Stonehenge in black and white

The Heel Stone

Most of the pictures I took at Stonehenge are unsurprisingly very similar to the pictures I took last year, but I didn't get close enough to the Heel Stone last year to get a good picture. This one is much, much better.

Avebury sheep

More Avebury

The UK is having their fifth heat wave of the summer, and I wish this kind of summer day for all of them, with cool breezes and maybe some much-needed rain. (It was actually quite warm the day I took this picture but it looks more like a classically English summer day than it actually was.)

I love Oxford but I am happy to be back in the land of strong coffee and air-conditioning any time I want it.

Back to Avebury

I was having a bad knee day and walking on the uneven ground was difficult, though I stuck it out for as long as I could. I was just happy to see these remarkable stones again, and this time on a bright sunny (though uncomfortably warm) day.

Pink sky at night

One of the few pictures I took at Merton this summer. I had skipped dinner because I was sick to my stomach, but this sky, after the only rain we'd had, distracted me enough to grab the camera.

The RAF Bar

The ceiling of the rear bar at the Eagle is covered with graffiti. RAF and USAF airmen stood on the tables and used candles, lighters and lipstick to write their names and squadron numbers on the ceiling.

Since we'd been to the cemetery earlier, I couldn't help wondering if some of the Americans who wrote their names on that ceiling may have ended up buried far from home only a few miles away.

Cambridge American Cemetery

Slight sidetrack here. On the way into Cambridge we stopped at this cemetery, where 3800 Americans killed in World War II are buried.

It's a beautiful location, and the visitor's center is excellent. There are exhibits outlining the history of American involvement in the war, the impact on the locals of the large numbers of military and support who were suddenly occupying a relatively small island, and individual stories of some of those buried in the cemetery.

I was glad that we had gone there on the way to Cambridge, rather than afterwards as originally planned, because it made the visit to the Eagle more poignant.

Not my Aunt Maureen's bangers and mash

 

I seldom take pictures of my food, but I made an exception for a couple of reasons. First, the other students were so envious when they heard we were having lunch at the Eagle on our field trip—not because of the historic connections, but because we were going to skip the execrable bag lunches they give us on field trip days.

And second, because this was not what I was expecting when I pre-ordered the bangers and mash. Grilled sausages in a Merlot reduction with chive mashed potatoes? My aunt Maureen, who was an excellent plain English cook, would definitely have been rolling over in her grave.

And it was delicious, though I had to leave half of it in order to have room for the blackberry tart with clotted cream ice cream. I do have my priorities.

The Eagle

We had lunch at this pub, a short walk from the Cavendish. It's been around since the 17th century, but one of the things it's famous for is being the place where Watson and Crick announced the discovery of DNA. Which does seem like the most English thing ever (and yes, I know that Watson was American.) You make one of the biggest scientific discoveries of all time, and your first reaction is to stroll over to the local pub to tell your colleagues about it.

It was impossible to get a good photo of the plaque, but this is what it says:

On this spot, on February 28, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson made the first public announcement of the discovery of DNA with the words “We have discovered the secret of life”.

Throughout their early partnership Watson & Crick dined in this room on six days every week.

The Old Cavendish

This was much more exciting than the colleges. The lab building was unfortunately closed for repairs, so we weren't able to go inside. But we lingered in the street outside and took pictures, awestruck and giddy at the same time, like pilgrims at a holy site. Or teenage girls outside a hotel where the Beatles were staying.

We'd been talking about James Clerk Maxwell and Ernest Rutherford in our class, and this was their lab! This is where J.J. Thomson discovered the electron! This is where Crick and Watson (and Franklin) discovered the double helix! I felt smarter just being in the same neighborhood.

St John's College

This is certainly different. Most of the older buildings in the Oxford colleges are constructed in the same yellowish Cotswold stone, which gives a kind of architectural unity to the city center. There are many brick buildings in Oxford of course, but I've never seen one quite like this. I think of brick as being a newer material, but the Tudor-style brick and stone of the main gate on the left dates from the very early 16th century, around the time of the college's founding in 1511.

The building on the right, on the other hand, is the Old Divinity School at St John's, and that dates from the late nineteenth century, exactly as you would expect.