Cambridge

You just know that under the stately veneer of Cambridge is an undercurrent of radical thought. I ventured to Cambridge today with Tim and Susan. On the walk into town you are greeted with this message.







Perhaps it was meant to be read walking the other direction, but I like this iteration better. While Mies is no longer considered radical, I found traces of a counter-culture everywhere.

St Mary's is a quaint little church in the center of town. There we sat among the headstones and ate our lunch.



Afterwards we climbed the tower and got a bird's eye view of Cambridge.





This is King's College Chapel which hosts magnificent fan vaulting. Outside St.Mary's is a message board to sign in support of human rights. It has become a place for legal grafitti. I'm glad this joke was something I could photograph. (Click for a larger view.)



Out front was a busker playing 60s protest songs, with a bit of Eric Clapton thrown in.



We went on a fabulous walking tour of the city. The amount of history here, like everywhere else, is staggering. You could get lost in it, which is probably what prompts a bit of rebellion. In the US we are able to create our own future with little regard for the past. That's good and bad. We often loose our responsibility in our freedom, but here when you disregard the past you are doing so consciously.

This is Pembroke University, one of the 31 universities that make up Cambrigde. It was designed by Christopher Wren.





This is our tour guide. I missed his name but he did a fabulous job showing us around the city he loves.



Architectural details like this are everywhere.



King's College is the most exciting complex of buildings in town, with spires everywhere. If you name it after the king (founded in 1441) it has to be flashy.



King's College Chapel is stunning. No photography of the elaborate fan vaulting and stained glass windows was allowed so I sketched like mad.



Outside this poignant sign in a window throws you back to the present.



We also took a punting tour of the Cam River. From this vantage point we could see the back end of the colleges we had toured earlier. These were our companions on the boat. They're from Taiwan and took more pictures of themselves than we did of the architecture.



The bridges over the river are beautiful and distinctive. This is the "Bridge of Sighs" named after the famous bridge in Venice popularized by Byron. The original connects the courtroom with the execution chamber. This bridge connects the classroom with the exam room.



This is the Wren Library designed, surprisingly, by Christopher Wren. It is very stately and perfectly proportioned.



This is a new library built in 1998. It is meant to look like a ship. Old and new mix well together.



"This is a wooden bridge. Why is it a wooden bridge? Because it's made of wood. Some people call it the 'Mathematical Bridge.' Why? Because they're idiots!"



That's the story we overheard by a satirical guide on another boat passing by. The version we got from our guide, John, was that the bridge is built with a formula that evenly dristributes the weight put on it. I like the idiot version better.

Cambridge is a charming and intriguing city. It is so shrouded in tradition and history, yet is a modern and, I suspect, radical bed of thought. It's also a great place to watch people, for all of those reasons.

Blenheim

It’s difficult to describe Blenheim Palace. It is magnificent and stately, but it is also welcoming and accessible (which Windsor is not). That’s a combination I wasn’t expecting, and one I didn’t really think was possible. The building is monumental, truly a palace, built in the English Baroque style by John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough. I hate baroque, but several rooms were restrained enough in it’s use to keep it from becoming oppressive. It even felt inviting because you loose yourself so completely in the architecture. But it was the small details that made it human. The Long Library, the longest room in England, is filled with books. When I look through homes I always look at the books (and movies and music) displayed. They tell you more about who lives there than looking through bathroom drawers would. The thousands of titles in this librbay include:

Life of Ruskin Vol . III by Collingwood
Marius the Epicurean Vol. I by Fater
The High History of the Holy Graal Vol. I-III
History of British Fishes Vol. I-II by Yarell
Garden Craft of Shakespeare by Ellacombe
The Heptameron of Queen Margaret
Exemplary Novels of Cervantes
Decameron of Boccaccio (I have this too!)
History of French Literature
Swift’s Works Vol. I-XIX

Perhaps the warmth of Blenheim can be attributed to the interior design of Lady Henrietta Spencer Churchill. She also designed the private quarters which we also toured. This was the highlight for me where I was able to see the tea room which inspired the architecture of the kitchen I designed this spring. The spaceplan in each room was very cozy. Movies I spotted in one room included The Terminal, Cold Mountain, and The Green Mile.

The gardens are beautiful as well. I've always loved formal English gardens as an art form.







I spent time in the courtyard sketching. As I sat there people kept peaking over my shoulder. It’s disconcerting, but I’ve gotten used to it. Sketching in public makes me feel like a street performer. A group of French teenage girls watched me for several minutes, chattering away. I don’t know what they said, but told me “very beautiful” a few times before they left. Click on the photos to see a larger size.







Blenhiem also has the most beautiful landscape gardens that go on for hundreds of acres. They were designed by Capability Brown and add the comfortable atmosphere. You could sit and gaze forever. You also felt like you could play.



Outside the palace gates is a charming little town. Today I took pictures of door knockers. These are all on the same block.







I had dinner in Oxford with Audrey, Adam, Seth, Megan, Darrin and Kelsea before heading back to London.

Serendipity

Janelle, Audrey, Susan, Tim and I decided to see the Lion King so we ditched the group and ran off to get tickets this morning. The Lyceum Theatre is in the theatre district near Covent Garden. On the way there we turned a corner and saw this.



This bridge is designed by Jim Eyre and connects the Royal School of Ballet to an existing window in the Royal Opera House, with little impact on the historic architecture. I read an article on it a year ago and swore that one day I would see it. I even have an image of it saved on my computer in an inspiration file. And today I just stumbled across it! It’s even more beautiful in person, and very unexpected on a small side street.

After picking up tickets we explored the shops at Covent Garden and ate fish and chips in a pub. Then we finally got around to what we are supposed to do today and headed over to the Churchill Museum.

