Summertime at Silwood Park

Yes it really does happen - England does have a summer! We are enjoying unprecedentedly warm weather and I can wear all my summer skirts that I so optimistically packed. We had a lovely day in Cambridge on Saturday - the Senior Combination Room was full of Oxbridge atmosphere and fabulous carpets and the food was delicious. Hugh and I have been surprised by how friendly everyone has been - what has happened to the old-fashioned British reserve? Maybe the weather has made everyone happy and chatty.

On Sunday we visited King's Cross station for the last time and I took my obligatory Harry Potter photo, before heading west to Silwood Park which is part of Imperial College London but located near Ascot. We had stayed there as a family about 15 years ago but did not get to visit many pubs being tied up with little kids. So we went to the nice if slightly up-market pub pictured, with Drew one of Hugh's former post-docs who now lives in the US.

We had a great night - I tried a Hendrick's gin and tonic (apparently all the rage here) which is served with cucumber instead of lemon or lime. It was unusual and refreshing. The pub was very trendy and we had groovy salads and organic Chardonnay. At the risk of sounding like an alcoholic I will disclose that we then repaired to the Hotel Bar for some Champagne and a catch up with Eve, one of Hugh's current post-docs who is also attending the workshop.

I spent Monday on the little bus that goes to nearby villages in order to find a launderette. I was aided in my search by a helpful old lady who took me under her wing and showed me the way. At Ascot, where I went to do some banking, another helpful old lady told me what to do in Windsor and people were chatting away to me on the bus home as well. Things have really changed here that's all I can say! Hugh is here for a workshop and we all met in the old Manor house at Silwood for the introductory talk followed by dinner. The talk was most interesting describing the global biodiversity situation and typical goverment responses. (basically to hold another meeting!)

We then sat outside under the huge, shady old trees of the Manor and had a yummy curry dinner which was served in the conservatory. The Manor house has a wonderful old photo in the hall showing a visit by the then Prince and Princess of Wales to Silwood Park in 1896 with a copy of the court circular for that day. It is a great house but sadly showing signs of neglect and institutionalisation. Some truly horrid light fittings and ghastly lino have been installed but the stained glass and high ceilings still remain. I don't remember visiting the house on our last visit.

What a shame - only a few days left in England - I am stocking up on DVD's and books for our last 3 weeks in Sweden. Of course the bookshops here are wonderful and it is hard to restrain oneself. I am enjoying English TV as well -I didn't realise how much I was missing it.

Canterbury and Cambridge

We had a great meal on Thursday night in the oldest pub in Canterbury complete with blackened oak beams (as you can see in the photo)and nice pub food. The group was a mixture of marine people and DICE people (university of Kent). There was a good blues band playing and later we sat out in the beer-garden as it was a lovely evening - apparently it is always like this in summer in England! I didn't believe them and just as well, as it poured with rain when we got to Cambridge the next day. But we saw London Bridge and St Pauls from the train on the way through. I love it - sighteeing from the train.

We are staying in a gorgeous set of rooms in St John's college - the other photo is the view from one of our mullioned windows. Our bathroom is in an octangonal tower just like the rooms in my favourite childhood book "The little White Horse". The doorways are all pointed gothic arches and we have a painting of a be-whiskered gentlemen on the wall, no doubt some important benefactor. It is fabulous. I can feel some gothic mystery is about to happen although the punters on the river introduce a way too cheerful note. We cross the Bridge of Sighs on the way to breakfast.

Last night I had a nice girls evening with an old friend from our Oxford days while Hugh chatted with Zoology people in yet another pub. It was great to catch up with Usha and meet her offspring for the first time. She is going to take us to the Senior Combination Room for lunch in college today which should be fun - I hope I get to pass the port.

Hugh and I explored the college a bit this morning and I nearly had a heart attack in the chapel, as the organ started playing suddenly while I was inspecting a tomb of some important long dead person. I jumped about three feet in the air as it felt like the gates of heaven were opening right before me! See what I mean about the gothic atmosphere! I can hear the bells ringing now so I had better go and put on some finery for lunch.

Sweden to Scotland

On Monday we had a rather tiring trip from Sweden to St Andrews in Scotland via Heathrow which was a bit hairy due to security and changing terminals and so on. But Tuesday was a beautiful sunny day and I enjoyed wandering around St Andrews which is of course famous for its golf course (pictured) – the Royal and Ancient golf club - such a great name. It is such a cute little hobbit town with a splendid ruined castle and cathedral. It is also famous for its university which Prince William attended. We heard lots of posh English accents as it is graduation week.

