Distractions, reflections

David Ing, at large … Sometimes, my mind wanders

2008/12/11 Walking around the Stanford University campus

More than a few of my extended family now lives in California.  After my conference group finished off our mid-afternoon meetings, we drove north to Stanford University for a short tour by my nephew Kevin.  He told us to meet him at the top of the Oval, so we wouldn’t get lost.  We started with a stroll through Memorial Court, noticing the quickly arriving dusk.

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The Math Corner of the Main Quadrangle is place where you might expect to find mathematicians and math students.

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The main quadrangle is a hub for the campus, designed in the early 1900s.

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Geovanni, Stephen and Nancy added to the layout of Rodin’s Burghers of Calais.

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This late in the afternoon, Memorial Church was closing.

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Kevin took us southeast through the campus.  We wouldn’t been able to drive there directly.  Stanford is at a scale and layout for bicycling.

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The Department of Electrical Engineering is in the David Packard Building.

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The Cantor Arts Center has collections both outside and inside.

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Outside, the “Gates of Hell” — one of Rodin’s bronzes distributed around the world — is at a superhuman scale

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We wandered inside to browse the collection.  Kevin, in his Christmas hat, was more warmly dressed than Slab Man, by Duane Hanson.

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Stanford has a collection of Warhol prints, significant for the mid-20th century.

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Staying on schedule, our group took Kevin out for a Cuban dinner in Palo Alto.  Since I had been travelling with these colleagues for a few weeks, Stephen made an extra effort to embarrass me in front of my nephew.  Before we took Stephen to the airport for his flight back home, we disposed of the Two Buck Chuck that would have taken him over the duty free allowance for alcohol imported personally into Canada.  Kevin doesn’t seem like a big drinker, but we were sure that some students in his dorm would welcome the refreshments.

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