I just returned from a week-long trip to Schloss Dagstuhl, a venue for researchers and practitioners to discuss topics of interest on informatics and computer science. The seminar last week was on Web Security, a subject of a few of my recent publications. (Sadly, I was not around, for some reason, when they took the group photo.)I find Dagstuhl a very cool place, both professionally and personally. Dagstuhl has attracted some of the very best computer science researchers to its seminars over the last 20 or so years. Many winners of Computer Science's highest awards have attended or organized Dagstuhl seminars. The Dagstuhl library is vast, with a large selection of computer science-oriented journals and books, the latter oftentimes signed by their authors. The guest book has hand-written abstracts and comments. This was my third seminar, and probably the best. (But don't say that to the organizers of the other two!)
Professional interests aside, the site is brilliant. Schloss Dagstuhl is located in Saarland, in the southwest of Germany, close to France and Luxembourg. The closest airport is Frankfurt (I flew into Frankfurt Hahn via low-cost carrier RyanAir). The site is near the ruined Castle Dagstuhl, first built in 1270, and ruined some time in the 18th century.
After the Castle fell, they built a large home at the foot of the hill on which the Castle stood. In the late 80's this home began to be used by the German government, in conjunction with the two nearest Universities (Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe), to host the Dagstuhl seminars.
The house contains many amenities, including a large wine selection, plenty of German beer, coffee, etc. There is also a music room, a chess room, a chapel, and other rooms for downtime, and many conference rooms for discussion. The chapel is actually used by the Catholic parish of nearby Wadern. It's very pretty. On a prior occasion, a member of a seminar I attended performed a concert for the attendees on the chapel's organ. Very cool!
After the Castle fell, they built a large home at the foot of the hill on which the Castle stood. In the late 80's this home began to be used by the German government, in conjunction with the two nearest Universities (Kaiserslautern and Karlsruhe), to host the Dagstuhl seminars.
The house contains many amenities, including a large wine selection, plenty of German beer, coffee, etc. There is also a music room, a chess room, a chapel, and other rooms for downtime, and many conference rooms for discussion. The chapel is actually used by the Catholic parish of nearby Wadern. It's very pretty. On a prior occasion, a member of a seminar I attended performed a concert for the attendees on the chapel's organ. Very cool!
Later, they built a more modern extension to accommodate more guests.
The countryside is very beautiful, especially this time of year.
It was a rewarding trip, both personally and professionally. I look forward to my next opportunity to attend a Dagstuhl seminar. It won't be as easy to get to as it was this time, but I'm sure it will be worth it!
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