In the evening a sea fog rolled in and the town was enveloped in it – it seemed very much like Sherlock Holmes and the Hound of the Baskervilles to me. We had a nice train trip to London the next day losing the fog near Newcastle, and played Monopoly in our heads as we changed from Kings Cross station to Charing Cross. We saw Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey from the train which was a bonus, on the way to Canterbury our next destination.

We had a great evening with Bob and a couple of his friends, Jesse and Susie at Deeson’s – a restaurant specialising in locally produced, traditional English food. It was lovely – I am so pleased to be back in England as there is so much choice for vegetarians. But the best part - aside from the witty repartee of course- was the piano player called Luke, apparently a Canterbury icon, who played all my favourite tunes and I came very close to singing along - I do love a bit of kareoke!

Today I visited some nice churches and of course the cathedral where Thomas Beckett was murdered but my pilgrimage was really to Marks & Spencers’ Food Hall. It is filled to the brim with yummy food for vegetarians (and for everyone else for that matter) and I was happy to see that it still as good as I remembered it. I also got excited going to Boots the Chemist – I don’t really know why – I must just be feeling nostalgic and pro-England.

Hugh is having a big day giving his talk and meeting with the people who are going to re-zone the English Channel (to stop over-fishing) and who are going to use MARXAN, his computer programme, to do it. I think it is very exciting to see how Hugh’s work is so used around the world. Tonight we are going to a ye olde English pub – the oldest in Canterbury – which sounds like a lot of fun – it really is such a hard life!

More Midsummer Madness

Just when you thought it was all over - here are some more snaps of random frivolity. I thought I would include a nice photo courtesy of Henrik, of the lovely schnapps lunch, so you can see that the sun did in fact shine. It is such a pity as the weekend has been lovely - lots of sun and no rain. We have been walking in the woods around the lake and bravely tramping across bogs potentially filled with hostile and disease laden insects (there is lime disease here). Hugh has a list of must-see birds and will not rest until he has seen them all - it makes him a bit fidgety.

Yesterday we had another fabulous dinner party at Ella and Grzegorz's house - I include a photo of them in their midsummer finery - they had very pretty wildflower wreaths as well. They have a lovely house in the forest surrounded by meadows filled with wildflowers like Johan and Johanna. They insisted we had to drink Polish vodka for our health - I think it was the best so far but you can only buy it in Poland. Pity. Grzegorz is as crazy a bird-watcher as Hugh and hooray - we finally saw the Black Woodpecker and the Scarlet Rose Finch so now we must stomp around the forests of Grimso only for the Hazel Grouse. Although it seems the more you see the more you have to see. Luckily Johan (another birdo) found a Great Gray Owl for us on Friday so that has been ticked off.

We are still getting used to driving home at midnight and seeing the sun setting - it was lovely last night as we saw it setting over a lake. So romantic. I am writing this in the Arlanda airport as we are en route to Scotland for a couple of weeks in the UK. I am really looking forward to seeing England again and catching up with old friends and spending time in some ye olde English pubs. However I am glad to be returning to Sweden after that for some more meadows and wildflowers and fun with our Swedish friends. We only have 5 weeks left of our trip - I can't believe how fast it has gone.

Midsummer Madness

Well - it started out a nice day so I optimistically made some things for a BBQ and when we got to Johan and Johanna's house, the sun was shining away and I was regretting that I wasn't attired in a flowing goddess gown. We had a lovely traditional lunch of pickled herring and about 6 different sorts of schnapps. I had a vegetarian version of caviar which was delicious. The table and house were filled with flowers from the meadows and we sang traditional Swedish schnapps songs. It was a lot of fun. But we had a weather prophet with us who took a dim view.

He was right - just as we arrived at the village to dance arround the Maypole it started to pour with rain. Then came the hail - it became incredibly dark and cold. The Maypole looked very threatening against the sky as you can see. Maybe the Swedes should start burning a wicker man instead and then the weather might improve - you never know. I was the only person over the age of seven wearing a wreath of flowers but I was laughing so much that the back of my head started to ache - maybe the schnapps played a role. It was so sad seeing all the kids and the lady with the piano accordian being washed away.

Luckily we were able to huddle around a nice wood burning stove back at the ranch and break open the red wine so it seemed really more like a winter solstice than a summer solstice. Johan bravely went ahead with the BBQ but I did not move from the warm kitchen. Nevertheless it was a wonderful evening and we finished with strawberries and champagne. It was weird driving home at midnight when it was still light even with the mist and rain and grey skies.

