At the weave silk workshop we had the opportunity to learn about the weaving process. When we were in the workshop our guide was able to show us the process of making elegant weaves that costed up to 9000 euros per meter. Further in, she told us that the only way to make such master pieces was to memorize the colors and weave patterns. She told us that there are not that many people left who know how to use these machines, with the number around 8000.. I enjoyed learning more about the punch card system. It's another example of how far we have come with technology but also proves that if the method isn't broken don't fix it.

At the Musée de Medicine, when our instructor discussed how the people back then protected their eyes, I found that very interesting. They would put charcoal in their eyes because they thought that would protect their eyes from the sun. I could not imagine putting charcoal in my eyes. That must have hurt. I found the museum very informational and I hope to go back one day.

I really enjoyed the Masion Des Canuts. They showed us how to use the loom and how they had to memorize the pattern before they started. Also how they have to put the spool of thread through the threads that lifted up. It was older than the loom that was showed in Berlin which was cool to see the differences in the two machines, and how it was improved. I thought it was very interesting.

One part I found interesting at the Museum of Medicine was the prosthetic they made for the diamond cutters. It was unique because it only had 3 fingers on it, the thumb, index, and middle finger. It was very interesting because usually prosthetics would be a full hand with all five fingers, but they engineered these perfectly because the diamond cutters usually injured those three fingers the most.

Heidi's post: I found the electifing thing to be very amusing. To have the doctors shock people in order to cure them of demons or depression seems odd to me. I'm curious to know how they determined who had a demon inside of them and why they came up with this idea in the first place.

At the Maison Des Canuts, I found it really interesting that the way the old draw loom worked before the Jacquard Loom was that the strings had to be physically pulled. It was really cool to see it work in person and how much memorization has to go into the pattern. The punch cards would lift up certain threads and the weaver wraps the specific color for the lines and then switches it again to a different pattern of rows on the punch card.

I thought the development of the scalpel at the Museum of Medicine was very interesting. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable on the subject. What kinda disgusted me was the story of the person who had an abscess under his skin and a special scalpel was made to cut into his arm. Unfortunately, the guy was in too much pain to complete the procedure.

The museum we went to was very fascinating. I enjoy technology and seeing the advancements it has come. One thing that I enjoyed looking at was the original iPod. It first came out back in 2001 and Steve jobs had huge dreams for it. It eventually lead to the making of the iPhone, one of apples greatest products. One of the first iPods was only compatible with apples computer Mac. It came with a five gigabyte hard drive that held 1000 songs. It's amazing to see how far technology advances in just 16 years. I wonder what the next 16 years will look like!

The items behind the loom.

One the first floor right behind the loom was a machining area where all the machines ran off a central motor system. If you had moved the motor and a gearbox onto those machines they would be identical to the ones I have used. Many of those machines I could identify their name, function, and parts just from what I did in highschool. I am fascinated to see how far technology has come but still operates on the same basic principles.

Something I learned in at the Engineering Museum was that in 2011 there was a proto-type made for a toilet seat that when you sit on it, it has gold plated electrodes that measure your heart’s activity also it measures the amount of fat and water that is stored in your body at that time. This was a part of a research project for Health Technologies at the RWTH Aachen University in Aachen, Germany. I thought this was interesting because you would cut out having to go to the Doctor to get your heart tested. It would be as simple as going to do your daily business.

The technology museum in Berlin Germany was absolutely huge. The biggest thing I found intresting was through out the whole museum there was pieces of today's technology. For example in the communications exhibit on the telephone they had an iphone one and in the television and remote section they had a moto x because it was one of the first smart phones you could control a smart t.v. with. It's just intresting because most of us don't consider that to be history let alone old enough to be in a museum but it helps put in perspective that the things we go through every day are becoming history and to younger generations it will eventually be like the telegram is us.

One of the rooms that stood out to me the most was the two floors with all of the planes. It was crazy to think they got all of those planes in the museum. One of the planes that stood out to me was a plane in the corner of the museum that had a Swastika symbol on the tail of it. It was kind of interesting that they had this plane hidden in the corner of the museum so that people wouldn't see it. I'm not sure if they meant to do that, but I wondered to myself why since Germany has accepted what they did was wrong and want to own up to it and share it with others.

