This is me by the Tower Bridge

England
21. May 2009

When I expressed interest in a graduate program at Loughborough University, adidas graciously sent me to visit for the weekend. I flew out from Nürnberg at around 5am, got to London a few hours later and picked up my rental car shortly thereafter. At first, I almost got in the wrong side of the car. Driving right hand drive is odd but it is weirder to drive on the left hand side of the road. A couple of hours later and I was in Loughborough, home of Loughborough Univerisity. I met Dave Rogers, a PhD candidate who spent a bit of time in Herzogenaurach in my department. That day, I had tours of the facilities and campus and that night I went out to eat with Dave and his girlfriend Karen. The next day, I filled out an application for admittance and a grant and I hope to hear back at the end of June.


Here is a picture of Loughborough. It's a lousy photo of an uninteresting section of campus, but I didn't feel it 'professional' to take a camera on my tours.


Here is a picture of a river/canal through Cambridge.

On the way back, I drove through Cambridge and walked around for a bit. Lovely city. From Cambridge back to London, I set the GPS to avoid highways (adventure mode) and ended up rolling through little villages and beautiful countryside on small winding roads.


Trusty GPS at my side.

This was funny at the time. The garbage can says "Litter" the phone booth says "Telephone." I hope this clear labeling scheme was not added as a result of some prior confusion.


A church made of pebbles.


This is me in a yellow field somewhere north of London.


I dropped my bag at the hotel and took the tube to the city center with a camera and no destination. This was a Friday night of a three day weekend and the city was hoppin’. I walked around for a few hours in the middle of the night and the streets were packed! Tourists and partiers roamed the streets in groups in search of the place to be. The people were as much a part of the constant scenery as the buildings they walked into; despite the crowds, my walk was as peaceful and alone as my time in Helsinki.


This half of a Mini was at the Science Museum.


Here is a picture of me at the Prime Meridian.

The next day, I visited the Science Museum (awesome) and Greenwich. Upon my arrival to the historic city, I ate some fish and chips by the Thames. Greenwich is the G in GMT. It was established as the prime meridian in the 19th century and it has stuck as the reference for most map makers as zero longitude. The sight has a Nautical Museum filled with maritime voyage and navigation exhibitions (very cool). The Royal Observatory is located on the hill out back (high point in the area) to give the observers of the past the best view possible. The observatory houses John Harrison’s chronometers, the first that cracked the longitude problem, the difficulty maritime navigators had until the 17th century. Though the zero longitude line passes through the building, my GPS indicated that it was about 100m East. Excellent museum though, I highly recommend it.


Here's a handstand in the park by the Royal Observatory. The observatory is on top of the hill behind the building.


This was the main observation room. Something can be seen through the long telescope. I'll leave that for you to discover.

The rest of the trip involved more meandering and observing of the city, a trip through the National Galleries, and a bit more Cadbury chocolate. A fun trip, with potentially great implications for my future.


Obligatory picture of Big Ben.


A picture of the London Eye. What a piece of engineering! I ended up walking in the Eye/Parliament/Westminster area at precisely 12AM and 12PM the following day.