I know quite a bit about Winston Churchill and WWII. I also know a bit about design. That made it absolutely impossible for me to experience this museum with objectivity. This is, simply, great design. The space is underground and meant to recreate Churchill’s bunker and war rooms during the war. You wind your way through a series of rooms recreating the war rooms, until you find yourself in a contemporary space presenting Churchill’s life. I wish we were allowed to take pictures because the exhibit is brilliant. The technology draws you in, the spaceplan is intriguing and chaotic, and text is used continuously and with power. The entire space is interactive and allows you to take part in each phase of his life. You create your own the experience here. We spent all afternoon here exploring, but I found that the design actually overpowered the message. I was so enthralled with the presentation that I lost the information, but as I said it is impossible for me to be objective here. When you exit the exhibit you are back in the bunker and wind your way through several more before you find the exit. The transition from the present, to the past, to an exhibit that is so contemporary that it transcends time, then back to the past, and into the present is powerful. I highly recommend this museum.

The next stop was the British Museum for a half an hour before it closed.



There was just enough time to pass the Rosetta stone and the Assyrian exhibit to find the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. I was enraptured to finally see them. I found myself engrossed by the details in the carvings.









I will come back soon and spend the day here.

There was just enough time at the flat to change before we were off to The Lion King. The tickets were expensive, but my seat was on the sixth row. The show is incredible, especially the costume and set design. It transcends the cartoon by expanding the story and adapting the music. The African heritage is much stronger and more poignant here.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

There are three words you never want to hear while traveling, “Record Breaking Heat!” I’m glad I don’t know Celsius. Numbers like 35 degrees sound like it’s just above freezing. I think if I knew the real temperature it feel even hotter. Add to that the humidity and the almost non-existent air conditioning in England and it is miserably hot. So what should we do today? Go visit a carpet mill!

Our trip to Brinton’s Carpet comes thanks to Roque and her internship in Kidderminster, outside Burmingham. We were invited by Brinton’s to visit and they even hired a coach to pick us up at the rail station.

Brinton’s carpet is beautiful and the visit was a lot of fun. Brinton’s is a global company that focuses on quality manufacturing and design. They have the largest carpet archive in the world that goes back to the late 1700s. I think I’ve found my dream job! When I get bored with the whole design thing I would love to be an archivist in a collection like this. It combines my love of history and design. Not only do they have antique rug patterns, but a vast collection of books, stencils, and paintings from around the world. They are photographed and cataloged, and made available to their designers. We were given the advice by Dave Trainer, their archivist and copywrite expert to sign, date, and make notes to accompany every sketch we make. There are no new designs, and they become legal documents if you are ever threatened with copywrite infringement. You must be able to prove where your inspiration comes from. He also told us to be confident. Give your client what they want, but give them something better than they expect. And don’t let them bully you. You are the designer and that is why they hired you.

We were then shown the design studio by Bob McGill, the senior designer. He showed us an elaborate carpet design he created for a hotel in Texas. It is a traditional design, but the details are filled with Western images. Cowboy hats and spurs, wagon wheels, railroad tracks, and wildflowers make up the patterns. I asked him where he came up with his inspiration. Did he research Texas history? “No,” he said, “All British boys know about cowboys.”

Roque showed us her projects and the rugs she has designed. It looks like she is having a blast on her internship, and doing a fabulous job. They use Apso Cadvantage to create their patterns.

Our tour of the carpet mill was given by Roy Darkes who was a lot of fun. His favorite TV show is Dawson’s Creek and he’s disappointed it ended. He tried to watch Friends but he doesn’t get it.

The process of carpet production is quite elaborate and the tour took over two hours.













By evening it was good to get back to London. The heat on the ride home was almost unbearable and tomorrow is predicted to be the hottest July day in England, ever.

Windsor

This morning we used our BritRail passes for the first time and went to Windsor Castle, the home of the Queen. Winsor is grand and imposing - as intimidating as it was built to be. It is the largest occupied castle in the world, inhabited for almost 1,000 years. Winsor was originally built by William the Conqueror. Being a desendant of William and all the Plantagenants you would think I would be allowed into the private residence, but no. I couldn't even take pictures inside.











Edward IV, Henry VI, Henry VIII, Charles I, George III, George IV, William IV, Edward VII, George V and George VI are all buried here, in St. George's Chapel. Henry VIII is buried with Jane Seymoure. As a queen she did two things right. She had a son, and then died before she could make him angry.





I love the Tudor details in the older part of the fortess, especially the chimneys.





Across from the chapel I found this van. It's a pretty funky logo for an electrical, mechanical, and building services company.



Tonight there was a birthday party for Princess Beatrice at Winsor, so they kicked out the common rabble. Outside the gates is the town of Windsor with Eaton nearby.



There are signs everywhere in England, so many more than in the US. I find them endlessly fascinating. Here are a few I particulaly liked here.







With all its grandeur, I found Windsor cold and foreboding. It wasn't a comfortable place to be, especially inside. I can't imagine living like this. I'll take my little craftsman house any day.

Sabbath

The LDS Church meetinghouse in London is located behind the Victoria & Albert Museum. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to attend church in another country. It was fun, and fascinating. Everything was just the same, but it was different too.

Afterwards I took the time to take pictures of some of the little things you see on the streets of South Kensington.



The flower boxes everywhere are beautiful, even in this heat.







The V&A Museum. I love both the historic details and the contemporary signage.



Before I leave I will bring at least two.

Patience is a Virtue

I'm having a TERRIBLE time accessing the internet and uploading anything! I will get my photos and daily entries up as soon as I can. Until then use your imagination - it's probably better than my photos anyway!