The V&A

I left Bournemouth this morning on the 9 am mortorcoach.  Unlike the midweek bus from Heathrow, the weekend bus was packed.  It seems that everyone in Bournemouth wanted to go to London.  Traffic was very heavy in the opposite direction, so its seems that everyone in London wanted to go on a seaside holiday.  I was the second person on the bus so I sat in the first row to get a good view out the window.  There were lots of people out and about in the city.  We drove along the Thames for a short bit and there were many people painting outside.

The bus station was two blocks from "The Tube", the colloquial name from the subway here officially called The Underground. I purchased a 7-day pass, which will work well for seeing lots of sights in the city.  Almost everything is in central London, which is in zones 1 and 2 with respect to the subway fee structure.  My card is a tap and go card, which is faster than the pass-through cards.

I got to checked into my hotel about 12:45.  They asked if I would stay in a single tonight in exchange for a upgrade tomorrow, so I thought that was worth it.  The room is nicer, but smaller than my room in  Bournemouth, which was tiny.  One the plus side, I have wired internet in the room.  There is wireless in the lobby.

I then headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum, or more simply the V&A.  Wikipedia claims "it is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert."  They have over 60,000 items on display!  I am looking for items with a mathematical connection for my upcoming course and some historical research I am doing.  They have items from all time periods and from all over the world.

Like many of the big museums in the UK, the V&A is free with only a suggested donation of £3.  I had a bite to eat in their cafe before hitting the exhibits.  The V&A housed the first museum restaurant in the world, "intended as a showpiece of modern design, craftsmanship, and manufacturing."  The rooms are still used for cafe seating.  Unlike the US, they allow flash photography, which is quite surprising, but very helpful in seeing intricate details.  However, some galleries did not allow any photography.  Here are some of the 177 photos I took today.

A collection of spherical ceramic objects with symmetric patterns.

A neat screen carved from marble.

Tippoo's Tiger.  A life sized automaton showing a tiger at the throat of an Englishman.  When the crank is turned, the man's arms flail and he makes a groaning sound while the tiger roars.  Made in India.

A misericord figure.

A large Chihuly sculpture in the main lobby.

Two views of a carved ivory cup.  The top has several docahedrons.  If you look closely at the bottom, you can see there are at lest three nested objects.  Carved to demonstrate mastery of the craft.  This was carved in Germany in about 1850.

Well, a few hours is not enough to see everything, but they kicked me out at closing time.  I will head back tomorrow morning.  It is quite a museum!

There are two subway stops near the hotel: Notting Hill Gate and Bayswater.  I have explored around both today.  While the hotel is in a very residential section, there are quite a number of shops in the surrounding area.  In addition to a large number of restaurants, I found a laundry that will be needed soon.  I had dinner at a local pub and then walked around the area, stopping again for some dessert before getting back to the hotel.  I took a short nap and so I am up late blogging.

Amy is now in transit.  Our plan is to meet at the hotel tomorrow and then have lunch together.  I am exited that we can spend time together during the next two weeks!

The trusty assistant prepping to leave

As noted earlier, Dave's trusty assistant will join him in London on Sunday. Part of my vacation plan includes a soothing knit of my favorite sock pattern with my favorite sock yarn. Here it is getting ready to be packed in my backpack. The yarn is Madelintosh sock in the colorway Volga. The pattern is a plain, no-brainier sock with a ribbed cuff, eye of partridge heel and stockinette leg and foot. Needles are bamboo size 1. All you knitters know what I'm saying :) I'll keep everyone posted on the progress.

Last day in Bournemouth: good to sew sew

Today was my last full day in Bournemouth.  I gave my talk and had some good discussions.  I forget to mention yesterday of the talks involving shape-memory alloy (SMA) wire.  This is a cool material that undergoes a phase transition when heated.  Nitinol is an example of a SMA.  There were two talks from a research group using SMA devices for hinges and springs to create dynamic objects.  The advantage of SMA devices is that because the movement is at the chemical bond level, there is no material fatigue as there is in a normal spring.  Today there was also a talk by someone who made an interesting artwork based on locations of bigfoot sightings in the USA.  The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization keeps track of such things in case you wondered.  FYI, there have been two sightings in both Calhoun county and Pennington county.  Based on the dates it seems Bigfoot has moved to the Black Hills.

