Travel activities
Travel to places in the book, visit monuments and museums
Traveling is not only a joyful and exciting activity, but can also be a learning experience. Travel to places in the book, or to museums, galleries, and monuments close to you to discover about history, science, art, and the world of knowledge around you.
Oxford
Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world; there is no clear date of foundation, but teaching existed at Oxford in some form since 1096. Oxford is a collegiate university consisting of 36 colleges and three societies.
Learn 7 fantastic things about Oxford
Are you fascinated with Albert’s world and Oxford? Find out ten incredible, or unusual, things about Oxford that will make you see Oxford in wonder as much as we do.
Take “a self-guided walking tour at literary Oxford”
Developed by Laura Hartley, a blogger and intellectual property solicitor based in London who graduated in French Studies from Oxford University.
Visit the Oxford Libraries and Museums
Tour the Bodleian Libraries
“Get behind the scenes access to one of the oldest working libraries in the world. See the awe-inspiring architecture and hear the stories from the historic heart of the University.”
Visit the Ashmolean Museum
“The Ashmolean is the University of Oxford’s museum of art and archaeology, founded in 1683. Our world famous collections range from Egyptian mummies to contemporary art, telling human stories across cultures and across time.”
The Museum of Natural History
“Oxford University Museum of Natural History holds an internationally-significant collection of natural history specimens and archives in a stunning example of neo-Gothic architecture. It is home to a lively programme of research, teaching and events focused on the sciences of the natural environment.”
Newton at Cambridge
Newton’s renowned commemorative tree at Trinity College, Cambridge University, as shown in the book. In the vertical picture is Newton’s statue inside the College premises.
Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the fourth-oldest university in the world and is made up of 31 constituent Colleges. One of the Colleges, Trinity, is where Newton spent most of his academic life at Cambridge.
In the pictures you can see author Maria Ploumaki Bigler, 2016.
Ancient Athens
Athens is a modern city of about 5 million inhabitants, which has continually been inhabited over the last 3 thousand years. Explore some ancient monuments from the Acropolis and Poseidon temple to the Erexthion.
Poseidon Temple
The ancient story says that Athens was named after a competition between the ancient gods Athena and Poseidon. Well, we can figure out who won from the city’s modern name, but the Temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounio is an epic monument where you can feel that the God of the Sea would indeed live there. Up on a rock surrounded by sea as far as the eye can see, rises a temple made of white marble and straight lines; an ode to strength and the sea.
Pythagoreio, Samos, Greece
You have learnt the Pythagorean theorem, but have you ever wondered where Pythagoras comes from? See views of the Pythagoreio town on Samos island, Greece, the ancient mathematician’s birthplace and look at the very beach the theorem could have been written in the sand for the very first time.
Griffith Observatory
Visit an observatory or a planetarium to learn more about the galaxies like Hubble.
If in the meantime you would like to see the collection of the Hubble images of the universe, you can do so by visiting the collections at the NASA website below.
Picture from Maria Ploumaki Bigler at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, 2017.
Neuschwanstein Castle
You may wonder why it is included in the book, when no discovery took place there. It is a renowned landmark of Southern Germany, where Heisenberg comes from. And it is commonly known as the castle that inspired the Disney castle.
Zurich
Zürich is in the heart of Europe and in our heart as a family, it’s our home. If you’re planning to visit for some days look some of the recommendations below that include Einstein’s university, the biggest waterfall in Europe, and one of the oldest libraries in the world.
ETH
The Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH) was founded in 1854 and focuses primarily on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Albert Einstein was both a student and a professor at ETH Zurich. During his time as a professor he worked on the problem of gravitation, which led to the general theory of relativity a few years later. In the VR tour you can see his Zurich Notebook that gives us a chance to “look over Einstein's shoulder” on his way to the greatest discovery of his scientific career.
The city of Zurich
Zurich, or Züri as it is called in the local dialect, is the largest city in Switzerland. It is situated on the top part of Lake Zürich with its suburbs lying on the north part and around the lake. Zurich is an international city with the familiarity of a small one, a place with old buildings and traditions but also of innovation and digitization. Switzerland has been ranking on the top for innovation according to the WIPO 2022 rankings whilst being a country with a strong culture. Zurich, as its largest city, is at the intersection of this unique combination, embodying the best of both worlds, leading with its distinctive character and moving forward looking into the future.
In the vicinity of Zurich
Above the canton of Zurich is the canton of Schaffhausen that borders with Germany. You can visit the castle, visit the IWC museum at its Schaffhausen headquarters, and see the Rheinfall, the largest waterfall in Europe, pictured above.
In the neighbouring canton of St. Gallen is the Abbey Library, a World Heritage site and one of the oldest, most important libraries of the world.