Spring break

An airline in the US has a policy of allowing twelve-year-olds travel on their own. This sounded good to A. so the day after his birthday he went to Cleveland to visit my parents. While he was there he met a kid who was also visiting grandparents, who lived only a few blocks from A.'s. The two of them had fun together at a neighbor's pool, going to a baseball game, and hanging out.

This week we had a reunion in London, staying with the family in North London home, which was pretty generous since I had never met any of them!

We had a beautiful view as we travelled to their house, but the real highlight was picking up the free evening newspaper, which was in English!

St. Jame's Park, across from the museum and close to 10 Downing Street.

We had no problem filling our time and even though I have been there several times we visited places I had never been, including the Churchill War Rooms. Visiting a place where history took place is a great way to learn.

standing at 00°00'

We also went to Greenwich and visited the Royal Observatory, which did a great job telling the story of longitude. I found it fascinating because I love the history of time and the logistics of coordinating the whole world.

The boys surprised me by deciding to have Ethiopian food for lunch. Did you know the traditional injera bread, made with teff flour, is gluten-free and kosher for Passover?

 

Talking a boat back to London may not have been as fast as the Underground, but was significantly more entertaining, especially since there was a tall ship festival in Greenwich.

Taking a Harry Potter walking tour and seeing The Lewis Chessmen in the
British Museum (a prop in the first Harry Potter movie) were on our agenda.

We also visited platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross, which is where Harry Potter caught the train to his boarding school. What was originally just a cute prop is now an industry, with enormous crowds waiting to get their picture taken. One person manages the line, one person arranges the photo, and another takes the picture. Afterward you directed into the store (so you don't have to stand in line to get into the store!) in order to buy your picture. The postcards were affordable.

Friday was a bank holiday so some places had long lines and other had no lines because they were closed. I had never heard of the Wellcome Collection, but it was open, had no line, and was free. Mr. Wellcome made money creating pills and exact dosages. He used his money to collect the widest variety of curiosities (tattooed skin, birthing forceps, a guillotine blade), which the curators have done an admirable job of figuring out how to display. The reading room on the top floor was filled with books I hadn't even known I wanted to read. It was hard to leave!

Arsenal is the only Underground stop not named after a place, although it used to be.

Before heading home we toured Emirates Stadium where Arsenal Football Club plays. I knew nothing about it so I learned a lot! Having visited the Madrid stadium last month it was hard not to compare the two, but touring it with A.'s friend, who goes to games there, gave us a different perspective.

We bought our last bit of Cadbury candy and English newspapers ("How much is a subscription to a London newspaper?" A. wanted to know after reading the morning paper's description of last night's football match) and look forward to returning one day!

Lisbon - Guest Post by D.

A nice sand sculpture on the boardwalk along the shore in Lisbon.

Last week I had an opportunity to attend the DaySol 17 conference in Lisbon.  This was a small conference of ~70 people working in printed electronics and low cost next generation solar technologies.  There was an attempt to focus on industrial players and markets for devices, not only scientific research.  The conference was tied to a meeting of a European Union-funded project that my colleague has been leading for the past three years.  I knew about half the people there from prior conferences, so it was nice to reconnect with them and to meet some new people.  Several of us are working on collaborative experiments together, which I enjoy.  I had two posters at the conference and my data was also shown in one of the oral presentations by my collaborator.  We had one official dinner out as part of the conference and there was traditional music played on a Portuguese guitar.

Portuguese guitar

I had never been to Lisbon or to Portugal before.  I really don’t know Portuguese history as well as I should.  I do know that they had a wonderful and inexpensive public transit system with trains, a metro, trams, trolley cars, funiculars, and buses.  Most notable, it includes the Santa Justa Lift, an elevator that appears to go to nowhere (actually it does connect to the top of steep neighboring hill behind it).  

Santa Justa Lift

A panoramic view of Lisbon from the top of one of the seven hills near the top of the Santa Justa Lift.

The elevator was built in 1901 by Raoul Mesnier du Ponsard, a disciple of Gustavo Eiffel, and was converted from a steam engine to an electric motor in 1907.  You can see more pictures and read about it here.  Every time I went by the lift the line was incredibly long, so I did not ride it, but I did hike up the hill and enter it from the top side where there is a small café and no lines.

In many ways the city of Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco, but warmer and far less wealthy.  It is the city of seven hills, and the hills are steep.  Buildings are close packed and colorful with tiles rather than paint for decoration. 

Square at the top of one of the hills.

Local government buildings with nice tiles.

One of the few beautifully restored buildings.

A snack shop with beautiful tiles.

A smaller scale building also with nice tiles.

No tiles, but my AirBnB is marked by the circle.  We had the whole 2nd floor.

There are more standard European aspects as well, old churches, castles, cobblestones (white with black inlayed patterns) big plazas and markets.  

Black and white cobblestones are inset all over Lisbon.

A big plaza with outdoor markets and more cobblestone artwork.

