'In a hole in the ground ...'
– The Hobbit or Here We Go Again
5. DTG Tolkien Seminar
(with the participation of Walking Tree Publishers)
University of Jena (Germany), 25-27 April 2008
Information for conference participants
Dear conference participants
Here we go again --- with a new (and, thanks to Peter Jackson, suddenly very topical) subject. We are looking forward to welcome you once more in Jena in the green heart of Germany.
As you can see from the programme and the list of abstracts, it is going to be again a truly international event.
Programme:
We have tried to arrange the lectures in thematically more or less coherent groups. I hope your slot agrees with your travel itinerary. I would like to provide those people who are in the same slot with each other’s email-addresses so that they can co-ordinate their papers – if I do not receive your veto on this, I will do before the end of January.
Travel:
by plane: the most convenient airports are Halle-Leipzig or Altenburg (with flights from London Stansted) – from there it is about an hour and a half by train (Halle-Leipzig: go to Leipzig main station and then take a direct train to Jena / Altenburg: take the bus outside the airport and go to Altenburg station, from there you have direct trains to Jena West). It is also possible to fly to Berlin or Munich or Frankfurt, but then it takes about 3 to 4 hours to get to Jena.
by train: regular ICE services on the line Munich-Berlin. Alternatively, the ICE line Frankfurt-Weimar brings you close to Jena (change at Weimar onto a local train, which takes only another 15 minutes to bring you to Jena West). See also www.db.de. Upon arrival at either Jena Paradiesbahnhof (with ICE) or Jena West (Regionalbahn), head towards the Intershop Tower (simply the most prominent building in town) and you are in the midst of things.
by barrel: get onto the Saale river and float down until you reach Jena Paradies.
See also the travel-information at: www.jena.de
Getting around in Jena: Jena proper is very small – the Jenenser actually consider only the square mile that was within the medieval city walls as ‘Jena’ proper. The university campus, the main building, the restaurant Zur Noll and most of the hotels are all within 5 to 10 minutes (or less) walking distance from each other.
Accomodation
I have pre-booked 15 rooms at the Gasthof zur Schweiz (Quergasse 15, 07743 Jena, www.zur-schweiz.de), a conveniently situated and moderately priced hotels (ca. Euro 45 per night including breakfast; when making your reservation, please identify yourself as a participant of the Hobbit conference held at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität [these are the magic words] so that you get a room – and the reduction on the price). The rooms are kept at our disposal till 24 March 08, so please make sure you book well in advance. They may not respond too readily to your email in English, so you can either phone them up (+49/(0)3641-52050) or you can ask me to book rooms for you there.
General information can be found at: www.meinestadt.de/jena/tourismus/markt/unterkunft
Here an additional selection of conveniently situated hotels:
www.schwarzer-baer-jena.de-70 Euro per night single room)
www.accorhotels.com/accorhotels/fichehotel/de/ibi/2207/fiche_hotel.shtml or www.ibishotel.com (49 to 55 Euro per night single room, breakfast additionally 9.50 Euro – which I think rather overpriced, to say the least)
http://www.weinbauernhaus-im-sack.de (Euro 55 per night for double room if used by one person only – only 5 very nice rooms available)
http://www.hotel-am-stadion.de/ (29-44 Euro per night single room; a little bit out of town [two stops with the tram – or about 10-15 minutes to walk; the cheapest offer on the net)
Food and ‘conference dinners’:
Food will be moderately priced (you can get a very decent and filling meal in a normal restaurant for 10-15 Euros; cheaper at the Chinese and Arab restaurants) and I booked a room at a traditional inn (Zur Noll) next to the University Main Building for dinner on Friday and on Saturday. The meal will be 'a la carte' and has to be paid by each participant him/herself. Since the capacity is limited to 30 persons I’d be grateful if you could drop me a line if you want to participate.
Expenses and Conference Fee:
We do not ask for a conference fee, since we have both the DTG and WTP as sponsors. Although the budget is less affluent than last year, we hope to be able to contribute towards the expenses [accomodation and travel only] of our speakers. Please pay all your expenses yourself and keep the receits for possible later partial reimbursement.
If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact one of us.
loooking forward to seeing you in Jena
in the name of the conference committee
Thomas & Thomas
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