The APS April Meeting wrapped up a few weeks ago in Washington DC, and the March meeting is just around the bend in Portaland. I love to travel, but these meetings are so all-consuming of my time that I don’t get outside much. My memories of meetings past are associated more with the color of the carpet in the hotel than the local monuments.
That said, some hotels are more fun than others and the Marriot Wardman Park Hotel had this little gem that I will forever associate with April (February) Meeting 2010:
Chocolate Einstein!
Einstein is carved out of dark chocolate, and the floor he is sitting on is careved from white. The plackard on the statue didn’t have an artists name. Neither did the plackard on the the chocolate tribute to the Iwo Jima Monument:
I called the hotel to find out where the statues came from and was transferred four times. Each new call went something like this: Person: The what?
Me: Upstairs by the meeting rooms there is a statue of Einstein that’s carved out of chocolate….Do you know what I’m talking about?
Person: I have no idea.
Me: Yeah, it’s under glass…there’s another one next to it of the Iwo Jima Memorial…it’s chocolate…
Person: Uuuuuummmmm….Let me transfer you to mmnnph….(click. Hold music.)
In an internet search for “chocolate einstein statue” I found Chef Jacque who, besides making more traditional chocolate items, also carves statues out of chocolate and does paintings with cocoa. And he has a bust of Einstein! Although, his “Einstein” looks an awful lot like “The Sergeant.”
