At Stanford

Gum trees at Stanford

On Monday July 29th, I took the No. 22 bus down El Camino Real to Palo Alto station, the last stop, which was easy enough, except that the driver had braked suddenly on the way there, jolting his passengers. I grazed my knee on the seat in front — lucky I had a band-aid in my purse. I entered the campus through an arch then walked down the bike path beside Palm Drive. As well as that long row of palms, I couldn't help noticing the clumps of tall eucalyptus with their bare, golden trunks: their sight and distinctive smell took me straight back to the grounds of Macquarie University on the edge of Sydney, Australia, close to where my son lives; that made me feel happy, for a start. Back in the 19th century, the founder of the university, Leland Stanford, had 1000 eucalypts planted, and here they still are. The only element missing from this incongruous scene was the cry of parrots or kookaburras, although I did see an occasional California scrub jay, with blue head, back and tail.

I had a map with me — a screen shot from Google Maps that I'd printed at home — and aimed for the campus art gallery where I discovered that it didn't open till 11 a.m. but there's a sculpture garden accessible outside. Someone here has been obsessed with collecting Rodin's sculptures. I have never seen so many at once. Here are his full size Gates of Hell, with the (famous) Thinker in miniature at the top. (If you ask Google for a cartoon version of The Thinker, you get 11,700,000 links.) The Thinker in his original full size, is also to be found inside the gallery, where he has a room to himself, as I discovered later in the day. I was also impressed with Rodin's Adam and Eve, standing pensively naked beside the Gates of Hell, and by the huge head of one of the self-sacrificial Burghers of Calais (Pierre de Wissant).

Jane Stanford

To pass the time till the Gallery opened, I walked on into the centre of the campus, where the 87 m tall Hoover Tower (in honour of President Hoover who'd studied at Stanford and was a generous donor to its history department) dominates. The architecture all around is very hispanic. The Romanesque Memorial Church was built by Stanford's wife Jane to commemorate him after his death. Inside, it's a European cathedral, opulently decorated. The Stanfords must have been rich beyond measure. Long, shady cloisters and spacious courtyards with lovely trees and flowerbeds surround the main buildings. The story of the university's origins is tragic and touching. Leland Stanford Junior, a handsome youngster, had died in his teens, and his parents founded the university to give other young people the education they wished he'd had. I wandered around this part of the campus with my mouth agape, whispering Wow! to myself and taking photos. Families of Chinese tourists were doing likewise. The younger ones probably wanted to enrol or were perhaps already enrolled in a student programme here. I also noticed ambitious American fathers bringing their sons or daughters along to be inspired by these surroundings to the extent that they'd want to apply for a place here. I feared for the future of one such child, only about 10 years old, whom I observed in the bookstore, miserably disengaged, his eager father prodding him to buy a guidebook to the university. Actually Stanford is not one of the Ivy League schools, although still highly selective and prestigious.

Island Universe, by Josiah McElheny

In the art gallery, cool in contrast to the outside world on this hot day, was a wealth of exhibits, a painting in 2006 by a Chinese artist, Liu Xiaodong, for example, called A Highway by the Yangzi. One installation by Josiah McElheny (2008) explored the concept of the multiple universes in the cosmos. Still thinking of the dreadful images in Rodin's Gates of Hell, outside, I found a painting of The Last Judgement by Hieronymus Bosch and his students, another interpretation of damned souls. A 17th century painting of a woman called Maria, by Pieter Nason of den Haag, was more likeable. One item in the collection was an impressionist painting by Picasso, executed in his early days.

A Concert hall, a Visitors' Centre, a solar power station and multiple sports facilities are also to be found on the campus. It's an amazing place. On my walk back towards Palm Drive I discovered the Arizona Garden, full of exotic cacti.

*****

That evening, after Chris' first day at work in Palo Alto, I was invited to join the whole team for a grilled supper in a new restaurant at the San Antonio Center (sic) or "Village". It took us ages to park and find our way through the parking lots to the venue. We were at a table for 10 men and me, not one of us a true-born Californian. Geoff, the man in charge that evening, is a New Zealander who lives in Tokyo; Chris and I are English born Canadians; the others, software engineers all, come from Slovenia, Switzerland, India and Japan. This may well be a gathering typical of the Silicon Valley.