Author Archives: Amanda Barnier

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About Amanda Barnier

Mum to Oliver and Louisa, academic at Macquarie University

Out and about in Aarhus

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My first conference finished yesterday. Oliver patiently sat through two long days of conference talks so his reward is free time together for the next few days until we head to Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

Last night, after the conference, Oliver ate pizza with members of my team, including Misia and Rochelle. I had dinner with our hosts from Con Amore and the other keynotes at a famous Aarhus restaurant called Det Glade Vanvid. It means “the happy madness”. The restaurant is right next to the harbour with lovely views. There is only one sitting per night and everyone is served a set menu of the fanciest, finest little dishes. I can hardly describe the food because it was so intricate, complex and beautiful. Before each course, a waiter “presents” each dish, which involves describing all the ingredients and how it is made. Licorice seemed a dominant flavour. It reminded me of the food you see on Masterchef, but 1000 times more edible I am sure!

This morning Oliver and I strolled the streets of Aarhus. We stopped by a toy shop, which had bubble blowers covering the street in bubbles. Oliver enjoyed that; jumping around in a way that seemed to amuse, maybe shock, more well behaved passersby.

A visit to a toy shop in Aarhus

 

We then strolled on, down to the Aarhus Cathedral (Aarhus Domkirke in Danish), which dates from the 12th century, and the Art Nouveau Aarhus Theatre (Aarhus Teater in Danish), built in the late 19th century. Beautiful old buildings in a large square. The streets are made of cobblestones and apart from slightly treacherous walking, very picturesque.

Looking to the Åarhus Domkirke (top left), a statue of King Christian X (who reigned through two World Wars) outside the Cathedral (top right), restaurants along the canal (bottom left), and the Aarhus Teater (bottom right)

 

Although the summer solstice passed yesterday, and it stays light here until very late, it is cool and showery. About 15 or 16 degrees this morning. I am glad that Oliver and I packed warm clothes for this trip.

On the streets of Aarhus: beautiful flowers and some spontaneous folk dancing

 

This afternoon we caught a bus to Tivoli Friheden amusement park, a cross between Sydney's Luna Park and Botanical Gardens, which is just outside the city centre. Apparently locals have been picnicing in the woods here since 1903 and so over the decades formal gardens, pavilions, rides and other attractions were added.

Views of Tivoli Friheden in Aarhus

 

Oliver set the itinerary for the afternoon and we “rode” two “5D” games/rides: a Western/robot themed one and a haunted house/zombie themed one. The idea is to ride through either a virtual world or a physical (haunted house) world and shoot at things with laser guns. Sort of like souped up XBox games. Oliver loved them.

Waiting to ride Friheden's 5D Haunted House ride

 

We also played a game of laser tag, rode dodgem cars, ran through an adventure course, had fun with water play, and strolled through the gardens. The park was not at all crowded, perhaps because of some light, intermittent showers. The Danes remind me of the English in their acceptance of rain and outdoor activities. Just carry on and wait for the rain to let up. Australians, I think, would wait for a sunny day knowing that one would come soon enough.

Oliver running the Friheden obstacle course

 

Oliver and I walked back to our hotel from Friheden and came across yet another beautiful church: the Neo-Romanesque Saint Paul's Church (or Sankt Pauls Kirke in Danish), completed in 1887. Church bells toll day and night in Aarhus. Oliver at first thought he could still hear Big Ben from London!

Sankt Pauls Kirke in Aarhus

 

Aarhus is a beautiful city and its inhabitants strike me as very content, quite affluent, well dressed and very healthy. Bikes are everywhere and lots of people seem to ride. But Oliver and I noticed that lots of people smoke. Many more than you seem to come across in Sydney. This seems slightly inconsistent with the healthy vibe but perhaps is a European thing.

Tomorrow or Monday we are aiming to visit Legoland. We will when our legs and feet stop hurting from all the walking.

Until then …

Amanda and Oliver

 

Social Perspectives on Autobiographical Memory

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It is Thursday here in Aarhus, Denmark, and today Oliver and I attended an academic conference called “Social Perspectives on Autobiographical Memory”.

About 115 people from around the world have gathered to hear lectures on autobiographical memory and to present their research.

This morning there were three keynote talks: one on memory errors and distortions, one on social influences on children’s memory, and one on memory and identity. All fascinating!

