therefore, everyone was very tired and exhausted when we reached the city at 9 p.m. 
 
Excursion to Baden-Baden on 25th March 2017

On March 25th 2017 the International Scholars and Welcome office organized an excursion with a guided tour to the city of Baden-Baden. Baden-Baden is a very elegant Spa town South of Karlsruhe. Its baths were used as long back as Roman times and even today its baths are very popular. What really made it the place to be seen for High Society as long back as the Belle Époque is its Casino dating back to the 1830s (established by a Frenchman) and decorated in a lavish style reminiscent of the Court of Louis XVI. Together with museums and theaters this allure drew kings, emperors, czars and intellectuals and authors like Tolstoi. At the end of summer horse races take place on a track not far away in the town of Iffezheim.

We joined in a guided tour, which highlighted all these sights, the town with its long tradition as a travel destination for High Society, according to her Baden-Baden is regarded by many French as French in character; whereas many Russians see Russian characteristics embodied in it. After a tour of the most impressive Casino our stroll took us through the old part of Baden-Baden. The city was lucky to escape systematic bombing in WW 2, as early on it was selected as the seat of the military government of the French occupied zone. Being a native of Baden-Baden, our guide could vouch that although the French troops came as occupiers to some, they certainly left as friends a few years ago.

After our most entertaining and informative tour we further explored Baden-Baden, or went for a lunch in one of the many restaurants settled in the old town in smaller groups.

 

Excursion to the Mercedes Benz Museum on 18.02.2017

On February 18th, 2017 IScO’s excursion went to the Mercedes-Benz Museum – a veritable treasure chest for anyone interested in cars or vehicles. Like every time our excursion started at Saturday morning at the Karlsruhe main station to travel by public transportation together to Stuttgart.

During our guided tour through the Mercedes Museum, our guide showed us the exhibits ranged from the very earliest motorized vehicles to the latest models, from humble taxis, trucks and other utility vehicles to the “wheels” of the rich and famous. Mr. Benz a KIT alumni by the way and Mr. Daimler, the two fathers of the first combustion-engine propelled cars, both hailing from our fair federal state of Baden-Württemberg, were actually competitors in the beginning and only economic pressures forced them to merge their respective companies in the 1920s. Did you know that the three-pointed star of the Mercedes brand symbolizes movement on land, water and in the air?

After the tour all participants had enough time to explore the museum with all the sights on their own. 

 

Family excursion to the Black Forrest on 22.10.2016

On 22nd October at 9:45 we started our journey to the Black Forrest Open Air Museum near Guttach by train. During our ride we had the possibility to get some first views of the panorama of the Black Forrest.

The Black Forest Open Air Museum is a forum for the entire Black Forest region. It carries out research projects and explores the cultural heritage and development of all rural areas in the Black Forest region.  In this way, the Open Air Museum contributes to the promotion and preservation of the region's cultural identity.

During our tour thru the different farmyards our well informed guide took us to the darker centuries of the inhabitants of the Black Forrest. We got to know the behaviors and the rituals of the people as well as typical clothing, tools and architecture of those times.  After our last stop at a full functional water mill we split up in groups and explored the museum by our own.

Some of us also visited the Taboggan Park and the Park for all Senses. Looking back it’s nearly unbelievable to think about the circumstances some people lived not even 100 years ago.

 

IScO's excursion to Speyer on June 4th 2016

Excursion to Speyer - world heritage cathedral and home to a space shuttle 

On June 4th undaunted by a few brief showers in the morning we set off from Karlsruhe’s main station.

To Speyer! It is the only town which can boast a cathedral nearly 1.000 years old and is home to a space shuttle.

After meeting our very knowledgeable and friendly tour guide we enjoyed the many impressive historical sights of the old town of Speyer. Beginning with an overview from the “Altpörtel”, the last remaining gate tower of the town walls, the view from a climb of 155 steps was certainly worth the effort. Despite having been severely damaged in the late 17th century the medieval layout of the town was kept when rebuilding took place.

As to this day the seat of a bishopric Speyer has more than its fair share of churches, not just catholic but of various denominations, including a strong Jewish tradition. The ruined remains of a synagogue and house of prayer for the women illustrate the turbulent history of Jewish life in the German lands, from periods of tolerance to persecutions up to the unspeakable crimes of the 20th century. A traditional Jewish bath house for ritual cleaning e.g. before weddings or after child birth survived fairly intact as it was underground and out of sight of hostile eyes.

We ended our tour in front of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the “Kaiserdom”, the largest cathedral in the Romanesque style worldwide.

After having lunch together next to the idyllic Rhine bank, many of us used the opportunity to visit the “Technik Museum”, home of a number of exhibits, from a Soviet Buran space shuttle to numerous aircraft, a submarine you can walk through and an IMAX film theater.

Returning after a day full of impressions, most would agree that Speyer is well worth a trip!

 

IScO's excursion to Freiburg on 21th Mai 2016
 

In the morning of May 21st, 2016 a group of international scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology met at the main station. Our destination was the beautiful city of Freiburg. The weather was perfect, blue sky and a lot of sun. By using the “Baden-Württemberg-Ticket” (a special deal offered by the transportation authority “DB”) we first took the regional train to Offenburg and then continued our journey to Freiburg im Breisgau.

After an about 5 minute walk crossing the train rails via a bridge, we met with our nice tour guide from “Freiburg AKTIV” in front of Freiburg’s bike station. Over the course of the next 1.5 hours we were given an overview of many interesting places and facts in and surrounding Freiburg. The tour was focused on cult and culture of the modern Freiburg.

Freiburg is a town situated in between the Black Forest and the Rhine valley. It is therefore considered the capital of the Black Forest region. It was founded by Konrad and Duke Berthold III of Zähring in 1120 AD. Because of its nice location close to the border of France and Switzerland as well as the relatively warm and sunny climate, Freiburg became vacation residence of many wealthy people in ancient times. Nowadays Freiburg is a popular student city with an innovative and creative lifestyle. It is considered one of the cities with the most bicycle traffic in Germany. Renewable energy is very important for the city, while using solar energy and innovative housing forms. Furthermore public gardens for farming are situated next to the recently built and modern university library.

Not only the rather new and student areas of Freiburg have a lot to offer. The rebuilt medieval down town of Freiburg is very charming. We were welcomed by many little alleys covered with arches of flower blossoms. A quarter known as the old town’s island is full of life and traditional restaurants. In the city center the well-known “Münster”, a cathedral and the last stop of our tour, is situated. After the tour we thanked our guide and the group split up for a couple of hours. Some people climbed the tower of the cathedral to enjoy the beautiful view over the old town. Others took their time to enjoy a longer lunch or hiked to the castle hill.

At 3:30 p.m. the group met in front of “Café Schmidt”. The black forest and therefore also Freiburg are very famous for the traditional “Black Forest cake”. Hence we did not miss the opportunity to enjoy a homemade piece of this German tradition in the small pastry shop in the middle of the city center.

With new energy the group decided to explore Freiburg a little more. Taking advantage of the good weather we visited the castle hill and went for an about 1 hour hike. Others walked around Freiburg. At 6 p.m. the group gathered at Freiburg main station and took the train back to Karlsruhe.