More houses and gardens

We haven't rented a car yet so have been going to sites that are easy to get to by train.  On Saturday (our anniversary) we did Hatfield House, which at one point was owned by Henry VIII.  This is where Elizabeth I spent much of her childhood, and in fact learned of her ascension to the throne (under the oak tree where I am sitting in our photos).  The house and grounds are still quite amazing.  After seeing this, Anglesy Abbey (from the week before) seems like small change.

It was a beautiful day for a wedding just as it was 27 years ago, and we got to see the preparations and some of the guests for a wedding (you can rent out the old palace and its garden).

The weather continued to be lovely on Sunday, so we did local Cambridge gardens - the Botanical Garden, then a long walk to Leckhampton (now part of graduate housing for Corpus Christi College) which was open that day as part of the National Garden Scheme.   It had an amazing field of lupines in bloom.

Bletchley Park

I was invited to give a talk at a workshop in Milton Keynes, so Mark and I went early since Bletchley Park is in Milton Keynes, more or less.   For computer scientists with fathers in WW2 and a child who likes cryptography, the place has it all. It turned out they have a new visitor's center which had just opened that day with controversy!   Anyway, we were there for like 5 hours and didn't even finish, in fact we just got to the best part about Turing when we were kicked out. Who knew there was a huge museum at the very end of all the buildings...   It is amazing how all the people sworn to secrecy really kept their secrets until very recently.  Now that they can finally talk they are interviewing people while they can.  The nice employee closing up gave us a ride back into town after we started chatting and realized we were fellow nerds, although I violated all my own views about not getting into cars with strangers.  Anyway, we'll have to go back as we didn't quite finish Bletchley, and didn't even get to the computer museum part.

Milton Keynes is a very strange place.  Very modern (people describe it as American) with no there there.  Raymond Blanc does have an Italian gastro-pub kind of restaurant which we checked out.

Mark went to Oxford while I was at the workshop, then I went to Oxford to give a talk and took the interminable 4 hour bus back to Cambridge.  It calls itself an Xpress but it seemed to stop everywhere.

A few initial impressions...

These are a jumble of impressions:

• While I'm sure that the Cambridge population is not representative of England as a whole, I have to say the smoking eradication programme has gone fairly well.  Compared to Pittsburgh, it's relatively few and far between.
• Bicycles.  There are bicycles and more bicycles.  I think one is in more danger from a bicycle than from an automobile.  And, there are a fair number of "fixies", i.e., fixed gear bicycles.  Most of the riders do not wear helmets.  And then there are those who have earphones...
• Hot pants.  Yes, remember them?   They've never gone out of style here.  We saw them in Edinburgh and we see them here.
• Obesity?  Well, I see plenty of it here.
• Lawns?  If you want to see a "proper" lawn, then visit England.  On my walk the other day I saw a mechanised lawn roller the size of a road roller.

Food items:

• I bought a skirt steak from the local farm.  How local?  Well, the cattle graze in the meadows in back of the university.
• Strawberries are now in season and they are delicious, esp. when compared with the sad plastic ones in the U.S.
• When we first got here I was buying asparagus from a farm right outside of town.
• The cheeses are really delicious --- there is a lot more to UK cheeses than just cheddar.  I've been buying blue cheeses too and they can vary quite a bit in flavor.
• Strangely enough, wine prices for France/Italy are not lower than the US in spite of the cheaper transport costs...

Righty Ho

Another weekend, another expedition.  Today we took the bus to Anglesey Abbey, Gardens and Lode Mill, a National Trust Property.  We also joined/revived our National Trust membership for the year. Although the weather forecast was iffy, Mark was informed that there are no bad weather days, just bad clothes.  So we set off. It was the seemingly usual mix of sun and clouds with high winds and occasional rain and temperatures in the 50-60s range. The property was huge and we spent about 5 hours there, wandering the grounds and visiting the house and having tea on deck chairs in the garden.  The Lord's mother was actually an American oil heiress, all very Downton Abbey.  As Mark has noted in his post, they do amazing lawns here.  Hedges too.  We seem to be between flower seasons, bulbs are mostly gone (there was an awesome hyacinth formal garden that we just missed) and perennials are not quite there (irises and roses are just starting).  The mill was open as it was National Mills Weekend and they even turned it on while we were there.

