In the middle of August, thousands of ecologists gathered in the city of Sacramento for what was gonna be the 99th ESA Conference.

I had pretty high expectations about the meeting, but I was warned that the city itself might be a boring place to spend your time.

It turned out only one of my expectations was preserved. Luckily, it was the first one.

The city gained my heart at first sight, with its wide and open streets, tidy parks and impressive modern buildings.

I can imagine my fellow conference-goers using the permanent sunshine and agreable temperatures as well to sneak out between sessions and enjoy the Californian capital.

A short walk to capitol park to eat lunch, or a somewhat longer trip to the riverside, with its famous yellow tower bridge, I hope nobody was too busy that week to miss all of that.

The old town was a bit of a funny place, although the riverside restaurants provided an interesting attraction.

But my personal favorite place to be was the west bank. Crossing the tower bridge with the evening sun in your eyes to get a perfect view of the city’s skyline from the other side, was one thing,

watching the changing lights create endless variations of blue and yellow where the bridge touched the sky was even better.

It was rumoured by crude reviewers on the internet that Sacramento was almost not worthy to be called a city, compared to its massive counterparts elsewhere in America, but I decide it past the test by serving as a good host for the biggest ecological conference out there.

My only worry is that it might have been left behind completely empty after everybody associated with the conference left again, as virtually everybody in Downtown seemed to wear a badge.

August 26, 2014