My backpack strap has been suffering from a stitching failure.  I purchased a some needles and thread to do a little repair work from a shop on the way from the conference back to my hotel.  I needed a thimble, but the only one I could find came with a free bottle of beer.

Sewing kit.

 Before.

After.  I hope this lasts until I at least get home.

Went to a local pub for dinner.  Had mussels and chips washed down with a pint of Guiness.  After dinner took a long walk back to the hotel through the central part of town, along the beach, and then up the Toft zig zag and back to the hotel.  The weather is cool (high 60s), but is sunny and still very pleasant for walking.  It stays light pretty late here.  At 10 pm the night sky is still bright.

Tomorrow I leave for London on the 9 am bus.  My destination will be Victoria Station.  From there I can take the subway to a stop within a couple blocks of the hotel.  I am looking forward to visiting some of the world's greatest museums!

A nice day in the UK

The second day of my conference way good.  I had some nice conversations and heard some very interesting talks.  One presenter, James Mallos, gave an interesting talk on weaving patterns; pictures available on his blog.  There is a room with several display items from other researchers.  Francesco de Comité had some cool 3D printed objects.  They are about 5 inches across and look much cooler in 3D!

There was a nice conference dinner at a restaurant on the beach tonight with good food and conversation.  I am back in the hotel finalizing my talk for tomorrow morning.  It will be my last full day in Bournemouth before heading to London.  The weather was cooler today, but still very pleasant.

Here is a cool feature I am using on my phone.  With offline maps on Google Maps for Android, you can view a map even when you aren't connected to the Internet (more info).  I saved a map of Bournemouth before I left and so I was able to use the GPS on my phone, even without data connectivity.  I saved maps for some other cites, but I could only save a few.  I have been able to ramble about town without fear of getting too lost.

Another cracking good day

After my grand day out and about Bournemouth yesterday, it was down to business today.  However, it still feels a bit weird, especially crossing the roads. I had a bit of a close shave crossing the road as I forgot to look right instead of left.  Sort of like wearing the wrong trousers...  Anyway, I don't have a trusty companion like Gromit to help me.  Hopefully Amy will be of help when she arrives.  At least it is a fairly short 15 minute walk from my hotel to the conference location.

The conference is going well.  I have reconnected with people I have met in previous years.  It is not a large conference, about 50 people are attending.  The talks have been interesting.  Some good applied math: linear algebra, calculus of variations, Green's theorem, integration by parts, interpolation, and approximation.  Also some interesting art-related talks and displays.  There was a reception at the end of the day with a chance to mingle with other attendees.

A view from the conference building.

I had dinner at a Turkish restaurant tonight.  I had some hummus, lamb kabobs, and a almond pudding for dessert.  It was very good.  I was the only one in the restaurant when I arrived, so I talked to the owners about Turkey.  They had not been to Antep, but said good things about it.  I took the long way back to my hotel along the ocean.

Another ocean view.

The tree-lined street near my hotel.

I am able to connect to the wifi from my room tonight, so I have been able to avoid the lobby and work with my shoes off and feet up.  Now time to finish my talk.  Cheerio!

Bournemouth

After dinner with Amy, I drove to Ann Arbor and picked up Emily. We went to REI, where I picked up a pack of power adapters. After Emily dropped me off, I sent my suitcase on its merry way and when through the TSA checkpoint. No alarms, patdowns, or chemical swabs for me.  Look out everyone, Emily has a car to drive for the next month.

 I decided to purchase some British Pounds (GBP). The best exchange rates I have seen are about 1.45 dollars (USD) to 1 GBP (£), but that was not available at the airport (I paid about 1.66). The physical size of the notes gets larger as the value increases, which is interesting if you ever say the movie about Ray Charles, where he requested all payment in 1's so he knew exactly how much he was paid.

I got to the gate with plenty of time to send a few emails. I did my typical inquiry about an exit row seat, but they were all taken (and all others as well). The airplane was a Boeing 767-400ER, which has a capacity of 246 passengers with 2-3-2 seating. With two aisles, over half the seats were aisle seats, including mine.  I sat next to a couple from Phoenix; they were traveling to London an Paris with their three children seated in front of us. A somewhat nutritious dinner and breakfast was served. I watched the latest Die Hard movie after needing my in-seat display rebooted (interestingly it was running linix).  A flight attendant gave me a tavel reading light during the flight after she saw me struggling with my flashlight.  We circled the city a bit before landing, so we were about 15 minutes late. My flight was uneventful. There was only minor turbulence. Given recent aviation news, that is a good thing!