After lunch we had a “poster session”. This is where people pin up posters that describe their research. It’s the same idea as a poster for a school project, except the posters are usually bigger and printed on fancy material.

You hang your poster on a board and then stand beside it for 1-2 hours while people at the conference walk around, read the posters and talk to the owners of the posters. This afternoon five people from my department and research team at Macquarie presented posters: Adam Congleton (top left photo below), Aline Cordonnier (top right), Rochelle Cox (bottom left), Amanda Selwood (bottom right) and Misia Temler (who escaped my camera). They got lots of comments and questions.

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Adam Congleton (top left), Aline Cordonnier (top right), Rochelle Cox (bottom left), Amanda Selwood (bottom right)

I presented a poster for Penny Van Bergen (bottom right photo below), which also got lots of useful comments and questions (which I will email to you Penny!). Finally, we saw many of our colleagues and friends from around the world presenting their work, including Charlie Stone (bottom left photo below) who did a PhD with us at Macquarie, is now finishing up a postdoctoral fellowship in Belgium, and soon will be on his way to a new job in New York.

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Sitting in the first keynote lecture (top left), Aline discussing her poster (top right), Charlie Stone presenting his poster (bottom left), Penny Van Bergen’s poster (bottom right)

Oliver was very happy to make a friend today. A nine year old boy from Turkey, Selim Tekcan (right photo below) who attended the conference with his father, academic Ali Tekcan.

Oliver and Selim kept each other company throughout the day, swapping suggestions for iPad games, playing Minecraft together and generally hanging out. This meant that they spent what could have been quite a boring day in good spirits and very well behaved during the formal talks. Everyone at the conference thought they did brilliantly and enjoyed talking with them.

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Oliver outside the Aarhus Town Hall (left) and Oliver and Selim (right)

This afternoon we went to a reception at the Aarhus Town Hall – a very beautiful and quite famous building (left photo above). Then we went to the conference dinner, where Oliver sat next to Charlie and had a grand time. He’s hoping to see Charlie again tomorrow and then in Rotterdam when we all head to our next conference.

Everyone at the conference made Oliver feel extremely welcome and he made me proud with his excellent behaviour. In fact, I think he enjoyed being the centre of so much adult attention, especially in his fancy conference dinner jacket!

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Oliver in his fancy jacket at the Conference Dinner (left) and Oliver with Charlie (right)

In the morning I give my keynote talk, which I hope will go well. So I better get some sleep!

Godnat!

i Danmark (in Denmark)

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This afternoon Oliver and I arrived in Denmark after a 10 hour journey from London. We flew to Copenhagen and then to Aarhus. Both of us are really tired after this journey on top of the flights from Sydney last Friday and Saturday.

We were supposed to attend an informal conference dinner this evening but arrived in town much later than expected. So we gave our apologies, had a quick take away meal, a brief walk around the city centre and now are planning to sleep (in fact Oliver is deep asleep as I type).

My first memory conference starts bright and early in the morning, so I want to be reasonably refreshed for it.

Three quick things I’ve noticed about Aarhus and then I promise some photos in the next few days; it is a beautiful town in very lush, green countryside.

First, the Danes here love their bikes. Bikes everywhere, which must be good for their mental health. I should ask Celia — who lived here for a year — whether they ride them in winter.

Second, no one seems to lock up their bikes. I noticed lots and lots of bikes in the street awaiting the return of their owners, but hardly any bike locks. That says something awfully nice about the place, don’t you think?

Which reminds me, the people we’ve met so far are lovely! One local overheard us at the airport talking about how to get into town. She stopped to give directions to a bus to town then walked off. After we gathered our things we saw her again outside the terminal, waiting for us and pointing to the bus. When we climbed aboard and said how glad we were to make the bus in time, the driver said he knew we were coming because the lady told him we needed the bus and would be out in a moment. Nice!

Third, it’s interesting to notice the somewhat distinct change in — what’s the word? — perhaps cultural background. Obviously the language sounds quite different to our ears (although it seems most Danes speak fluent English; apparently they learn it from 3rd grade). But I also noticed that colouring is quite different. Out of hundreds and hundreds of people we watched go by this evening, I noticed only two with red hair like Oliver’s. I read somewhere that the proportion of red heads in the population is decreasing but Scotland remains home to the largest proportion; 30% of Scots have red hair. Perhaps this explains why Oliver is going through a phase of speaking in an (as he thinks) Scottish accent and calling me “laddy”?!

