Practical Information

About the Conference

• All talks are in the ground level of Welcome hotel, halfway between the reception and the breakfast area, where the lunch and coffee breaks will take place. Wifi is free for hotel guests (up to 200MB download per day), participants that don't stay in the hotel may buy vouchers for 4.50 EUR (good for three devices).
• The informal come together gathering on Sunday is in LaLucha, Schleiermacherstraße. If you leave the hotel, walk along the street, pass two old buildings (old court theater and state museum). Schleimacher Str. is the next crossing.
• We booked some tables as an offer to the conference participants to meet in the evening. The whole conference won't fit there, so feel free to dine or meet other people somewhere else. On Monday it's 3klang (Dreiklang) at Riegerplatz (about 20min walk from the hotel), on Tuesday it's Herrngartencafé, just inside the Herrngarten park next to the hotel.
• The bus tour to Messel pit starts on Tuesday at 2:30pm from the bus stop at the Darmstadtium, across Alexanderstr. from the hotel. Please be there on time! You may pick up a doggy pack at about 2pm. We walk into the pit, so wear sturdy shoes. We will be back at the hotel around 5:30pm.
• The banquet will take place in Café Rodenstein. It is within the building of Hessisches Landesmuseum (state musuem), that was the second of the old buildings you passed on the way to LaLucha. It has its own entrance at the left side of the building. The museum itself is open until 8pm on Wednesdays, so the main entrance will be open, but don't use it unless you want to buy a ticket and visit the museum.
• For the walking tour to Mathildenhöhe and Rosenhöhe: Meet me at the Welcome Hotel entrance at 3pm on Sunday. It takes about 15min to walk up to Mathildenhöhe. If you don't want to walk that distance, there is a bus F (direction Oberwaldhaus) leaving from Schloss at 3:01pm (single fare 2EUR, day ticket 3.90EUR, group day ticket 6.80EUR for up to 5 pax). It takes 4min to the stop Mathildenhöhe, from there a small street (Lucasweg) leads about 100m uphill, you can't miss the wedding tower. You may also share a taxi. Let the taxi pick you up at Darmstadtium (from the hotel it will be a big turn due to the one way city ring), then it should be about 5 EUR. Meet the rest of the group in front of the exhibition hall next to the tower.

Things to know about Germany

• Cell phones will work if the support the GSM networks in Germany (GSM 900/1800). For European cell phones this isn't a problem, but American praticipants will need a cell phone labeled as triband or quadband. Roaming charges for customers inside the EU are limited by the EU, but if you are from outside EU please check the roaming charges, they may be very high. UMTS is present, in many places also LTE. By the way, the country code for Germany is +49, the area code for Darmstadt 651. So to dial a landline number in Darmstadt, the number entered in your cell phone will start with +496151.
• Prices in shops, restaurants, hotels are final prices, including tax and service. Anyway, taxi drivers and restaurant staff will appreciate tips. 5 to 10% is a good guess.
• Shops are closed on Sunday. If you absolutely need something, there is a REWE supermarket in the railway station that is open on Sundays during daytime. But expect it to be crowded. On the other days, the shops in the city center close usually at 7pm or 8pm. The REWE supermarket in the basement of the shopping mall at Luisenplatz is open until 10pm.
• Credit cards are accepted in many shops and restaurants, but check first; others accept only cash or German debit cards (like Maestro).
• There are many ATMs in the city center that accept Maestro and credit cards.
• Germany uses 220V AC power, so if you come from somewhere with 110V, check wether your devices are ready for 220V or they may break. For cell phone and computer power supplies it shouldn't be an issue, but if you want to bring your own hairdryer, it may be a problem. Please check wether your plug fit into the German outlets. We use the same ones as most European countries, but plugs from UK, US, Japan will need an adapter. Temperatures are measured in centigrade, and we use the metric system. Times are given within the 24h system, i.e. 1pm is 13.00 and the day ends after 23.59. Level numbering in buildings starts with zero, the groundlevel is either marked with 0 or EG (Erdgeschoss), and the 1st floor is one level up.

