Tea and punting

Today we ate brunch at the tea room, which was amazingly delicious. Then we went to Bury St Edmunds for the market and then to Cambridge to punt the Cam. It was a fun day, and it's wonderful to have my parents here!

Formal Hall

A couple of weeks ago our friends Lisa & Steve invited us to do something super-cool. At Cambridge University (where Lisa is a PhD student) they have meal settings that resemble the dining hall at Harry Potter's Hogwarts. The students have to dress in their robes, and the rest of us dressed up. And we sat at long tables along the dining hall--it was so fun!!

We also got insider access to a couple of the colleges (which are usually restricted). So beautiful!

(*sigh*) ... scaffolding

Over the past couple of years, I've been disappointed by scaffolding more than once. (Here is a notable example...) I've been planning this Bridge(s) of Sighs post for a while and looked forward to writing it after our Venice trip. Now it's a bit of a let-down--because of scaffolding. :(

When we have visitors we love to punt the Cam in Cambridge and tell the story of the Bridge of Sighs, named after the bridge of the same name in Venice. In Venice the bridge showed convicts their last view of Venice before being shown to their cells. Lord Byron gave the bridge its name because he imagined that prisoners would sigh as they beheld the gorgeous city for the last time.

The one in Cambridge is jokingly called the same name because it's where university students at St. John's college have to walk to get their exam results. The sighs are apparently nervous ones.

We also recently saw the Bridge of Sighs in Barcelona (above)--beautiful!

And as we visited Venice recently, I was super-excited to see the original Bridge of Sighs there. Are you ready for the ultra-disappointing shot? (first, the way we saw it; second, the way we SHOULD have seen it)

*sigh*

(Sorry to be so negative. we loved Venice. Just read here and here to verify that!)

Over-the-top

We got to tour Buckingham Palace yesterday, and it was amazing! It was totally extravagant and over-the-top, and we were glad Grandma & Grandpa got to see it while they were here. We also had a bit of dessert at the Palace cafe (below).

We also took the open-top bus tour and got the overview of the city; thankfully we had great weather.
Punting the Cam Friday was fun, but also a little challenging. It was either raining really hard or sunny and windy. Jacob did an amazing job! And the rest of us toughed it out in the rain. :)

Fun visitors

My Mom and Aunt Joye arrived Wednesday, and we're having a great time! So far we've visited Audley End house, the Cambridge American military cemetery, market day in Bury St Edmunds, and we went to the tea room (see the below photo of my Mom eating a scone with clotted cream and jam). As you can see from the above photo, we also punted the Cam in Cambridge. I'm so excited to have them here! We're leaving today for Wales.

Springtime photos

Things are beautiful around here! The tulips were in Cambridge yesterday, and the cherry blossoms and duck family were in our village last week (there's a river that forms the border of our village--the swans have just laid eggs too, so maybe I'll catch photos of the 'ugly ducklings' soon).

(I know they don't come close to the cherry blossoms my in-laws get to see in DC...Hi Miriam and Jim!)

The Eagle

Tonight we ate at The Eagle, a famous pub in Cambridge. Jacob had the lamb shank with mash and seasonal veg, and I ate salmon with new potatoes and veg. It was good.

The pub, which is in a building built in the 1400s, is famous for two reasons. During the Second World War, RAF and USAF forces left graffiti on the ceiling (names and squadron numbers) in what is now called the "RAF bar." It was interesting.

The other reason The Eagle is famous is because it was the setting for the first public announcement by Watson and Crick that they had discovered the structure of DNA. In February 1953, Francis Crick interrupted people's lunch to announce that he and James Watson had "discovered the secret of life." According to another plaque in the pub (not the one pictured above), Watson and Crick "used The Eagle as a place to relax & discuss their theories whilst refreshing themselves with ale."

London Calling

Thursday we went to Cambridge, but we decided to let someone else punt the Cam while we relaxed, enjoyed the scenery and listened to some great Cambridge stories. (The above photo is the back of St. John's College.) Below, enjoy a photo of Nick gnawing on a very posh giant flump.

Saturday we spent the day in London. We saw all the sights but didn't get a chance to really sink our teeth into London, so we're looking forward to getting back soon.

We went on a Beatles walking tour that was actually a little boring, but here's a photo of Paul McCartney's London office. You can't tell from the photo, but we could faintly make out the cover of the Abbey Road album hanging on his wall (for you non-Beatles fans, it's the iconic shot of the Beatles on the zebra crossing/crosswalk).

Jacob update: I don't have a lot of details, but I did talk to Jacob today, and he's doing well other than the extreme heat. He was in transit for a couple of days but is finally at his planned destination. Thanks again to those of you who have offered encouragement and support to both of us.

