mountains & medicine.: 2011 Whitaker Conference: Beautiful Budapest

Ben and I just returned from the 2011 Whitaker Grantee Enrichment Seminar in Budapest, Hungary!

beautiful budapest.

The conference itself was designed for all Fellows and Scholars receiving funding through the Whitaker foundation, and it was absolutely fantastic. We spent four days in the heart of Budapest, presenting our own research and listening to the research of others. It was a great opportunity to learn about some of the hot topics in biomedical engineering, as well as to receive feedback on our own work.

the view from my hotel room.

One of my favorite aspects of the conference was our discussion on the different cultural approaches to biomedical engineering research. Since Whitaker Fellows and Scholars are sprinkled across the globe, we were able to discuss how research in Cape Town compares to research in Paris, and how the Italian approach differs from that in Taiwan. It was certainly an enlightening week, and a great chance to learn more about biomedical engineering, both from a technical and cultural point of view.

Although I honestly loved our time spent in the conference room, I also really enjoyed the time spent we exploring Budapest. Budapest is enormous, sprawling, and absolutely soaked in history. Although I could have easily stayed there much, much longer, we did manage to squeeze a lot into the short time we had.

Some of my favorites:

the chain bridge.

the chain bridge was built in 1849 to unite the communities
of Buda and Pest. in many ways, the construction of the
chain bridge is what allowed budapest to develop
into the metropolis it is today.

lions on the bridge! according to local legend, after
finishing the design of the bridge, the architect suddenly
realized he forgot to give the lions tongues, and promptly
threw himself overboard.

parliament.

budapest synagogue. after the new york city synagogue,
this is the largest in the world.

back of the holocaust.

holocaust memorial tree. each of the willow's leaves is transcribed in multiple
names.

monument to carl lutz,who issued fake passports and documents--
ultimately saving tens of thousands of budapest jews during
world war 2.

the terror museum, and a unique look into budapest's more recent history.
the museum documents two of the darker points in budapest history: occupation
by nazi germany and soviet occupation.

this photo is less trivial than it looks:
it's the first mcdonald's in a communist country!

although this art deco market was bustling 50 years ago,
the construction of a major city highway has left it
pretty deserted.

loved the ceiling!

as always, I love stopping to listen to street performers.
this guy's water-glass skills were particularly impressive!

On our last evening in Budapest, we had the opportunity to experience a super-special treat: a dinner and wine tasting cruise along the Danube river. It was a wonderful evening of lively conversation, fantastic food and wine, and beautiful views of Budapest by night.