Sorry for the delay. Things have been quite busy here. Further, I had the tough decision on whether to attend my grandfather's funeral in MN. In the end I decided not to go - thinking it's just too much to get there - but the decision wasn't easy. Here is his obituary.
On to a few of the fun things in London over in the past couple weeks:
* Victoria and Albert's Museum.
* Farley's Antiques for Hire. We got to visit this business - where they rent out props to movie sets. I had heard good thing from the students and faculty about this before, but the visit absolutely blew me away. There are tens of thousands of antique items that could be used in movie sets. We saw items used in movies such as James Bond movies, Gladiator, Superman, and more. When somebody asked the owner: "About how many movies has your antiques been in?" His response was: Almost all of them. "Not all the futuristic ones, of course, but we have even been in some of those, like Star Wars."
To put this tour in perspective - I was far more astounded here than from Victoria and Albert's, the trip our family took the day before.
* Fulham vs. Stoke City Premier League Football Match:
This was fun, but a bit bittersweet. This was the day of my grandfather's funeral that I wasn't attending. But, I had the tickets for a month, so there was no sense not going. We did have a good time, however. We were 9 rows back right behind the goal. To be honest, I would have preferred to be another 6-8 rows higher to get a better view of the action on the other end of the field. The good news was that Fulham won (we were going in cheering for the home team) and all 3 goals were scored in our end - which was awesome.
The atmosphere was amazing. The chanting was fun, although the road team, stoke city had a section and they were far more boisterous (and drunk). They were singing songs and chanting non-stop - seemed quite fun, actually. No violence or foul language, which was nice, although we were in the family section. Who knows what the other sections were like.
One of the goals was by Dempsey - one of Fulham's best players, although later it was reclassified as an "own goal" as it bounced off the goalie. Dempsey will be on the US Olympic team this summer.
Note: there is no zoom on this camera - so these pictures will give you a sense of how close we were.
* Science Museum. We went on Monday. For those who don't live in Britain, the phrase "half-term" might not mean much. We didn't know it at first, but soon learned it's a week off in the middle of the term for all schools. By all, they mean all. To the best of our knowledge, every elementary, secondary and high school along with universities are all off for the week. We got to the science museum 5 minutes before it opened and there was a queue one block long. Once in, however, it was large enough that it wasn't too crowded ... at first. We were in by 10:01, but by 10:45 it was packed and by 11:00 we decided to leave. We've been to Disneyworld 3 times, and the crowds make you feel as claustrophobic as the busiest times in Disneyworld. The lesson: only a lunatic would willingly choose to attend any attraction that appeals to children during half-term week.
* Guglee
We got to see a tour of a local restaurant that opened just 16 months ago. The owner is a 28 year old entrepreneur, and is doing quite well (they just opened their second store a week ago). He gave a great presentation on some of the unique things they're doing - mostly associated with their high quality service. It was a great presentation and then we had a meal there which was also good.
* Parliament
The students got this tour through their British History and Culture class, and I got to go along. It was pretty fun seeing Parliament, and we had a great tour guide.
Here's some photos from when Allison and I went to the play a couple weeks ago:
In a few days, we (the whole group) go to Prague. This is a big deal, as the students conclude a big consulting project with a presentation to executives of the companies they've been researching.
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