Oliver made the man at the front desk laugh this evening when he asked if there was a way to change the language on the tv channels from Danish to English. Oliver had been watching some tv and trying to find an English speaking station. He thought the language was an option he could switch. “Unfortunately not” came the reply from the friendly fellow at the front desk.

I’m not sure what Oliver is making of these quite different – yet somewhat familiar – people and places. It must be a lot for an 8 year old to take in when his world has been much more narrowly bounded. He asked today on the plane to Copenhagen if there is a faster way to get home from Europe. He has still not quite recovered from the disruption of that crazy, long travel leg from Sydney to London. It seemed to him to take forever. Almost like going to the moon!

Or at least to the sea. I hear seagulls calling somewhere close by and perhaps even the sound of sailing boats clinking together. Soothing sounds for sleep. More soon!

Godnat!

Dear Erika and Joe …

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Thanks for your message.

Mum and I are staying at the Hotel Indigo in Paddington, London. Mum chose it because it is right near the train station. So it was easy to get here from the airport and easy to go catch the Tube each day.

The hotel is nice but our room is much smaller than Australian hotel rooms. They are my favourite. Mum thinks the room in Denmark might be bigger. And she says that rooms in London are usually pretty squishy.

We have a room with a big bed, one chair, a TV, a nice bathroom. But my favourite part is the bar fridge full of free drinks!

I'm having fun but I do miss my friends and family and home (especially when I am tired). I miss Louisa and Dad. And I miss my school friends. And I miss you too. But London is awesome.

See you soon.

Love Ollie.

 

On the train to the Tower of London

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Tuesday morning Oliver and I caught the Tube from Paddington to Tower Hill. It's fun getting used to the different Underground lines and their directions. To know if you are getting on the right train you need to know the name and/or colour of the line you are travelling on, the direction of travel (east or west, north or south), and the end point of the train (because they terminate at different places and/or take different branches of the same line). So to get to the Tower of London we had to watch for a Circle Line (yellow), eastbound train terminating at Mansion House. This trip had a slight trick because we had to get off at Edgware Road and cross the platform. The great thing is that you don't really need to know the times of trains; they come frequently (unless there is a disruption on the line). When lines are closed or disrupted, you can try to find your way to your destination via a different line. Bit like a puzzle.

The Underground, Westminster Station

We were glad we made time on this trip for the Tower of London since I have never been and it is fabulous! The Tower of London is an ancient royal castle and set of fortifications. It has seen some of the bloodiest of English history.

Traitors to the Crown would be brought into the Tower by river, often by night, via the Traitor's Gate. And then either imprisoned in the Tower or beheaded.

The Traitor's Gate, Tower of London

We saw an exhibition of instruments of torture, which supposedly were not extensively used in Britain. The name of the “Bloody Tower”, one of the structures we climbed inside (and the scene of the murder of the two boy princes some time around 1483, or so legend says), might give lie to this claim (and of course we all remember Braveheart!)

Instruments of torture in the Tower: the rack and shackles

The Tower is not one building or tower but a whole set of buildings within two rings of defensive walls and a moat. Many of the buildings date from the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, although they have been remodeled and rebuilt over centuries.

The White Tower (top left), the building that houses the Crown Jewels (top right), big and little armour (bottom left and right)

We also saw the Crown Jewels. No pictures allowed unfortunately. These are housed behind 1200 kg steel doors, in a series of rooms that form an enormous safe. I didn't know this, but the original Crown Jewels were destroyed in the English Civil War of 1649 and created anew after the restoration of the monarchy and of Charles II in 1660.

Oliver was especially taken with an exhibition of armour and weapons. We saw Henry VIII's armour, lance, swords and other weapons as well as a suit of armour that Louisa might enjoy wearing. It suddenly occurred to me that the suit of armour you always see in English stately homes (or period dramas set in such homes or castles etc) actually might be armour that once was used and then passed down through generations of the family. I thought suits of armour were just an old fashioned piece of home decoration! Anyway, we came away from the Tower of London (gift shop) with a new battle axe.