Things to do

• Darmstadt offers a pedestrian area. Walk through the Castle (it is owned by the Technical Universities, so nothing to visit except a small museum that's only open at weekends). At the entrance heading to Welcome hotel, a biergarten is in the upper floor that is open if the weather is good. Around the market place, many restaurants offer their service inside and outside. In the old city hall, you'll find the Ratskeller, with a biergarten in the ground level. In the upper level, there is a bohemian restaurant, where you can try the German and regional cuisine. Close by is Bockshaut, the oldest guest house in Darmstadt. Another major spot is Luisenplatz with a statue in its center. The rest of the place is quite ugly (especially the shopping mall), but you may walk along Wilhelminenstr. uphill until you end at a big Catholic church that looks like it was inspired by the Pantheon. If you want something green, the Herrngarten is just next to the hotel.
• Mathildenhöhe: There will be the walk on Sunday to see the Art Nouveau Site Mathildenhöhe. If you have some spare time or you have accompany that has, you may be interested in also visiting the current exibition "Weltenentwürfe/ World Designs" there. It presents the importance of the Darmstadt Artists Colony for design, architecture and art since 1900. Open Tuesday to Sunday 11am-6pm, 5 EUR admittance. English Audioguide available.
• Depending on the weather, the Art Nouveau Bath (Indoor pool) may be of interest. Mercksplatz 1. 5 min walk. Open daily 10am-10pm, 2hrs for 6 EUR or 9.30 EUR with SPA (blue salt water grotto with underwater music, whirlpool and hot steam bath).
• Friends of Friedensreich Hundertwasser may want to see his last building, the Waldspirale, about 20 min, 1.5 km walk from the hotel, across the park, corner of Büdingerstr. and Friedberger Str. It is a "normal" house that can only be visited from the outside.
• I know that some of you americans are fond of porcelain figures, so maybe the Grand Ducal Hessian Porcelain Collection in the Prince-Georg-Palais may be of interest for you. Open Fr-Sun 10am-5pm. Fee 4 EUR. Right at the end of the park, 10 min from the hotel, at Schlossgartenstr. 10.
• For the more technically inclined: The Hessisches Landesmuseum (state museum) right next to the hotel where also the banquet will be has an exibition Gebrochenes Licht / Broken Light showing rare picture magic machines - 18th century predecessors of photography. Fee 6 EUR, Sat, Sun 11am-5pm, Tue 10am-6pm, Wed 10am-8pm. Attention: If you want to visit the printing and typography section of the state museum, that's in its own outstation at Kirchenallee with rather limited opening hours: Tue 10-12, Thu 3pm-5pm, Fri 10-12. (Bus 5515, 5516, stop Windmühle)
• If on Wednesday evening you want to leave the banquet at some point because you cannot hear the word TeX any more, you may consider to go to Round Midnight - Jazz and Thoughts for night owls at 10:30pm in the Stadtkirche (city church), with pianist Florian Weber and bassist Henning Sieverts. Entrance is free. Address: An der Stadtkirche in the pedestrian zone, 6 min walk (500m) from Banquet place or hotel.
• Frankfurt is easy to reach by train within 20 to 30 minutes. Besides the skyline, which gave Frankfurt the nickname Mainhattan, you'll find something that Darmstadt is missing, namely a river. Walk along the Main, or enjoy a ship tour. South of the Main is the suburb Sachsenhausen that is famous for its many restaurants and bars.
• For hiking you may want to visit the Kühkopf about 20km west of Darmstadt. An old part of the Rhine was left as it was after the Rhine was redirected to speed up the traffic on the river. You'll see how nature behaves when left in peace and see the effects of frequent overflooding to plants and animals. Another possibilty is to take the train south towards Heidelberg. The area between Darmstadt and Heidelberg is the so-called Bergstraße, with many castles, and two hiking trails, Burgenweg (castle trail) and Blütenweg (blossom trail) lead along the Bergstraße, and since they are parallel to the railway you may start and end whereever you want.

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