From Space Expo and Space Congress to Meeting Astronauts Part One

I am almost done with my Krikalev New Year's resolutions because 3 are down. I did them in last September and October. I attended Space Generation Congress and International Astronautical Congress in Valencia, Spain. But before going there I decided to do little European trip starting with Germany. Landing in Frankfurt am Main and Alex was waiting for me, I met Alex last year at Space Generation Congress in Fukuoka, Japan. We took a train with a fantastic view of Rhine River through Braubach, Koblenz, Bonn, and Cologne. My favorite place was visiting Marksburg, a castle from Middle Ages. And climbing the 509 steps in Cologne Catherdral was worth it because of the wonderful view from above. In Bonn I visited Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy since Alex works there and he was my guide the whole European trip. And I saw a street named after Wernher von Braun, the famous racketeer.

Then I went to Space Expo in Noordwijk, Netherland where my ham radio friend Cor (PD0RKC) was waiting for me there and gave me little wooden Dutch shoes. I never met him before and he is the one who helped me on how to contact the International Space Station (ISS) via radio. In the exhibit there was a big Zvezda module of ISS. Of course I played a short roll of being an astronaut: using a glove box, and sitting on the toilet, it was a bit fun hanging out in fake Service Module. Then we went to Amsterdam and took a boat trip on Amstel River.