Today Hugh and I walked around the lake through the woods and it feels like every fairy tale you have ever read - these are the forests of Grimm that is for sure. They even have wolves here apparently. So spooky. Although Luigi from Tuscany who is a wolf expert, reckons that wolves have got a bad press and they are gentle, misunderstood creatures. That may be so but I still don't want to meet one and I'm definitely not going to wear a red hood in the forest!

Orebro

Yesterday I met up with Ella, the wife of a colleague of Hugh's and we went off castle searching in Orebro, a large town about 50 kms away. We visited an old village with lots of 17th century buildings - many of them had grass growing on top of their roofs - very quaint but they must have been rather short in those days as the ceilings were low and the rooms rather small. One of the houses belonged to a famous Swedish cook called Cajsa Warg- kind of an early Mrs Beeton I suppose.

The castle was of the classic kind - four towers surrounded by a moat and a nice little internal courtyard. We went on a funny guided tour of the inside of the castle and learnt all about the famous castle ghost and the prisoner who kept on escaping from the dungeons. There were some beautiful portraits of fairly ugly moustachioed kings, chubby ladies and sweet princesses playing with dogs. The castle is a popular place for weddings.

Ella and Grzegorz (they are Polish) live in a lovely house surrounded by meadows and woods. We had a nice girl time talking about herbs and flowers. Ella collects plants from the woods and dries them and makes all sorts of different teas with various health benefits. I have been steadily drinking some nice herbal tea infusions that I bought in Lausanne but I don't think it is quite the same thing!

Today I am afraid to say it was a bit rainy and miserable and I fear for the midsummer festival tomorrow. I met up with Ingrid for lunch in a nice pub in her town and joined the vast queues of people buying Schnapps and strawberries afterwards. Apparently Midsummer is the most important festival of the year in Sweden. Lindesberg seems like a pretty town, overlooking a lake and I look forward to exploring it more when the weather is better.

The other photo is of our little cottage and our trusty VW polo. It is quite relaxing driving in Sweden after Italy as the roads are wide, there is not much traffic and peolple don't speed so much. So I am quite enjoying motoring around even on the dirt roads around Grimso. We are off now to have dinner and watch a DVD so bye for now.

Grimso Forskningsstation

Yes that is what the research station is called - makes me laugh anyway. Hooray today the sun is shining and the rain has gone away. Maybe it will start to feel like summer now. We have had a nice few days catching up with old friends Henrik and Ingrid and getting to know the new people who are doing Hugh's course. Apparently there is a ghost in the old house in the photo that used to be a hunting lodge, so we scared each other with cross-cultural ghost stories. Luckily it is light till about 1 am so although we had to walk to our little cottage which is surrounded by the woods, I was reassured by Hugh that ghosts need the dark to properly thrive and haunt people.

We had a lovely meal with Ingrid and Henrik who have visited us twice in Brisbane and started to plan the midsummer festival for Friday the 21st June. As many of you know I like to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes as part of what my daughter calls my "pagan cult" so I am gleaning material for festival proceedure. I was fascinated by the remnant pagan festivals that the Swedes celebrate and learnt a lot for my cult. So now as I walk among the woods I am looking for the 7 flowers that I will need to decorate my wreath and particularly for the purple midsummer flower which is apparently the essential element.

Now the weather is better I am looking forward to exploring the lake and the area around Grimso which is in the centre of Sweden basically, 200kms west of Stockholm. Apparently there is a nice castle for me nearby, and some churches and old villages so I should be pretty happy. Today I might drive to Lindesberg the nearest town to start stocking up on Schnapps which is apparently the key ingredient to the Midsummer party along with herring of course. I think I might skip that part! Swedish is a bit tricky for me but hopefullly I shall learn a few words to add colour to the blog.

From Saxony to Sweden

We heard my favourite Bach piece played in the church where he worked on Friday night for the Bach festival- it was so beautiful tears came into my eyes and the sun came out and brightened the colours in the stain glass windows. It was a wonderful moment and even better it only cost 2 euro to get in. On the way home we took a photo of a statue of Goethe which stands in front of the old Stock Exchange, a lovely neo-classical building. A lot of the big names in German culture spent some time in Leipzig - I visited Mendelssohn's and Schumann's houses but didn't get to the house of Schiller.

Just my luck - it was a beautiful day as we passed through Berlin but no time really to stop and enjoy the city as we were en route to the airport. However Sweden is quite cold and wet and I am still wearing my winter clothes. It was a 2 and a half hour drive from the airport to Grimso the research station where we will be based for the next 7 weeks. Our new car is a blue volkswagen golf which I will have to get used to as the nearest town is 30 kms away. Hugh is happy because he is in the forest and plans to see many new birds.

