Castles and friends do not change, do they?

A picture of Conisbrough castle in South Yorkshire (I think). See the old 'motte' and 'bailey' style.

Motte and Bailey: Castles used to be built in wood at the beginning, and a motte (French word meaning mount or piece of turf) was used to make access difficult. A bailey (the outer wall of a castle) was built around the castle, together with a ditch (foso in Spanish) filled with water for protection. The land from the excavation of the ditch was used to build the motte.

In Colombia, had the opportunity to meet my old friends. We remembered past times and somehow we still share happiness, nostalgia about the past and expectations about the future.

Et au jour d'hui, J ai joué du football avec quelques étudiants francais, c'etait drole!

Castles, like friends, might get old, but do not change, do they?

Some history of the Conisbrough Castle can be found at:

http://www.conisbroughcastle.org.uk/History/history.htm

More visits: Roche Abbey

Weather is improving, so we are taking opportunities to visit places.

South of Yorkshire, there are nice Abbey remains, the Roche Abbey is dated from the 13th century, cisterian brothers (a rebel branch of the Benedictines). Very quiet and peaceful place, near a river!

Ideal for children like the ones in the picture (hehe).

The height of the buildings makes you wonder if the places were very cold, and how quiet this could have been. We spent some time walking in the valley of the Abbey. We heard the sounds of birds and the river. Ideal for relaxing.

Roman Stuff : Hadrian's Wall

At last, we went to Hadrian's wall in the North of England. I wanted to go for ages, and now my dream has come true! We visited Vindolanda (this picture), also Chesters fort and Carlisle.

The romans built the wall to protect themselves from the 'barbarian' invasions from the North. The wall was extended, refurbished and finally abandoned, and today one can see the remains of the forts in which there were also some civilian settlements. At Vindolanda (this picture) there is a great museum where one can see objects (clothes, writing tables, jewelry, armoury and even cooking utensils).

Chesters fort is smaller, and it had also a military settlement. We managed to see some sections of the wall. The Romans liked to be near rivers, and the fort had a bridge over the river.

Carlisle was another fort which they converted into a city, one can see a street with remains of shops, a kind of roman Forum. Here (third picture) some of the house remainings, again with connections to the river and bridges.

I loved this visit!

And they say it is spring

April 2007. We have had nice temperatures, but I am still suffering from a cold!.

Nevertheless, I have travelled a bit, and still find warmth in old friends. Here is Hetty (my friend and PhD student) and I in the Young OR conference. Enjoyable? Yes, we danced old celtic style!

And time also to say good bye to friends who leave Hull. My friend Marc is now based at Durham University, he says it is really nice over there. I cannot believe it is nicer than Hull (hehe)! Good luck Marc, we are going to miss you (in particular the latinos and their sense of humour).

Back from Colombia

At last, I have managed to login into the new blogger version, to report on my trip to Colombia.

Everything was fine, the family, the friends, the country...

Still, so much to take, I get a bit drained after coming back.

Nice to see old friends, and catch up. Many of them are already married, with kids. Some want to leave the country, some want to stay, others have to stay. The latter would say to me "Where else can we get such a nice life like the one we have here?"

Probably true...

Back to Hull searching for properties...