Yesterday Steve (my host) took me to lunch at Emmanuel College (aka Emma).  We sat at the high table although unlike other colleges the table isn't actually elevated.  You start in the cloak room where all the academic gowns are kept, although those aren't used at lunch. They have a buffet or you can order off a set menu (soup, main, dessert). Then we retired upstairs for coffee.  Emma is where I will be a Fellow when I return in January, and can eat there for free every lunch and dinner (if I could survive that).  Steve said Emma  used to be known for rugby and drinking but its academic star rose when Diana and Charles were breaking up as the Master was an expert on constitutional crises and was on the news everynight, giving the College loads of free publicity.  After lunch we walked around the lovely grounds which includes a pond with ducks and currently ducklings, and a modern building called the trolley.  It is really amazing how one walks in from the main drag of the city into this walled enclave of greenery and quiet.

My big dilemma is that Steve has invited us to go to a Emma Feast, which are very special and won't happen when we return next year.  The only problem is that it is black tie.  I brought only one dress which is more work-appropriate, and only casual sandals.  Hence my dilemma, what to wear!  Mark has never worn black tie, not even for our wedding.  That is easier as one can rent, but now Nicole is flying in during this event.  Still deciding, maybe Susan (who is staying at our house) can fedex me some of my clothes!  Hmmm, we just looked and that will cost like $200, guess I'll go frock shopping tomorrow!

Meanwhile, we have just watched Eurovision, which the other people returning to Cambridge at the bus stop alerted us to.

Weekend Excursions

Turns out that our first weekend was long due to a Monday bank holiday.  And the arrival rain turned into partly sunny weather in the 60s.  Although it seems chilly, the plants are a bit ahead of Pittsburgh as the tulips are at their end while lilacs are already in full bloom.

Grantchester Meadows Walk on the River Cam

On Saturday we took over a 5.4+ mile walk to Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester.  The walk has paths through both meadows and by the river.  Grantchester itself is a very cute little village with a nice church.  Even though it is so close to Cambridge, we felt like we had escaped the big city and entered another world.

In the evening we went to the Festival of the Voice gala concert (which we had seen on a poster) at Trinity College Chapel. Little did we know that the Hilliard Ensemble was retiring and feted by three other ensembles.  Instead of ice cream during the interval as in Scotland, here our tickets got us wine.  But still no free programs!

Walking through the park to Ely Cathedral

On Sunday we took a short train ride to Ely to see the Cathedral, which is one of the nicest we've seen.  Beautiful stained glass, interesting octagonal tower, and very well signed throughout.  Whilst there we observed a special pet service.  We also went into the Stained Glass Museum which was well worth the admission.  The town was also holding its annual Eel Festival, but that was disappointing.  Instead we had tea at the Samovar Tea House.  We returned to the Cathedral for Evensong services complete with boy's choir, then walked by the river before returning to Cambridge.

On Monday we went to two gardens open for charity via the National Garden Scheme. The first garden (Upwater Lodge) was amazing.  The Wisteria-covered house was built by the owner's grandfather over 100 years ago and fronted onto a brook and the river, had a sheep herd,  a lawn tennis court, vineyard, and many many gardens - meadows, vegetable, perennials.  The next house was more normal, and we also had a yummy Delia Smith homemade date/ricotta/hazelnut cake with tea in the garden chatting with locals.  Walked back via the river where a cow seemed to have gotten stuck in the water.

RAE fellowship

We are in Cambridge for all of May, via my Royal Academy of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Award. This provides funds for air, lodging, and other expenses, and enables me to start a collaboration with Steve Young's Dialogue Systems Group.   Although I must admit that being associated with a School of Engineering is very strange indeed. Steve's staff suggested a service which has provided us with a very modern 1 bedroom (furnished) flat. It seems to be about a 20 minute walk from everything (my office, the train station, the main market square).

On arrival Thursday, our first order of business was to try to revive our dormant HSBC account from Edinburgh.   Seemed a good thing to do after being up all night on the plane and miserably jetlagged. Almost 3 hours later, however, Mark's account seemed to be ok but not mine!  Still have to deal with this. We then wandered around a bit until we could eat dinner at The Clarendon Arms, which was a very nice pub a few blocks away from our flat.

On Friday I went to the University to do adminstration.  Got keys, computer accounts, and then the whole group was taken to lunch at Browns. I have the use of  Steve's office when he is being Provostish, or being in the grad student and postdoc bullpen.  Then went to the regular weekly group meeting.  Was wondering where everyone who I walked over with disappeared to, but then about 5 minutes later they showed up with a pot of fresh brewed tea.

Back at the flat, Mark had been out exploring food (what else) and we had our first Kahrs-cooking meal.  Turned on the telly only to find that Have I Got News for You was on, even with many of the same people from years ago.  As is Masterchef, another of our former favs.  Other things that are still the same - no screens on windows, eggs not refrigerated.

We're back

Back in the UK for sabbatical events, version 2!  N says using blogger is so 2007, but whatever...