The other picture is of Hugh and his post-doc Peter doing field-work! Luckily Peter has some DVDs and I stocked up on books so I will have something to do out here in the woods. It was light nearly the whole night which will take some getting used to but the research station looks really pretty and overlooks a lake. Apparently there are a lot of moose about and no doubt many bugs for me to complain about. So now I have to learn a bit of Swedish for goodbye - hej då!

Berlin and the Brandenburg Gate

It is quite cold and wet here in Deutschland and I am wondering where is summer? I had a very damp trip to Berlin yesterday and got a bit grumpy. I went to Museum Island to see the famous Pergammon altar removed in its entirety from Turkey and reconstructed here along with the Market Gate of Miletus and the Ishtar Gate from Babylon. The Ishtar gate was particularly awesome with its bright blue tiles and strange dragon-like animals. I am not sure how I feel about this removal of entire ancient buildings thing - I think really they should be returned to their country of origin.

I had to queue for a half an hour to get in and the museum was terribly crowded so I didn't enjoy it as much as it deserved. Then I went to the Egyptian museum to see the famous head of Nefertiti which is so delicate and beautiful. There were two rooms full of ancient jewellery which was amazing and a collection of ancient Greek and Roman silver which I have not seen so much of before. They are in the process of up-grading these museums and no doubt it will be even more magnificent then.

But it kept on raining and I resigned myself to a wet walk to the Brandenburg gate - luckily it stopped raining for a bit so I could get the photo I needed. But I do not think I saw Berlin at its best. I only felt better after a hot bath and some wine back in Leipzig. I bought Faust - in English which is cheating I know- so I can start to understand Goethe and to continue the cultural theme we are going to hear a reproduction of an 1843 concert that Mendelssohn staged to pay tribute to Bach tonight in the the St Thomas Church (if the weather is clement).

Hugh is loving Germany and the order and punctuality. He is off birdwatching this morning with some colleagues and hopes to see many rare birds. I am thinking of seeing Mendelssohn's house this afternoon as it is just around the corner. We are flying to Sweden tomorrow so this is my last Auf Wiedersehen!

Faust and freedom

I visited another nice church today called St Nicholas which has a beautiful pink and green neo-classical interior filled with columns like the one pictured on the outside of the Church. It played an important role in the collapse of the GDR, the former east Germany. People had been coming to pray for democracy and change for some time but thousands came and prayed for peace in October 1989 despite the church being filled with secret police and party faithful. Tens of thousands of people were also outside the church holding candles despite the presence of troops. The non-violent movement contributed to the fall of the GDR and a member of the GDR said before his death "we had planned for everything but not for candles and prayer". I think that this is rather wonderful.

Leipzig is a nice, flat city which has a long history from about the 10th century and was an important trading and book printing town as well as having a famous university. I visited the old town hall pictured with its weekly market in the square and the new town hall which is built on the site of the original castle. Goethe lived here for a few years and we had dinner last night in the very cellar that is mentioned in Faust. I have to confess that I have not read Faust and this is something that obviously I must remedy. But I was pleased to be eating some kohlrabi, a weird looking root vegetable that I had seen in the market and to my knowledge had never eaten before. It was delicious - I am a fan of root vegetables- and so was the riesling that accompanied it. I am glad to be in the land of the riesling - my favourite sort of white wine.

My German is coming back,albeit in a fairly basic way, and it is good to be able to understand a bit of what is going on. I must look a little bit German as I kept on being stopped to answer surveys yesterday. I think it must be because I am wearing socks and sandals (because it is cold)! Bye for now.

Bell-towers and Bach

Yesterday we spent the day in Florence and I have to confess that Florence has not been my most favourite Italian city as I have only been there when it has been hot and crowded. But I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it can be when cool and fairly empty of people. We visited Orsanmichele which was just beautiful and had a nice holy feel (I like that in a church). We also saw an interesting Bronzino fresco (one of my favourite painters) in the church of San Lorenzo and a nice fresco by Botticelli (another one) in the Organissanti Church. Hugh got a groovy Italian haircut while we waited for the last church to open. I found a wonderful English bookshop and traded in some old books for some new ones. I was getting a bit twitchy without anything to read.

We then crammed into a six berth sleeping car on the overnight train to Germany with in fact 7 other people (2 were smallish kids) which made taking off your shoes tricky and led to worrying about snoring (yours and theirs) but in fact it wasn't so bad. Germany looks completely different to Italy - no weeds anywhere and all the buildings are well-maintained. Leipzig train station is incredible - you could eat off the floor it is so clean. Our hotel is very hip - lots of colour and designer chairs. The reception is a bar.

