A Day on the Town

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Saturday was the first day Scott really got a chance to catch his breath, so we took the opportunity to meet Mom at her hotel before having a "day on the town."  It was actually pretty warm (I only needed one sweater, and I even got rid of that later on in the day), so we decided to see what kind of outdoor activities we could do.  Of course, the Market Square market was the obvious choice.  Located right in the center of the downtown area, the market fills up the entire square every day, with vendors selling everything from fresh produce to antiques and crafts, and even some rare Great War memorabilia.  I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, so I naturally headed straight for the bakery stall for a crossaint.  We mostly just looked around and enjoyed the  sunny weather, but Mom did manage to find a pretty cool gift for Lindsay--a backpack hand-made from an old flannel shirt!  I don't have a picture of the actual one she bought, but the one posted is a pretty good representation.  We also enjoyed the renditions of a bluegrass band playing folk tunes in the corner by the church.  I know England is a very multicultural place, but I do have to say that Cambridge, UK, is probably the last place I ever expected to hear bluegrass (and done so well, too!).

Once we'd had our fill of classic American music, we figured we'd better take advantage of being in England to learn a little bit about the history of that country.  But first, it was time for coffee.  We stopped off at my favorite coffeeshop (so far; I haven't tried them all yet): Caffe Nero across from King's College.  Caffeine-laden beverages in hand, we took some seats among the multitudes of people sitting along the wall in front of the college.  Apparently, I just look like a tourist no matter where I am, because we were approached by a student selling tickets to the "Cambridge Alumni Walking Tour."  We were reluctant at first, because there seem to be an infinite number of colleges in Cambridge and we weren't sure how we'd all hold up to walking that much.  Eventually, the student managed to convince us by giving us all the children's priced tickets.

http://online.sfsu.edu

The two-hour tour was definitely worth it.  While I think that the guide must be Scott's long-lost sister (they both are quite partial to taking the most confusing route possible, even when much more direct routes are available), it was nice to finally see the colleges that make Cambridge so famous.  I wish I could say that I remember which one is which, but since I can hardly tell you which of my seven students is which, much less which of 31 difference colleges! I do remember passing by the Cambridge University Library, which is kind of like Britain's equivalent of the Library of Congress--it is required that every published book be housed there.  Of course, not all books have the purest content matter, but the guide assured us that "those kinds" of books are kept away from the others (and from the eager eyes of the thousands of university students), locked in the highest tower.  Yes, you read that correctly; there is a porn tower in Cambridge.  Sadly, that was not part of the tour.

Other highlights of the tour included a visit to the descendant of the tree under which Sir Isaac Newton was sitting when he "discovered" gravity while at Trinity College in 1666; a visit to the courtyard of the oldest college in Cambridge, Peterhouse; a view of the narrowest stretch between two college buildings, between which students used to dare one another to jump across; and the Mathematical Bridge at Queens' College, said to be the most perfectly designed bridge in the world (this is, of course, a source of much debate).  There was plenty more to see, but you know what they say: "a picture is worth a thousand words."  I'll let something else do the talking for once.

Could you make the jump?

The Gravity Tree

The Mathematical Bridge--Perfect?

I took a few (read: hundreds) more photos, but you'll have to check out Facebook for those.  After walking back and forth across the city for two hours on the tour, we were more than ready for a drink!  On the tour we'd passed a pub called "The Eagle."  Now, passing a pub is not any special thing in England, but this one was pretty special--not only is it really old (at least 16th century), it also played a fairly important role in modern science.  It was a favorite place of Francis Crick and James Watson to relax and enjoy a drink as they discussed their theories.  They even celebrated their discovery of DNA there!  It was a natural choice to end the day.  It turned out to be even more of an experience for Mom, who had never even heard of cider before!  She was a little reluctant to try it at first, but upon one taste of mine, she insisted on ordering her own.  We also enjoyed some authentic British pub food--Scott and Mom both had pies, while I had my new standby, fish and chips.  It was a great way to end a lovely day.

Local Goodness

oncoffeemakers.com

Having Mom visit was actually really nice, because it gave me an excuse to do all the "touristy" things that Cambridge has to offer.  Scott and I have attempted a couple times to see Cambridge, but since Scott has been here about 8 months longer than I have, and lived in the city proper for nearly a month of that time, he's already "been there, done that" with most of the attractions.  Plus, the weather has been so horrendous that when we go into town we usually spend most of the time scouting coffee shops to warm up in!  So, while I can proudly say that I can direct you to just about any coffee shop you wish to visit in the downtown area, I'm still not all that familiar with the things Cambridge is really famous for, like the museums and colleges. 