Oliver helping Sir Isaac Newton with a tricky problem re heat exchange (left) and putting into practice some new moves learned at the Tower (right)

At the end of our visit we caught a cruise boat from Tower Pier, just under the Tower Bridge, to Westminster Pier, underneath Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

Tower Bridge (top), Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (bottom)

It was a wonderful morning and I would love to return one day and take a Yeoman Warder tour (and do the other top ten, highly recommended things). Oliver prefers his own “tours” to guided or formal tours and I am sure that it would take many visits to do full justice to the Tower of London.

Tonight we are all packed for our departure in the morning. Oliver is deep asleep after three and a half hectic days. Things will be a little quieter once we arrive in Denmark. We will post more updates from there!

A model of the Tower of London; larger than I expected (the real version that is)

 

Jet lag and June weather

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Oliver and I have been waking at 5.30am since we arrived in London. This will come in handy when we need to be on the Heathrow Express back to the airport tomorrow morning.

But it means we are pretty tired by 6 or 7pm at night. Last night Oliver turned off his light at 7.30pm (after reading a Horrible History book about World War II, which he bought at the Churchill War Museum yesterday) and was asleep within one minute. I was asleep not long after.

This means that we haven't been making much of the long London summer nights; it's still light outside when we go to sleep. Not sure how we will go when we need to stay up for conference dinners in Denmark!

But then it's not very summery here right now. Yesterday the top temperature was maybe 21 or 22 and today it might get to 24. There's a cold bite to the air. Martin Conway told us that summers in England have changed over the last 10 years, getting progressively colder and wetter. The prediction this week is for rain every day. But then we're heading to Denmark tomorrow so it won't worry us!

To take advantage of the jetlag, this morning we left the hotel at 7.30am (after Skyping Louisa and her nanny, Jennifer; hi Louisa and Jennifer!!!). We grabbed a bag of bread we'd bought on Saturday and went to feed the birds in the Italianate Garden in Hyde Park. Oliver was soon surrounded by ducks and pigeons. There also was a beautiful swan who seemed to like bread too!

Oliver feeding birds in the Italianate Garden

You'll notice in the photos that Oliver is well rugged up. It was about 13 or 14 degrees Celsius.

The swan enjoyed the bread as well

Oliver had a wonderful time and has ticked off 1 of 4 things he wants to do today: ducks, Chelsea tour, Tower of London and back to the Zoo, which he loved yesterday.

Views from Queen Victoria's garden

Views from Queen Victoria's garden

 

A dash to the London Zoo

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This afternoon we planned to dash over to the London Zoo for an hour or two. I read in my guide that the closest station is Baker Street (just a few steps from Sherlock Holmes' home, which we passed on the way). Baker Street is only three stops from Paddington, so I thought “easy”!

But when we got there we found out we needed to take a bus from the station to the Zoo. But we couldn't find the bus stop, despite asking a very nice man in a policeman's costume standing outside 221B Baker Street (as it happens his information was wrong so clearly he's not a real policeman!). The fake policeman told us it was a quick 5-10 minute walk to the Zoo through Regent's Park and Primrose Hill (I was half expecting to see Jude Law any moment, who lives in the area apparently). It is a lovely walk through Regent's Park but more like 20-30 minutes! London has many quite wild spaces close to the city, which help to make it a really liveable city. If you've had enough of the crush on the Underground coming home from work (which we experienced on the way home from the Zoo) you can escape to the top of a hill or the middle of a meadow.

Finally we arrived at the Zoo. Forgetting our sore feet for a moment, it was worth it. I have never been to a zoo when it is pretty much empty of people. Because we got there so late there were no crowds at all. So we could get up close to all the animals (except for the ones that bite). London Zoo has some spectacular new display habitats, including Tiger Territory (with two tigers) and Gorilla Kingdom (with five gorillas, one of which looked incredibly unimpressed with us as we looked at him). It also has some lovely old buildings, including the Reptile House and the Aquarium.

The Reptile House at the London Zoo

Oliver had lots of fun and it was interesting to compare the animals on display with those at Taronga Zoo. Both beautiful old institutions. An afternoon well spent.

Oliver at the London Zoo

Tomorrow we will catch up with Martin Conway again and we'll attempt to fit a tour of Chelsea Stadium and The Tower of London into one day.

 

Monday in London

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We changed our plans for today. Oliver and I were planning to visit Windsor Castle and Legoland Windsor, but I read some dire reviews of Legoland on Trip Adviser. So we decided to go to the Tower of London instead. This meant a Tube ride from Paddington to Tower Hill. But because I have off peak travel cards, we can't get on the Tube until after 9.30am. So we started walking towards Buckingham Palace with the plan to walk there and then catch the Tube to the Tower after 9.30.

