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:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcKcC5xctJelTg1qWlIszFw
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 Andrew and another souvenir from Ekatrina.
Posing with the Indonesians (I think, but maybe Malaysians):
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