Near the top of the Santa Justa Lift is the Igreja do Carmo Church (without a roof).  This hilltop church was built in the 13th century, but was devastated by an earthquake in 1755.  They started to rebuild it, but then stopped and preserved its ruins.  It is now an archeological museum, with a rather eclectic collection.  

Igreja do Carmo Church (without a roof).

One thing I did enjoy seeing there were samples of older tiles from the 15^th and 16^th century in Lisbon.  

15th and 16th century tiles in the Archeological Museum within the church.  

More modern tiles in one of the many beautifully decorated Metro stations.

I guess Lisbon is famous for tin cans of fish, and there were several stores that celebrate this with souvenir sardine cans, which is a bit different from other cities.

This shop sells souvenir sardines in cans.  They have different can designs by year.  You are supposed to buy the ones from your birth year, but they have a hostess who clearly explains in English the that the sardines are not that old!

There are some wonderful old trees in Lisbon.  These are near the Botanical Garden.

Outdoor markets and stands were all over town, but not the type of sellers I see in Barcelona, who have canvas bags that they scoop up when the authorities are coming.  I declined the chance to buy drugs a few times in the busy tourist filled plazas.  A local treat I did enjoy were egg custard pastries called “natas”, which are delicious and sold everywhere.  They originate from a city a bit west of Lisbon, Belém.  My Pomona student urged me to go there and the shop there serves them hot all day long with sugar and cinnamon on the side.  That was the best.  I did not take a picture, but there are very nice pictures of the bakery where I went, Pasties de Belém, online.  All the ones I had in Lisbon were cold and plain, but still very tasty.  

The city has segments that are in need of repairs and one has the impression the economy has been struggling.  Of course there are some very wealthy people here, but it felt like many people were just getting by.  Prices were lower than I have been seeing in Spain.  Tourists were everywhere I went.  On the Metro I met a French group having a bachelorette party for their friend.  The bride-to-be had to wear a crazy costume and it seemed like some type of scavenger hunt or bucket list was involved.  She asked me to pose for a picture with her because I had a moustache. 

A lovely French bride-to-be asked me to pose with her on the Metro.

I spent Saturday morning exploring in central Lisbon on foot with friends, but for the afternoon I took the train out along the Atlantic coast to see nearby beach towns.  It was a beautiful day and the train was packed.  There was a wide diversity of people all headed to various beaches.  

I got as far as Sao Pedro do Estoril, where I had a great lunch at a local restaurant. Later I walked back along the coast two train stops to Carcavelos, which has the Forte de São Julião da Barra at the east end of the beach.  It was warm out and the water was cool (I only went knee deep) with a rocky coast between the beaches.  On my way back I got off the train in Belém, before taking a bus back into Lisbon. 

Sao Pedro do Estoril Beach

The clifftop walking path between the beaches.

A rocky section of the Atlantic coast.

Waves coming off the Atlantic Ocean into the rocks.

Blankets and towels for sale in underpass that provides access to the beach.

Carcavelos Beach 

Palace in Belém

The only real problem on this trip was that my flight was supposed to land in Barcelona at midnight, but was delayed 2 hours, meaning not only was I up late, but there were no trains back to San Cugat after 2am.  I hired a cab and hope to get reimbursed.  We’ll see.

Chocolate

The Easter tradition seems to be for godparents to buy grandchildren elaborate chocolate items, which are so much fun to look at, but I am guessing it is not the best chocolate available.

These look like dollhouse items,

Football, Angry Birds, Christmas log, anything goes

Even the coffee maker is chocolate.

An entire house and the mirror shows the VW van in the garage.

The grocery store has their selection,too.

Diversions

Last fall I bought this puzzle at a school rummage sale. I was not patient enough to finish it.

D. picked up this puzzle at a secondhand sale, but it was new and unopened.
We have already made significant progress.

The box contained two things of interest. One was a glue packet so you could
save your puzzle permanently after completion. We are not planning to use this.

The other thing it contained was a piece of cardboard designed to hold the lid so you could better see the image on the box lid. We are definitely not planning to use this either. Growing up I was NOT allowed to do a puzzle while looking at the picture and this tradition has definitely been passed down. Time will tell, but A. says he does not think he will continue it. 

Palm Sunday

I was not surprised to see jamón for sale at this time of year.

The candy was not surprising, either.

At the grocery store they also sold palm fronds, which were new to me.

Candy is sold to add to the fronds, like you would find in an Easter basket.

Some palm fronds were sold with candy already attached. These were 40 euros.

They are sold at the florist, outside the train station,

and along the pedestrian street.

Today I joined the crowds heading toward the monastery.

It was hard to resist taking pictures of the variety of fronds and attachments.
The elaborately woven fronds are intended for girls to carry.

Boys carry the straight fronds and adults seemed to have laurel leaves.

People gathered to hear hymns and a blessing from the priest. I have no idea if most people also go to mass or something similar, but I got the impression people were going to have a family meal after this.

I am glad they had good weather for the holiday.