We never made it to the Tower. We'll save it for tomorrow. Instead, we spent the day walking through London and we covered lots of ground.

First we walked from Paddington down to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. Hyde Park is enormous and reminds me of New York's Central Park or Sydney's Centennial Park. Lots of joggers, people walking dogs, people riding bikes (everywhere without helmets including in the London traffic; madness!) and even some horse riders. We walked past the Italianate Garden, which Prince Albert designed and built for Queen Victoria. Beautiful!

The Italianate Garden in Hyde Park

Then we walked along the Serpentine, a man made lake that winds throughout the park. And on to Hyde Park Corner and Marble Arch, which is home to the moving Australian War Memorial. It's a sweeping wall of grey granite into which has been carved the names of the home towns of all those Australians who died in World Wars I and II. The carving has been done in such a way that some of the towns spell out the locations of our famous (or infamous) battles, such as Gallipoli, Pozieres and Kokoda.

The Australian War Memorial at Marble Arch

We then walked down Constitution Hill to Buckingham Palace. Big crowds here. We amused ourselves watching the guards parade around for a while and Oliver found another naked statue to laugh at. He also threw some pence into the fountain for good luck.

A guard on the move at Buckingham Palace

Views of Buckingham Palace

We wandered through St James Park and on to the Churchill War Rooms. These are a set of underground bunkers from which Churchill directed British and Allied forces during World War II, especially during the Blitz. Oliver found these fascinating. We used a great kids' audio guide as we ducked in and out of the tiny rooms, which seemed to have housed the most enormous workforce under incredibly difficult conditions. Highly recommended.

The Churchill War Rooms. On the audio this guy threatens to kill anyone who tries to get into the Cabinet Room

The Churchill Museum and War Rooms

Our last few stops this morning were Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament — a quick gander before we jumped back onto the Tube — and a return visit to Hamelys Toy Store at Oliver's request.

A view to Big Ben just about to chime 12 o'clock

By this time we were starving and so followed Karen G's advice and ate at Pret a Manger before heading back to our hotel. We are resting up now before heading out to visit the London Zoo for an hour or so.

I'm impressed with how willing Oliver is to keep walking. We've walked a lot these last two days. My feet are sore!

 

Sunday afternoon

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After lunch today we caught the Tube from Kings Cross Station to South Kensington and the Natural History Museum.

I don't know how I managed to miss this on all of my visits, especially since it is right next door to the Victoria and Albert Museum, which I have visited. The Natural History Museum is WONDERFUL as so many of you told us. It is in a magnificent Victorian building, opened in 1881.

Outside the Natural History Museum

Waiting in the queue

The inside is just as spectacular as the outside, with huge vaulted ceilings, sweeping staircases, and bridges across the open space two or three stories high. Very Harry Potter!

The foyer is dominated by a large dinosaur skeleton at one end and a statue of Charles Darwin at the other end. The Museum is testament to the influence of Darwin's theory of evolution and natural historians' zeal for collecting (interestingly, I didn't see any mention of Alfred Russell Wallace who developed a theory of evolution simultaneously but independent of Darwin; you can read all about it in Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen; I highly recommend it). One room had display case after display case of rocks and minerals from all around the world (and from outside this world in the form of meteorites), all lovingly catalogued.

The foyer of the Natural History Museum

Oliver's favourite part was a display on the evolution of man and our nearest animal relatives. He spent ages reading the displays and trying to work out if the evidence meant that we are more closely related to chimpanzees or to gorillas.

An exhibition on the evolution of man

Later we visited the dinosaur display. Oliver was especially taken with a massive diorama with an animatronic T-Rex that moved and roared. He thought it hilarious that a previous child visitor had lobbed a toy saxophone into the display so Oliver could say: “mum, look what has survived from the time of the dinosaurs … toy saxophones”!

The T-Rex and his saxophone

Both Oliver and I LOVED the Natural History Museum!

As we caught the Tube home from Gloucester Road to Paddington, I asked Oliver which was his favourite part of the day. He said: “the Natural History Museum”. Then he stopped, corrected himself and said: “Actually no. It was spending the day with you.”

Looking from above in the Natural History Museum

Tomorrow we are off to Windsor Castle and Legoland.

See you soon!

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