Attractions
The University of Eridu, founded in AD 2144, is now 814 years old. It is oldest, most famous, and far the most prestigious university in the universe. It attracts famous researchers to its faculty, and has famously Byzantine academic politics. But it is much too big to be good, amounting now to a middle-sized city. Universities on a dozen worlds doubt that it is the best university in the universe. The Erasmaus Institute in Alcuin doubts that it is the best university on Tau Ceti III. The Avalon Institute of Technology denies it is the best in Avalon. The Municipal Selective College of Eridu says it isn’t even the best in Eridu.
Wildlife Tau Ceti was terraformed early and at a comparatively low technological level, and presented comparatively small challenges. Unmodified or little-modified natural species from Earth were used extensively; more were imported for ecoscaping after the gross terraformation was done. As a result, Tau Ceti has a uniquely rich wildlife of natural species from Earth, including whales, migratory birds, and forests of species mentioned in old literature and poetry. Visitor treat these as natural wonders, and are appalled at the insensitivity of Tau Cetis who kill and eat the wildlife.
The River Celadon, draining central Avalon, falls into a zig-zag gorge at Thundering Veil National Park, the oldest national park in the universe. The parkways built to let visitors view the falls from passing vehicles are a considerable feat of engineering.
The monument and museum at Landfall mark the spot where for the first time humans set foot on a habitable extrasolar planet. There has been a succession of monuments there, from a simple obelisk to a monstrous 6-metre statue group in stainless steel. The current marker is a life-sized group of Gwen Missahan and Willem van Zaanen hand in hand, which was carved from a large block of chert from the Fig Tree Formation 1 in Africa, Old Earth, which was imported specially by the Missahan family. The group is over 650 years old, but was moved twice before taking up its current position on the fifth centenary of the Landing, in 254 ATD. The original landing stairs from Red Earth, and other relics, are in a museum nearby, which includes the graves of Gwen Missahan, Willem van Zaanen, and their son Adam v.Z. Missahan.
The Genealogical Society of Eridu is a curious institution that collects genealogical records. It has a gigantic digital archive of birth and marriage records from Old Earth, and occasionally makes obscure announcements about the modern successions to historical titles from Earth.
New Bayreuth in Alcuin stages a Wagner Festival once every other Tau Cetian year, alternating the Ring cycle with a program of other operas.