The venue is an old monastery that has had a long and troubled history, but now is a centre for conferences and cultural events.

It is heavily restored and has had large structures added, including a tower with an LED screen

People are in queue to get in to the venue on this first day. Apparently, the conference badges could not be printed due to some problem with the connection to the database holding the names of the participants. This was, however, resolved during the morning.

People@TNC: Maria Ristkok from EEnet (or rather from the Estonian Ministry for This and That where the NREN activities are organized).

More people waiting for TNC: William Loveless (NOAA) and Chris Atherton (GÉANT)

The guards try to fend off all the people that want to enter, but they have a hard time. Then Nicole Harris shows up, and this means business: No one enters.

Finally, we are let in, to attend the various side meetings. In my case it is the GÉANT GA.

The GA in itself is also a quite large meeting, which requires support from the PSNC technical staff. A great thanks to them, as everything worked perfectly.

The screens are made by the same tiled system they have used to build the main stage. A simple screen on the outward facing side...

...whereas the rear side is another story.

The Albanian delegation: Arjan Xhelaj and Elisantila Gaci

Tryfon at his desk running the whole thing. We learned, however, during the meeting that he will be promoted from that position to a place at the big table, as he will be taking over the CPO role from Matthew Scott.

Sometimes, TNC feels a bit lke a school reunion, where you are happy the see dear old friends you have not seen since the last reunion.

Our local host, Boris Dintrans, CEO of RENATER, together with Jet Raniz, CEO of SURF

Virginie Blanquart from RENATER greeting our Danish colleagues Gitte Kudsk and Tangui Coulouarn

As the GA is a closed meeting, I normally don't release any pictures taken during the meeting. However, this is an exception to show that the attendance and the room this year was bigger than ever.

Queuing for the conference badges, that are now printed and ready.

Lunch is popular

The NORDUnet booth is up and running

The GA & CEO dinner is held in a restuarant called La Closerie, meaning a small patch of land - and yes, we are a lot of people in a small space.

The restaurant, however, also has a nice garden where people can find more space.

Nelson Simões, CEO of RNP in Brazil

Enis Kocan from MARNET and Bojan Jakovljevic from AMRES

Raimundas Tuminauskas (PSNC) and Eoin Kenny (HEAnet)