After a long walk through a windowless corridor, I arrived in customs. A travel form was distributed on the flight that was needed for entry. Insufficient space was given for my travels, so I left that blank. The customs official was very friendly and helpful. He was impressed with my very British pronunciation of Bournemouth. After that I picked up my suitcase.

I went to the travel information desk to see about travel and cell phone access. I purchased a pay-as-you-go SIM card which cost £10 and required £10 additional for minutes, texts, and data. I went with Vodaphone because they will also work in The Netherlands. Before leaving, I verified that my phone is unlocked and work work in this manner. Not all US phones will work in Europe, as the US uses a different network (CDMA) from Europe (GSM). When I purchased my phone I made sure I got one that would work on Europe. After activating the card, I made a call home. It was nice to talk to Amy from such a long distance! Amy is planning on doing the same and it will be good to be able to communicate with one another during our stay. So I have a new cell number, but the best way to contact me is via email.

I then inquired about the coach (bus) to Bournemouth. There is a ticket agent outside the terminal. Again, this person was very helpful. I arranged a ticket to Bournemouth on the coach that just arrived. I also have a ticket to London on Saturday morning. The ride was nice and about half full after picking up other passengers at the next terminal. After leaving the airport area, we got on a nice freeway with three lanes in each direction.  I am glad I am not driving. It is a bit weird traveling on the wrong side of the road, especially with all the traffic and round-abouts. We had one scheduled stop along the way in Ringwood. The countryside is very similar to south-central Michigan. Lots of trees and small farms. It is a beautiful day here: cloudless blue skies and in the 70s.  About 5 miles from Bournemouth traffic ground to a dead stop, where we waited for about 30 minutes for emergency crews to respond to a car fire.

The walk from the bus station to the hotel was about 10 block.  After getting to my hotel, I too a nap for about an hour. I was pretty tired after the past few days. I felt refreshed and decided to walk around town and see some sights. My hotel is just a few blocks from the beach. However, there is a pretty high, steep "cliff" with a sandy beach below. There are only a few access areas, including the East CLiff Zig Zag. It looked fun to visit the beach, so I zigged and zagged down and walked along the shore. There were lots of people having fun in the sun. After the beached I walked into town for a refreshment. I found a cute little pub called the Goat & Tricycle, so I stopped in for a pint. I then walked back toward the hotel and had dinner a a nice Indian restaurant. The naan bread and chutneys were very tasty. I also had a spicy prawn dish that was good. I am back at the hotel.

Looking along the shore towards the Isle of Wight.

A sculpture along the cliff.

You wish you were here!

Yours truly.

Beach huts.

Beach nuts!

The Goat & Tricycle.

A park in town.

A church entrance near my hotel.

Seagulls are a common sight.

An MGBGT in the parking lot.

My hotel.

There is free and fast internet, but only in the lobby. Luckily there is a lively lounge singer yodeling to me and a large geriatric crowd in the lobby to help me compose this post.  I think I am the youngest person staying here.  After working on this post I am off to bed. The first conference begins tomorrow and I want to be rested and ready for a busy day.

Summer 2013

Well, it is summer in academia.  The break in teaching allows time for research and preparation for upcoming courses.  I am lucky to have an opportunity to travel to Europe this summer to present research at three conferences and do some museum research.  I will be gone for 1 month, which seems pretty crazy.  Luckily, Amy will be joining me for two weeks.  My flight leaves tonight from Detroit and will arrive tomorrow in London.  Today I am running some errands and finishing packing.

I will be attending the following three conferences:

• Shape Modeling International/ISAMA in Bournemouth, England
• Bridges in Enschede, The Netherlands
• Symmetry Festival in Delft, The Netherlands

After the first conference, my trusty research assistant will join me and I will be doing some extensive museum research in the British Isles.  We will be visiting museums in the following major cities and several other small towns:

• London, England
• Glasgow, Scotland
• Edinburgh, Scotland
• Aberdeen, Scotland
• Dublin, Ireland

Here is a map to let you explore these places:

View Blog Map in a larger map

I am looking forward to my trip!  The conferences are always a great way to connect with other colleagues and learn new things.  I am teaching a new course in the fall on math and the arts, so I hope to get some ideas for that course from visiting museums and from the conferences.