English description
This multi-cache consists of four stages, all of which lie inside
the city of Graz. It furthermore requires a preparatory phase to
determine the coordinates of the first stage. The first three
stages are intermediate stages, only at the fourth stage a cache
container is to be found.
This cache bears some similarities with my cache
Artistical Variations. It is again a cache where the main idea
is to lead you to places in Graz which are not that well-known, but
which I regard as interesting, both from the architectural point of
view and from the historical point of view. The cache will probably
challenge you more on the intellectual side than on the physical
side.
Important information: (Please read this part before you
start your hunt!)
- The starting coordinates given for this cache are fictive
ones and are of no significance.
- This cache is not suited if you are eager for a quick and cheap
find. It is also not well-suited for short-term visitors of Graz
due to the time it takes.
- Since this cache requires quite some effort, I have set up a
virtual cache, the
A Walk to the Past - Virtual Bonus Cache. This virtual cache is
closely connected to this cache and should serve both as a reward
and as a source of motivation for doing this cache. The virtual
cache can only be done after having successfully completed this
cache. If you are interested into doing the virtual cache, do not
forget to read the information sheet in the cache, and to write
down the two numbers which are given there.
- Those cachers who complete this cache in one go (i.e., without
returning home between the stages) deserve special
credit.
- The cache hunt will lead you to some buildings with restricted
opening times. It is, however, not necessary to enter any of these
buildings for the sake of the cache hunt. Visits of the buildings
are strongly recommended, but separate visits not connected to
geocaching activities seem to be more meaningful and
appropriate.
- Some of the historical background associated with the places to
which this cache will lead you is serious and sad. For that reason,
I underwent a special effort to set up this cache in a manner which
avoids any disrespectful treatment of the matter.
- Since the stages of this multi-cache are not always close to
each other, but finding a suitable place to leave a car might be
quite hard, it is very recommendable to do this cache by
bicycle.
- It is recommendable to take a map of Graz with you. Good shoes
might be an asset at the final stage.
- Note that upper and lower case variables, like a and
A, have to be distinguished! Upper-case variables are only
used temporarily and are not needed again at later stages.
- To help you not to get lost in some sort of chaos, I am
providing two tables (see
Table for
the variables and
Table for
the coordinates of the stages).
- The set of trading items for this cache is (strictly)
restricted to coins which are not any longer valid means of
payment.
Stage 0: At a place of your choice
Stage 1 will lead you to a church (let us call it C for notational
convenience) which is located in one of the inner districts of Graz
(i.e., in the first six). Below some information on the church C is
given, but not its name. You need to deal with the following
questions and tasks.
Question 1: In the church C an interesting sacral work of
art can be found which depicts two cruel dictators amidst a
religious scenery. Find out which church is meant. (You will need
to visit it at Stage 1.)
Question 2: Find out the name of the artist who created the
work of art referred to above. Let us call him Mr U.
- A: The number which is obtained by applying the
following procedure to the artist's first name: Replace each letter
by the digit which is associated with this letter on the key-pad of
portable phones.
- B: The number which is obtained from the last name of Mr
U by proceeding in the same way as for his first name.
- a: The absolute value of the difference of the numbers
A and B.
- b: The iterated cross-foot of the year in which the work
of art has been finished. (I.e., sum up all digits of the year, and
repeat this procedure with the obtained result iteratively until
you end up with a result with a single digit. For example, the
iterated cross-foot of 987654 is 3 with 39 and 12 being the results
of the intermediate calculations.)
- c: The number of letters of the name of the city in
which Mr U died. (Note: If you come across contradictory
information, take the city which lies in the country of which Mr U
was a citizen at the time of his death.)
Question 3: Mr U has been invited to become a member of a
famous organization of German artists at quite a young age.
- d: The number of letters of the full name of this
organization (two words).
Question 4: Find out the name of the artist who acted as
president of the organization referred to above at the time when Mr
U became its member. Let us call this artist Mr V.
- e: The number of letters of the first name of Mr
V.
Question 5: The last name of Mr V is also the name of a
city. There exist parts of the Bible in the names of which this
city plays a role.
- f: The number of parts of the Bible which fit the above
description. (Note that only those parts whose existence is known
for sure and which are part of today's editions of the Bible are to
be counted.)
Stage 1: At Church C
Go to church C and find a plaque at the outside of the building.
Question 6:
- g: The earliest year mentioned on the plaque.
Question 7: The text on the plaque contains the names of two
artists who created works that can be found inside the church. Here
we are interested into the one who lived earlier. Let us call him
Mr W.
- h: The cross-foot (=sum of digits) of the number
corresponding to the first letter of the first name of Mr W via the
code A=1, B=2, ..., Z=26.
- H: The number of letters of the first name of Mr
W.
Question 8:
- i: Number of horizontal bars of the cross at the top of
the tower. (Do not take into account the different manners that
exist to create such a cross, just the appearance the cross creates
when viewed from far away.)
Question 9:
- j: The first digit after the comma of the decimal number
which represents the minutes of the longitude of the location of
Stage 1.
