Samarkand Tourist

August 2, 2009, Samarkand

 

Not much to report today. I just did touristy tings. Spent something like twenty dollars in admission fees to various museums, tombs, and other monuments, and walked all over town. I managed to visit the remains of an observatory built just before the introduction of the telescope. Not much to see there except the remains of the long quadrant--about thirty meters. Unfortunately the gnomon is no longer there, and the whole thing is covered and cave-like. So there is not much to report astronomically. It did rain a bit on me. Could you imagine coming to Samarkand--a quintessentially desert oaisis--and getting rain.