Today I am off to explore Leipzig and maybe get a haircut myself. There is a Bach festival starting later in the week which looks interesting (he was choirmaster at the church pictured) and hopefully a castle of two for me to get my teeth into. By the look of the place (compare the towers in the photos) I guess we have moved from the Renaissance to the Baroque. A new period of history to learn more about which I will enjoy. Now we say Auf Wiedersehen!

Last day at Luigi's

Today I managed to drag Hugh away from his computer and we drove to the walled town of Monteriggioni - it is maybe 10 kms north of Siena. It has 14 towers and is mentioned in Dante's Inferno. It was cute but very touristy. We had a bit of a shock as we have been relatively free from other tourists like ourselves in our small part of Tuscany. We also saw a nice church to add to my church haul. This afternoon will all be about packing and getting organised for our next 2 months in Northern Europe (mostly Sweden). Unfortunately Europe seems to be in the grip of rain for the next week so our week in Germany first may be a bit damp. Hugh is wondering why the Romans wanted to leave Italy.

Today's pictures are my last pair of castles and churches for the mission and what a nice pair, hey? The Church is a little gem and I am slowly starting to see the differences between the styles of bell tower and the arches and so on. The castle is pretty impressive too I think. I didn't put a picture of Monterigioni in today as I think an aerial photograph would be the only way to do it justice. So I have a postcard instead.

We are currently girding our loins for the drive into Florence tomorrow to return the car - these big old Italian cities with their one-way streets and Italian drivers are a test of nerve for us. I always pray (in a pagan way) for roadworks to help us out and slow everyone down. Luckily there does seem to be a lot of them around! Hugh is pouring over his google maps so as navigator I'd better attend my briefing - this is my last ciao for the trip!

Tombs and Towers

Yesterday I visited the birth-place of San Galgano (see previous post) and observed his preserved skull (fortunately encased in some sort of helmet thingy) and the mark his horse made in the rock when it kneeled in front of the apparition of the Archangel St Michael. No kidding! I am wondering whether he might be the origin of the Sir Galahad story given the similarity of their names and the whole Arthurian sword in the stone stuff. His medieaval hilltop-town is called Chiusdino and is very cute with lots of steep steps and arched gates. As it was a weekday it was also terribly quiet and empty, and I appeared to be the only person in the old part of the town, barring a few cats and an old lady or two sweeping their steps and shaking out their mats. Rather pleasant really.

Today I gaily drove off in search of Etruscan tombs. Tombs for me are like childbirth - I forget how awful it is each time and then it is too late! Naturally I am all by myself in a deserted area, naturally the word tomb means I have to go underground where it is dark, smelly and scary because dead people were there for millenia. Little creatures scuttle away on my approach and nasty spiderwebs are strung up in front of the entrance as a warning. Moreover I remember half way into the tomb that (a) I don't have a torch and (b) I hate tombs! But it was a new adventure to add to my growing list of creepy crypt/tomb tales.

After the fear factor faded somewhat, I stayed out in the sunshine and drove along dirt country roads, through tiny villages to view a few more castles and country chapels. It was really delightful although some of the roads were a bit hairy - a 4 wheel drive would have been nice. Except for the time when there was me, the rock wall and the man in the tractor on a tiny track. I was pleased to be in the baby fiat panda then I can tell you. So I can report that I am doing reasonably well in my mission to see as many castles, churches and hill-top villages within a 20 km radius except that as Hugh pointed out (he is a stickler for accuracy and apparently knows the difference between diameter and radius) my quest turns out to be within a 10 km radius and I have not got to a few of them. Some people are very critical! I told him that I am leaving some for next time and there will be a next time!

Cloisters and Dante

We have had 2 days of steady rain but that does not stop me on my culture trail! Visited the abbey of Torri yesterday which was built in 1069 and has a gorgeous Romanesque cloister that you can see pictured. The village built around it is lovely too and I bought some food from the little van that sets up shop in the square and sells vegies, fruit and other staples from the side of the van. Lots of old ladies in slippers were buying away. I was wondering what you would do in these villages if you didn't drive and now I know. I don't know how often the van comes mind you.

Today was drier so we ventured out along the Old Massetana route (a medieaval road) to the Ponte della Pia, a romanesque bridge which is mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy (Purgatory, Canto V: Lines 130-136). We were also trying to find an old Augustine convent which is now a picturesque ruin on this road apparently but failed due to muddy conditions and bad signage. We will prevail on another day though as I have promised to leave no stone unturned in my quest(as previously mentioned). We also explored our local village of Rosia and climbed into the old part of the village which is up a fairly steep hill - there is a nice castle at the top and a panoramic view of the countryside. So I am planning a quiet afternoon - bye for now.