Most people will think it just has the same name as bike manufacturer, but actually this place is most famous for employing Ian's brother and sister-in-law. Home of Duke University (and not much other primary business), Durham is Southern USA with Southern charm and all the other attributes you associate with southerners. We had a great time chilling with Graham and Emma, visiting the research lab where Emma works, and the office where Graham shifts paper and counts traffic flows and tells people where to draw car park spaces. (Ian raided their free chocolates and Lindsay raided the free advertising stuff cupboard). Ian got a much needed haircut to lose his travellers hair and we generally had a chilled out time. We went to see our first baseball game, which seemed surprisingly easy to understand. Just like in the films, everyone has supersize drinks and food, and people arrive after the game has started and leave before it has finished and you have to squeeze past people in the rows. A massive thunderstorm stopped the game half way and after 10 minutes of sheltering in the food court, we left for dinner to a bar with over 50 beers to try. Hic.The next day we went laptop shopping and got a laptop at half the price it would cost in England and ended the day with a family evening of board games. Despite being the least educated in the room, Ian won Scrabble, gloat, gloat, but was subsequently thrashed in other games. In summary a good ol' American family weekend was had by all.