Some calculations:
- P = (b*c-30)*(d-e-h)
- Q = a-g+P
- R = e^3*f^3
- p = Q/R
- q = (b+d)
- D = (g-q/2+H-e)
- F=d*i
- r=D/F
Stage 2: N 47° p', E 015° q.0r'.
You will find yourself close to a building which is an interesting
mixture of old and new. Nearby you will find an information plaque
providing some facts about a person who spent some years in Graz.
Let us call him Mr Z.
Question 10: Determine the
(d-b)-th word of the text
on the plaque. This word arises in the title of several works of
art. Here we are interested into the most famous among those. Who
created it and in which city can it be found today?
- m: The number of letters in the artist's name (the
commonly used name, not the full one) until the first A occurs (the
A is not to be included into the counting).
- n: Find the name of the river flowing through the city
you have just obtained above. Associate each of the letters arising
in the river's name with the digit which corresponds to it on the
key-map of a portable phone. Let n be the largest
digit obtained in this manner.
Question 11: The plaque tells you the cities where Mr Z was
born and died, respectively. You need to find out the countries in
which these cities lie today (as of 2003). Determine the country
codes which identify motorized vehicles from these countries.
- s: Translate the country codes into numbers via the
key-pad of a portable phone and subtract the smaller number from
the larger one. Call the result s.
Question 12: The plaque tells you the cities in which Mr Z
has studied until earning his Ph.D. degree. Among these cities,
there is one where Olympic Summer Games have taken place.
- t: The cross-foot (=sum of digits) of the year in which
the Olympic Games referred to above took place.
Question 13: Now walk around the building (if this is not
possible, use Question 13b instead). Interesting, isn't it? At the
outside of the building you can somewhere find two numbers
separated by a slash.
- k: The number before the slash.
- l: The number after the slash.
Question 13b:
(New workaround for Question 13, August 2023) Have a look at the entrance gate which keeps you from entering the area.
- l: Subtract one from the number of round steel bars on top of the frame of the gate.
- k: k=l*(n+1)
Question 14: Determine the bridge over the river Mur which
is closest to Stage 2.
- o: Number which is associated with the first letter of
the name of the bridge via the code (A=1, B=2, ...).
Some more calculations:
- u = s-t-k/l-n+o
- v = (d+s)/2
Stage 3: N 47° 0e.cmu', E 015° v.nuj'.
You find yourself close to a crossing. Starting from here you need
in any case to continue on foot. Take the path leading to the
south-east and follow it until you arrive at a large building.
Watch out for a plaque at the outside of the building. The plaque
honors two men.
Comment June 2020: Currently the building is under renovation and the plage is covered. However it should be possible to decipher two numbers at the bottom of the plaque which will allow you to answer the first question below. For the second question, mobile internet access should do the job if you are not familiar with the area.
Question 15:
- w: The number of years one of the two men died later
than the other one (Disregard the months in which they died - take
into account only the years of their death.)
- x: The overall number of letters of the name of the
place (two words) which has been founded (begründet in German) by
one of the two men.
Some final calculations:
- y = (w+7)/(x^2)
- Z = k-6*l+j*o/2
- z = Z/(x^3)
Calculation of the coordinates of Stage 4:
The coordinates of Stage 4 are obtained from Stage 3 by the
following procedure:
- Subtract y from the minutes of the latitude
corresponding to Stage 3.
- Add z to the minutes of the longitude
corresponding to Stage 3.
- The remaining parts of the coordinates are the same as for
Stage 3.
Stage 4: Coordinates as computed above.
Since September 2014 you can choose between the following two options to reach the final.
Option 1: (Letterbox like clues, following the original idea of the cache dating back to 2003)
You will find yourself close to an object to which a sign with
w+3 letters is attached. Follow the path which passes by the object downhill until
you arrive at a crossing with another trail. At this crossing turn left and follow the path downhill. Soon a small path leads into a ditch to your right. Turn right into this path and after a few steps start to climb up the slope to your left. Watch out for an eye-catching stump of a former large tree with multiple stems. There you will find the cache container. Rehide it well.
Option 2 (the more boring one):
If you fail to find the cache with the above clues or absolutely want to use coordinates (be warned the reception is not very good), you can calculate coordinates for the final by the following
offset from the coordinates of
Stage 3:
- N: -(w+7)*x/1000'
- E: +(w+5)*x/1000'
The cache container is a small lock and lock container and contains no trading items. Good luck!
Please note the following:
- For approaching the hiding location you can stay on paths, except for the very last part for which good shoes are recommend (the T=2.5* rating applies to the final).
- You are asked to be very careful not to disclose the hiding place and to leave the hiding place as you found it. Special care is neeeded on sunny days when many walkers are around.
- When logging the cache, please avoid to add any form of spoilers to your log entry, regardless of whether encrypted or not. (It took me quite some effort to formulate the questions in a way that they are concise, but do not give away any information unintentionally.)
[Stage 0:] Fgnvarq-tynff jvaqbjf.
[Cache:] va gur zvqqyr
A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z