A room that interested me in the museum was looking at all of these really cool inventions from the 1900's such as a washing machine that started automatically when the cost of electricity would be the lowest, as well as a tea-pot/alarm clock. The alarm clock has been made in England since 1933 but gained popularity around the 1960s. You fill it with water the night before and in the morning the tea would be ready when the alarm clock goes off. I just found it very interesting to see these kind of designs and inventions from so long ago. Even though it isn't as dramatic of an invention as the bikes they showed us I really enjoyed looking and reading about them.

Innovations lost in Poland

An interesting innovation that we learned about at the Museum of Municipal Engineering was a rather large structure used to collect water from the river using the power of the river itself. The structure ended up being destroyed in an invasion and was never built again.

A room that interested me a lot at the museum was a small exhibit on a photobioreactor. Basically, it went through the process of algae production for use in biofuels. What I've seen is algae harvested in glass tubes. The exhibit I saw today had strong flexible plastic. The algae is used in medicines, food, cosmetics and fuel.

Heidi's post: My favorite part of the museum was seeing the old farm tools. It's crazy to think of how they went from the hand tools, to the horse pulled plow, and then to the modern beet harvester that they displayed at the museum today. I found it interesting but would also dread being a farmer back then were it would be very difficult to run a large scale farm with that technology.

My favorite part at the museum was the planes on the top floor of the first building the class went to. The museum said that Germany was able to rebuild their Air Force in the 1930s right before World War I. Some of the planes at the museum were in ruins from the War. It was very interesting to see what they looked like. I liked seeing all the different components of the plane like the engineer and the propeller. The museum was very informative and I would totally come back another time. 

Heidi's post: I really enjoyed the stain glass museum. I thought learning about the kiln was very intriguing. It sounded teadious to have to have someone watch the kiln 24/7 to keep it at the correct temperature. I also enjoyed learning about the 'dust pigments' they used to color the glass a deeper or more accurate color, and  once it was put in the kiln it could not be undone.

One of my favorite museums we went to was the stain glass museum in Krakow. One thing I didn't know was that they made different scissors to make their cutouts. I thought that was really interesting and allowed them to get a more precise cut so they would know exactly how to frame the glass without leaving a huge gap. I also didn't realize how easy it is for them to cut glass. All they really had to do was push down with a little pressure and then it cut a perfect line. I also really liked the hands on activity and being able to soder our own glass together to get an idea of what those artists do for a living.

At the museum of municipal engineering we we're able to play around with the gear shift. Being able to see and manipulate the mechanical systems was really quite fun and interesting. It was cool to think of how back when they didn't even consider seat belts that they could create gear changes.

I found the most interesting part of the three options was the Museum of Municipal Engineering. How interactive the Museum is, the fact that you could be inside of the train cars, touching the building blocks to make a bridge. It shows you technology of the past and how we got to were we are now. As an example, the pipes from the past and how they were made out of wood. And how they were all connected to pour into the river. I thought this Museum was the most interesting.

At the stained glass factory, I found it really interesting that they would use lead to shape around the glass. They also just had to make a small indent into the glass in order to break it apart which I found really interesting. They also used a thinner material (copper) in some glass windows rather than lead which made it lighter and also had less distance in between each glass piece. I also thought it was cool that the painting room was made specifically in that spot facing the north so that the light would be softer.

During our visit to the Museum of  Municipal Engineering, we took a tour through the classic cars of Poland. I enjoyed this the most and what interested me was the design of them all. We saw vehicles that opened up from the front of the car and cars that cost 40 months salary. My favorite car was the one that needed to be cranked to start up. It was intriguing to go through time by looking how all the cars in Poland evolved. As we got to explore for five minutes during our free time I was able to notice the different types of carburetors there were to fuel the engine. It was a very interesting tour that I was very much fond of. 

At the Museum of  Municipal Engineering, I really liked the tram car we sat in. The guide told the group about how one horse would pull 16 people at a time. When the tram arrived at a hill, another horse would get hooked up so two horses would pull the guests up the hill. A few years later, the city switched to electrical trams so the horses would not have to pull the people. The invention of electrical trams made it easier for people to get around and is still used today.