Rowing pics

Summer Eights rowing regatta...where the point is to crash into the boat in front of you before the boat behind you gets you! Lots of fun... 4 days of racing on the Isis (the Thames) in Oxford, about 150 crews altogether...

More pictures of Cambridge

Cambridge

Car Hire! and Norwich, the Norfolk Broads, and the North Sea

Hired a car this weekend...which was upgraded to a brand new Vauxhall Astra free of charge - very nice to drive! and drove down to Norwich for the weekend. We (Oliver and myself) stayed with Samson at UEA in Norwich - very nice accommodation - and explored the city a bit - big castle, big cathedral, and then headed down to the Broads the following day. The Broads are a network of navigable rivers and lakes, with lots of little villages, beautiful countryside, lots of windmills and boats and bridges. They are also the subject of Arthur Ransome's books, Coot Club and The Big Six - must-read classics! We tested the North Sea waters at Yarmouth...and decided we preferred the South African beaches. Then it was back to Oxford via the 'other place' - Cambridge - which was pleasant enough - very magnificent - but of course, it's not Oxford :-)

'voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind' ?

Had a great day in London yesterday with Charmaine and Callie and their friend Bruce - went to the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, which is an incredible exhibition detailing the events of Hitler's rise to power and the subsequent horror of the Final Solution. The exhibition is very detailed and well-thought out - many interviews with survivors, many pictures, models of concentration camps, artefacts, remains, and so on. It is a harrowing experience to walk through the exhibition, as one realises how terrible the crimes of the Nazi government was. The exhibition (which takes at least 2 h to walk through) ends with a sobering quotation on the wall: 'All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing' - Edmund Burke, 1729-97.

After that, we spent some time wandering around the South Bank, Westminster, etc., before heading to St Paul's for Evensong. Then we went to the Tate Modern, where we had the unique experience of participating in a piece of art. Carsten Hoeller was commissioned by the Tate to design an artwork for the vast Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern; his installation consists of 5 slides of various lengths and heights. The longest is 5 storeys high! Great fun to go down...and we did our bit for modern art at the same time, participating in this artwork...Hoeller describes the effect of sliding as producing an effect of 'voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind' (Roger Caillois) - well, it was fun, if not particularly deep and meaningful, and from there it was back to Oxford for me after a rather busy day.

''Softly, at first, as if it hardly meant it, the snow began to fall,'' - Arthur Ransome, Winter Holiday

Winter Wonderland

It snowed last night! For the first time this winter, we had snow in Oxford...about 4-5 cm thick in places. It didn't last that long, as the sun came up and melted it, but it was beautiful while it lasted! It might snow again tonight though...

Travels Part 3...Germany (Fatherland?!)

Finally, having left Paris exhausted (!) I flew into Cologne...spent a few hours looking at the city and the massive cathedral, before heading to Muenster, a small town with a huge university (60000 students!) and a beautiful 'old town' that's not old because the British destroyed it all in the war... still, a nice place and really great to meet all the family there. Then it was off to Hamburg for a few days, which is a much larger city with a huge harbour and lots to see and do...so it was great to finally get to Germany, practise my German (I survived!) and meet the family. Now I'm finally back in Oxford, and I should be hard at work again soon!

Museum of Inventions... and a sad picture of modern France

This museum (Musee des Arts et Metiers) was amazing - followed the progress of technology and invention over the last 2000 years with excellent exhibitions, models, artefacts, etc. But what interested me was an exhibition in what was once a church...the church was deconsecrated and filled with exhibitions of scientific progress, as well as a replica of the Statue of Liberty. This seems to be a picture of the path France has taken over the last 250 years... replacing faith in God with atheist/humanist notions of 'Liberty' and using 'Science' to bolster and justify these views... sad, but an interesting exhibition nonetheless. I wonder if the curators saw the symbolism?

Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees and the Louvre

Sainte-Chapelle and Conciergerie

Eiffel Tower Pictures

Travels: Part 2 (Paris!)

From England I flew to Paris, and spent 3 nights there, exploring the 'City of Lights' (or should that be the City of Darkness?) - can't say I was particularly impressed by Charles de Gaulle Airport - generally confusing and not that well organised (and not just because all the signs were in French!), though other than that my impressions of Paris were good. It's a huge city - takes forever to walk anywhere - though the Metro is well-organised and extensive. Not as easy to use as the London Underground though! The stations are quite well hidden, though once inside they are much nicer than the London stations. Paris as a city is extremely picturesque - just about all the buildings are beautiful (with the notable exception of the SA embassy!), and there are famous sights everywhere. We visited the Eiffel Tower at night, climbing to the second level, climbed the Arc de Triomphe twice (once at night, and once in the daylight) for a great view down the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre...we visited the Louvre, but got so exhausted walking around it we couldn't appreciate it as much as we should have (and I really can't see what all the fuss is about with the Mona Lisa!)...also got into the George Pompidou Centre (any architecture fundis will know why that's special!), the Hotel des Invalides (which is where Napoleon, among others, is buried), walked around La Defense, the new Paris business district (with very impressive modern buildings and modern counterpart to the Arc de Triomphe), Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, Sainte-Chapelle, the Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned before execution)...the list goes on, simply because there is SO much to see and do in Paris. It was impressive, beautiful, interesting, exhausting and COLD - the coldest I've been since leaving SA. Definitely worth another visit in summer... And of course we had French bread and cheese and a meal at a bistrot; we also dined with the rich and famous (well, sort of) at Cafe Angelina, sampling their world-famous hot chocolate (and it was amazing)...the list goes on, and in the end, I was quite content to get on a plane and go to Germany for a bit of a break after the frantic sightseeing that was Paris.

Travels... part 1

Stop 1: Exeter... I spent a week here with the De Maine family - had a really great time exploring Exeter and the surrounding Devon countryside (even got to the beach, though the water was about 12 deg C and the air temperature somewhere just above freezing...and there was no sand!) - spent a really good Christmas there, went hiking on Dartmoor, cycled around the area a bit, did my Christmas shopping - all in all, it was a really good week. Exeter's a middle-sized town, quite badly damaged in WW2, but with a beautiful cathedral and still quite a few old buildings. Francis Drake used to frequent a tavern in Exeter when on shore leave... I hope these pics give some idea of the place!