Palace and colleagues: the sequel

I have been working at Imperial College with a friend of mine named Darryl Overby. Darryl actually gave me the lab tour when I started graduate school at MIT. I distinctly remember this because Darryl was studying glaucoma, which involved putting needles into cow eyeballs to modulate the pressure. That is an image that for good or bad does not leave your mind... ever. Anyway, I came to London to start a new collaboration with Darryl focused on diabetic retinopathy. The experience at Imperial college was good (meeting the other folks in Darryl's lab) and not so good (the staff were not so efficient in getting me a desk). I hope that over the next year or so, it will turn into a great research opportunity.

In the meantime, I've really enjoyed getting to know Darryl better. And he kindly invited our family over to his house to meet his family for a Sunday lunch. Since he lives in southwest London, we decided to sneak in a quick visit to Hampton Court Palace prior to lunch.

It was fancy food faire day at Hampton Court, so we had to resist the temptation to eat any of the loads of available sausages as we walked into the impressive structure.

We first saw William III and Mary II's apartments. Sammy was not impressed, perhaps due to a pressing need to use the facilities, so we rushed through and then met Jay and Joey at the end. While we waited, we saw the chocolate kitchens. Sammy could not comprehend that hot chocolate was once a rare and treasured treat. Nor would he necessarily have appreciated drinking such fancy hot chocolate, which certainly would not have included marshmallows. 

However, Sammy was more impressed by Henry VIII's great hall. He specifically loved sitting at the tables which were covered with tablecloths displaying mock place settings and meals. We enjoyed discussing a few delicious foods that they might have eaten!

The ceiling and windows were especially impressive, although this photo does not do them justice.

Although arguments remain (among the Clynes, not among the royalty) about whose apartment this game room was in, there was no argument among the boys about how much they enjoyed playing the games (or really just rearranging the game pieces). 

As in all the British palaces, the decorations were over the top.

We didn't have time to see Henry VIII's kitchens, which apparently were large enough to feed 600 guests, but we did put Sammy and Joey to work outside a smaller set of kitchens.

We finally made it out to the gardens, with just enough time to admire these crazy shaped trees.

And on our way back to the car park, we couldn't resist stepping into the maze. We were severely pressed for time at this point, since we needed to get to Darryl's house for lunch. So while we did see the center of the maze through the bushes, we didn't actually stand in the center of the maze. The boys were okay with moving on, though, so we did!

The drive to Darryl's house was only supposed to be a few minutes, but due to the inevitable London traffic situation, it took 3x as long. When we finally arrived, we were greeted with incredible warmth by Darryl, his wife Christine, and their three children: Patterson, Evie, and Liam. All the kids played well together, and the food and conversation were wonderful. Christine introduced us to some amazing new British foods, including Hula Hoops (potato crisps that slide over kids fingers) and Jammie Dodgers (jelly filled shortbread cookies). We were so grateful for a wonderful afternoon with new friends.