October 15, 1997
I have been to the Euler Institute twice, once in 1992 for the first two weeks of October and a second time for the week September 21-28 in 1997. Both times I thoroughly enjoyed my visits. The Institute itself is a nicely restored building in a pleasant location with an adjacent park, and it lies on a street running parallel to a branch of the Neva, which is often alive with people in boats, sculling.
The staff is very professional and the conferences are run smoothly with good blackboards and seating in the main lecture room. The mathematical atmosphere of the conferences was very good, especially during my second visit. Public transportation is very good although I frequently walked from the Institute to the center of town just for my own enjoyment.
The Steklov Institute is very accessible in the center of St. Petersburg. The city of St. Petersburg is beautiful and I regret that I could not stay longer to enjoy it. The only real difficulty I experienced was with electronic mail (too slow), a difficulty at many mathematical research institutes, but I am sure that the organizers of the Euler Institute are doing whatever they can to solve this problem.
Patrick Eberlein Department of Mathematics University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599