So as usual, the aftermath of late socializing blended with strong mochaccino and a tight schedule set the stage for our early trip to Hampton Court Palace.
In hindsight, I was not prepared for the magnificence of the tour before us. Arthur from Brazil is a bright physics enthusiast and we started talking about energy conservation in a pendulum where the force of gravity changes with time.
After some struggle on the get-go (it's been a while), I showed him how to establish the equation of motion: a second-order ugly duckling of a differential equation that I didn't try to solve. He seemed to enjoy this though which shows you how advanced many of these LIYSF high school students are!
After a long rail and bus trip, we had arrived at the ancient masterpiece converted in 1514 for a royal residence:
First, some mean little sculptures presumably guarding the area:
The first of a vast brigade of adornments that smother Hampton Court:
Inside the first courtyard are some intriguing woody characters:
Inside a grand dining hall hangs a collection of mind-boggling tapestries made largely of gold and silver interwoven fabric:
The pictures are portraits from the life of Biblical Abraham who was apparently regarded by King Henry VIII.
Can you identify the scenes of the near-sacrifice of Isaac and Abraham tithing to Melchizidech?
Ye Olde toilets:
I failed to catch all the descriptions, so here are just a bunch of photos:
This place is a maze...
The grandeur made my head swim a little bit.
Outside in the gardens gives a different version of magnificence: the beauty of meticulous horticulture stretched over the 60 acre surroundings:
The guys:
Brody, me, and two jolly good aristocrats:
Thoroughly stuffed on eye-candy, we go have some lunch:
Selfie with Salman!
From South Kensington Stn. three little participants went to market where I finally gave in and bought lip chap. Also bananas and chocolate are core foods in our household:
We then got snagged by the ponzi scheme of this silly ice cream place:
Twas a very tasty rip off!
Upon getting home, I had to run through O Canada again before tonight. Mind you, my voice was still recovering from the cheering at yesterday's Olympics. On the way to Old Chelsea Hall for the Traditions of Home night, I joined the Chinese who, it turns out, have some slick dance moves.
Also, Salman took another selfie with me:
The truly beautiful hall was built in 1860:
Everyone started rehearsing. The Pakistan group:
The "Non-Spice" Girls:
The Canadian (I love this photo):
You can see my act and some others on my Youtube channel:
After a jolly good plethora of performances...
... we were eager to get pictures with all the traditional dress!
The Kuwaitis brought plenty of dates and nutty Arabic coffee while the Russian girls blessed my heart with chocolate:
In fact, the Russians were so generous, I received a fragment of mammoth tusk from Andrey and another souvenir from Ekatrina.
Posing with the Indonesians:
I was empowered to release my inner Arab by the Kuwaitis:
Lawrence of Canada? The night ended at a jolly good hour in the common room as usual.
Etienne