Punting, Castles, Mansions

Earlier this week we punted the Cam in Cambridge! We each took turns punting, and it was lots of fun! Jacob was fabulous at punting--a natural, actually. The rest of us weren't too bad either, but it's not easy. It's definitely an activity we're excited to do whenever someone visits. Cambridge is beautiful anyway, but the scenery from the river is spectacular!

Saturday we drove to Dover. We went to Dover Castle and the Secret Wartime Tunnels (read about our first Dover Castle visit here), and we also visited Walmer Castle and Deal Castle, both near Dover. Walmer Castle was originally built by Henry VIII as a coastal defense, but it has been the residence of the Lords Warden since 1708. We were fascinated at the fusion of medieval castle and classy mansion. We also enjoyed the extensive gardens.

Deal Castle was similar in design to Walmer (it was also built by Henry VIII), but instead of having been converted into a gorgeous residence, it's a creepy old castle. We walked a few very dark, scary passages and were glad to see daylight when we emerged. We enjoyed the variety of our day and the fact that we saw 3 very different castles.

Sunday we had a picnic at Audley End House & Gardens (which we had also previously visited--read here). The house and grounds were amazing, and we enjoyed seeing a cricket game on the lawn. We're not too sure about the rules, but we were excited to observe a few minutes of a cricket game.

We'll be sad to see Emily and Joel leave Tuesday; we've had a great time having them visit. Since they're the fist to visit us here, we asked them to rate the guest accommodations at our house. Hopefully their review will be informational for any of you who are thinking about visiting.

"The bed felt like it had been assembled by an angel" ~Joel

"Encourage the hostess to bake you one of her famous American apple puddings." ~Joel

"Sitting on the toilet was like floating on the ocean waves." ~Emily

Out of 4 stars, how would you rate the accommodations overall? "Four and a half" ~Emily

Springtime, Part II

Last week we blogged about spring in Ipswich, so this week we'll focus on springtime closer to home. We've had beautiful weather this week, which is wonderful. But one effect of nice weather is an increase in spiders. A massive spider made its way into our house--the living room, to be exact--last week, and it was frightening. I didn't find any suitable anti-spider spray on base, so I asked Nigel, our gardener (responsible for the beautiful tulips in our garden, pictured above), to recommend a spider solution, and his answer shocked me. He said they don't actually spray for spiders in England. If a spider enters the house, they simply pick it up and throw it outside. Oh, the culture shock! We didn't realize we'd have to exercise English Patience by welcoming spiders into our home!
Many fields in our part of the country have recently turned into "rolling fields of mustard," as Jacob so poetically phrased it, and we were interested to find out the purpose of the flowers: they're rapeseed (brassica napus). In addition to being absolutely breathtaking in its flower form, rapeseed is a very useful substance. It has 2 interesting uses (in addition to the less interesting uses): First, it's used as a biofuel. Rapeseed is used more than any other plant as the oil base of biodiesel in Europe. The second interesting use is as a cooking oil. Rapeseed oil is actually more healthy than the ever-popular olive oil, with less saturated fat and far more Omega 3 and Omega 6 than olive oil, and rapeseed oil also contains Vitamin E. The flowers are also interesting in that they don't exhaust the resources of the fields they're planted in; later this year the same fields will yield something else, like sugarbeets. The countryside is literally flooded with these flowers, and we were interested to find out why!

In closing, here is a photo of springtime in Cambridge this past Friday. We love living so close to Cambridge that we can drive there after Jacob gets home from work and get home before it's dark!

Here's a teaser: next weekend we're going to Paris! Maybe the next post will be "Springtime in Paris," je ne sais pas. (:

Cambridge

Saturday we spent the day in Cambridge. It was only about a 25-minute drive to the park and ride, where we took the bus into the city centre. It was a cold, blustery day, but we managed to have a great time anyway.

(Jacob in front of the amazing King's College)

We're really excited to go back in the spring and punt in the Cam when the weather is nicer. We've heard that a person hasn't really seen Cambridge until she or he has seen it from the river. But with the wind and threatening rain, we didn't brave it Saturday. As you can see by the many stationary punts, we weren't the only ones who decided to wait until the spring!

One memorable activity we did participate in was eating at Chili's. It was a nice taste of "home," and we were delighted that the salsa tastes the same as it does in the U.S.



As you can see from the photo below (taken from the top of Castle Mound), Cambridge is a series of incredible, beautiful buildings and churches; it was like stepping into a different world! We also enjoyed walking around the market and the various shops.



We anticipate many future trips to Cambridge, and we really enjoyed our first one!