Canterbury Cathedral

Today we went on a trip to the southeast and took a stop at Canterbury to visit the cathedral. On our way to the cathedral, we got a little turned around but got to enjoy the market while being lost! The markets had everything from fresh donuts (better than Krispy Kremes!) to authentic Russian and Greek food, as well as clothing and jewelry. Martha loved it! Since the Cathedral had an admission price, she opted to explore the markets as I checked it out.

The cathedral here is over 1200 years old and is huge! This is where the seat of the Anglican Church (Episcopalian in America) is and where the Kings and Queens of England have been crowned over the centuries. It's amazing how long the structures have been around. The Cathedral itself is located in the center of the city, between semi-modern shops, which look really out of place:


The interior was really beautiful - here is a collage of the different parts of the Cathedral. There was a wedding going on the day we were there and so the main chapel was closed, but I got a picture of the procession going in. The music was really cool.

The crypts underneath the cathedral has a bunch of small chapels and plenty of candles. It was beautiful - all the tombs and memorials for priests and bishops from the last millenium. The oldest memorial I saw was for a bishop from the 11th century. It was really dark and no flashes could be used. Here's a video of it:

Cambridge

Today we went up to Cambridge University to see Douglas Stanford and Sarah Brown, both friends of Taylor from Anacortes. Douglas is finishing up a MSc (Master's) in Physics and only has a month or so left so it was good timing to see him. He introduced us to some of his friends there and we went punting down the Cam with them. Punting (a punt is a small flat boat kind of like the ones in Venice) is really awesome and very relaxing.... once you get the hang of it.

We passed most of the different colleges (Cambridge is the university, but each college within it is pretty independent) and it was amazing to see all the amazing buildings as we floated past. We went about two miles down the river Cam to a tea garden that was frequented by some of the "greats" from Cambridge. It was a nice place to take a rest and enjoy lunch, until it started to rain. It did that off and on throughout the rest of the day. Douglas would just say "it's a passing thing" each time it would start raining. On the punt back, we hooked the two punts together and tried to use the combined manpower to get us home quicker....didn't really work that way! It took about 6 hours altogether, but it was a great way to spend the day!!

After getting back, Douglas took us up to the top of St. John's College (that's the one he's a part of) where we were able to see a panoramic view of all of Cambridge; it was amazing! The city has been around for almost a millenium and was originally built to be a fortress - you can really see that when looking down on it as each College has built up fortress-like walls to surround them. We tried to get into some of the other colleges, but they were all closed by the time we finished at St. John's. We spent the rest of the night chilling in the common's room, which looked like it was taken straight out of Harry Potter, with Douglas and his friends and then caught the train back to London.

Speaking of Harry Potter, we found Platform 9 3/4. We left from King's Cross Station, the one used in Harry Potter. An interesting thought is that although Harry Potter was filmed at Oxford (which you get from Paddington Station), the station to Hogwarts in Harry Potter in reality sends you to Cambridge....somewhat playing with the ancient"Oxbridge" rivalry.

Part of St. John's college...gorg eh...

The sister missionaries were able to watch them set up for a filming of the seventh book, "Deathly Hallows" of Harry Potter a few months ago and were chased out by the security guards because they were filming when the cast came in...

Oxford

This past week I went to Oxford for a conference on synthetic and systems biology, the field that my research falls into. The conference was held at St. Anne's College in Oxford, in the engineering section of the college... that is, outside of the city centre and not on any maps. I got lost the first day, but managed to find it alright. Since I registered late, I couldn't arrange accommodations there and ended up taking the train there and back everyday. It's about an hour from Paddington train station, about 20 min from our flat. I would leave around 7:30ish and get home around 8 or 9 at night.

It was a great experience - I listened to lectures from the top researchers in the field and got an idea of what opportunities exist. The most interesting part of the conference was getting the European view of the field - a lot of politics was discussed as the term synthetic biology, essentially a new name for a pre-existing field, is politically charged. The discussions about that become fairly charged as well. It was well worth the two hour commute each day!

After the conference finished on Wednesday, I took some time to explore the city. I only spent an hour or so, but it was a fairly small city - especially compared to London. There's about 100,000 people there, and the centre revolves around the colleges. St Anne's is one of the newer - there is an old building there but it is undergoing renovation. By the time I got into the centre the colleges had closed, but I got to walk around the courtyards and admire the architecture - most of which seems to be attributed to Christopher Wren, who is quickly becoming my favorite architect (his stuff is everywhere!).

Dublin

On our way to Dublin we took a train and saw the beautiful countryside of London and Wales. We even saw some old castles nestled up in the hills of Wales. The ferry ride across the Irish sea was a sight! The ferry we took on the way over, the Jonathan Swift (named after the author of Gulliver's Travels) is the fastest in the world, while the one we returned on, the Ulysses, is the largest. It felt like a cruise ship; so different from the ferries in the San Juan Islands that Taylor would go on when he was younger.

It was really windy in Dublin, yet we enjoyed the cooler weather. The hotel was in an area called Tallaght, about 40min from downtown Dublin. It was out of the way, although a local told us it was a dangerous area; it was quiet with no problems while we were there. We enjoyed being out of London and in a suburban area again without so much noise!

You can kinda see my belly in this picture.


I was talking to this cute Phillipino lady at church, Taylor came up and told her I was pregnant she and her friends all touched my belly “oh”. Then Rosita said, “You too small to be 4 months. Just wait, when you get to 5 month the baby stands up and says ‘hello, I’m here’. Then you look really big.” I laughed about that one all the way home from church. I love Philipino ladies! We really like the ward here.

This is a view from the office I work in with Renate Paxton, who is a headhunter for big banks here in London. She is super fun to work with and very generous. 17th floor of this beautiful building just off Liverpool street in London.