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Friday, August 23, 2013

Afternoon in St. Ives, UK

John's co-workers got together for lunch at this wonderful little restaurant/pub, The Abbot's Elm in the Village of Abbot's Ripton, so John picked me up to join them. 

 
After lunch, he dropped me off in the riverside city of St. Ives.  I walked the city center and photographed the city, watched the swans along the river's edge, and enjoyed a coffee at the Costa coffee shop.  I was nervous about being alone, but enjoyed the quiet time.  The cutest little British girl and her dad came down to feed the swans and the ducks.  Loved listening to her accent as she talked to the birds.




 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 




 
 
John picked me up, thank goodness before my cell phone died, and we ended the day with a cider at The Dragoon.
 
 

Cambridge

Cambridge is a university town. My understanding is many small colleges such as St. John's, Corpus Christi, King's Colleges make up the University of Cambridge.  There are thirty-one colleges in Cambridge. 

Although, town charters date back to the 12th century, it received city status in 1951. Every city, in order to receive city status, must have a cathedral. Cambridge is the only city without its own chapel due to the fact that Queen Elizabeth II, when after seeing King's College Chapel, was so impressed with the chapel, she declared Cambridge a city without them having to build their own city cathedral. 

King's College Chapel

Although our language is the same, there are a few things that we refer to differently.  Here a 4 lane divided highway is a Dual Carriageway, Interstates are Motorways, trucks are lorries, chips are crisps, french fries are chips, campers are caravans, detours are diversions, parking lots are car parks, restrooms are toilets or loo, 7-up/sprite is lemonade. If I learn of any more, I'll let you know!

We saw tons walking around the city. Cambridge is a beautiful city from its towering cathedrals to its cobblestone pathways.  The history here just amazes me, just to think how old some of these places are.  Of course, John keeps asking me what I think about England.  I've yet to see London and the coastline, which I'm excited to see.  I have to admit, I love everything so far.  Could I live here?  I'm not sure.  I know I'd enjoy the towns and villages, the laid back lifestyle, the traveling, but could I be happy this far away from everyone...I don't know.  If the opportunity presents itself again in the future, it will be a very hard choice.  For now, I'm trying to just concentrate on enjoying and experiencing everything this country has to offer.



 
 
 

 
Punting on the River Cam




Local neighborhood row houses.

Corpus Clock at Corpus Christi College
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corpus_Clock
 
  
 
Round Church
 
 

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Sunday in England

Sunday morning we headed to Ely City where we attended a church service at Ely Cathedral.  It's a Protestant service so all are welcome to come and participate. 

 
The photos really speak for themselves.  A magnificent cathedral and a wonderful little city...would love to spend more time here.
 

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Boathouse served up a wonderful lunch while we sat outside on the riverfront and viewed activity on the river.
  
 
 
 
 

That afternoon we returned to Cambridge and went on my first punting trip down the River Cam.  We had a great college student guide who was full of info and entertaining. 
  
  
 
For dinner, we visited a quaint little Thai restaurant.  The pub up the road was doing live entertainment...an American country/bluegrass singer and her band.  They were pretty good.  But, really, all the way to England to hear an American singer? 
  
 

The Gift

  Delivered this week, a gift I never expected arrived in the mail.  This story begins, it seems a lifetime ago, when I worked at Owens Comm...