Mom arrived on the Wednesday of the first week back to school for Scott. Going back to school after a break is always a bit hectic, but the new term had brought with it 15 new students and 6 additional weekly classes, so it's fairly safe to say that Scott was essentially out of action for anything else during the week.  While we appreciated the mother-daughter time, I think Scott appreciated the alone time!  Exploring Cambridge with Mom also gave me the opportunity to actually learn where things were for myself.  Again, I pretty much just followed Scott around and trusted that he knew where he was going.  Being there myself, I learned that Cambridge is actually quite a bit smaller than I had perceived, and that Scott's preferred method of getting around town is to zig-zag back and forth between areas, making what is typically a 10-minute walk into three-quarters of an hour.   It's a great technique for site-seeing, but does end up being slightly confusing for one who is trying to learn her way around.

www.hotelscambridge.org

So for the next couple days, I caught an "early" (9:00 a.m.) bus into town to meet Mom and do some leisurely exploring.  It was really nice because the bus picks up directly across from  my house, and it dropped off right across from her hotel.  Oh, speaking of hotels, I bet you're wondering how she held up in the oh-so-lovely Travelodge.  She didn't, actually.  She was so concerned about having to stay there even one more night that on our first exploration of the city, she saw a bed and breakfast (The Centennial) along the route and stopped right in to ask if they had any availability.  She was in luck; they had a single room available through the weekend.  Without thinking twice, she booked it.  We were even lucky enough to be able to cancel the second night at the Travelodge.  It was a little bit more expensive, but definitely worth it. I can assure you that it was at least 325,436,098 times better than her previous accommodations.

It was nice to be able to take things slow (usually Scott and I go into town with a specific goal in mind and have to rush around to get everything done so that we don't miss the bus home), so we spent the time window shopping, visiting the market, and of course, drinking coffee at the many coffee shops.  During our explorations, we came up St. Bene't's Church, the oldest in Cambridge, and decided to have a look inside.  It was quite an interesting place--the architecture was, of course, very old (with periodic updating), but the technology was about as new as you could get.  There was an electronic chandelier that could be placed in various positions, and even floating speakers placed strategically around the church.  I'm really not quite sure why they needed so many speakers, because the church itself isn't all that large, but it was cool to see the juxtaposition of the old and new.  In the center of the church, there was a remembrance tree where members and visitors alike were encouraged to write the names of loved ones on leaves and tie them to the tree.  The tree was already overflowing with leaves, but we left a few of our own as well.

Surprise!

It was a quite Sunday afternoon and we'd just gotten back from traveling "the island" (aka England) during our two week break, and were settling back to the reality that it would be back off to work tomorrow when I got a Skype call.  It was from my Mom--not too surprising, yet; we talk at least a few times a week on Skype anyway.  She asked me how I was, and what my plans were for the week.  I told her I didn't really have anything too exciting planned.  "Good, " she said, "because I just found a great deal on flights to London, and I'm leaving Tuesday!"

Oh.  Ok.  That definitely was a surprise that I wasn't expecting in about a million and a half years!  At first I was a little concerned about how to prepare on such sort notice (imagine how Mom felt, having to prepare to go overseas for two weeks in such a sort amount of time)!  Since she would be here over two weekends, I first tried to find a short trip that Scott could also do, but unfortunately on such sort notice, the prices were sky-high.  Instead, I started to look for a mid-week break that Mom and I could take together, and give Scott some alone time to catch up on schoolwork.  As it turns out, all of those were pretty expensive too.  I put those plans on the back burner and set about figuring out how I was going to go pick Mom up in London on Wednesday morning.

In the morning from our house to central London, it usually takes about 3 hours (first the bus, then the train).  But to collect Mom, I also had to factor in the almost hour-long ride on the underground from King's Cross to Heathrow.  The meeting was also complicated by the fact that she would have no usable phone, and that her plane was schedule to arrive before 8:00 a.m.  We decided that she would just have to wait near the meeting area until I got there, because the rural buses that come to my house aren't the most reliable.

myfavehotel.com

I got up at 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, hoping to catch the first commuter bus.  I was starting to get pretty nervous, because this was my first time to London by myself.  This meant I would actually have to figure out where things were instead of just following Scott everywhere!  I'm happy to announce that I caught the first bus (which was only about 2 minutes late), and managed to get on the express train into King's Cross.  I even found the correct underground train on the first try!  All in all, I'd say it was a success, and I arrived around 10:30 a.m.  While her plane had been delayed slightly, Mom should have arrived by that time.  I didn't see her in the waiting area, so I took a quick bathroom break and figured that maybe the line at customs was long or something.

When I returned, I saw Mom entering the terminal from outside--I guess the weather has been so  horrible in Wisconsin that she couldn't wait another second to get out and enjoy the "nice" English weather (as in it was not raining at that particular moment).  We hugged each other and then set off on the business of getting back to Cambridge.  I only got lost once trying to find the Underground again.  The ride back into town was uneventful (but full of gossip, of course!).  We stopped at King's Cross for a sandwich, and managed to catch another express train back into Cambridge.

www.hotelscambridge.org

Luckily, once we were in Cambridge, we just had to walk over the railway bridge to get to Mom's hotel.  Not so luckily, the hotel (Travelodge Cambridge Central) was the last one available at such sort notice, and we saw why upon entering the room.  We got to the check-in counter about half an hour before official check-in opened.  Of course, after traveling for more than a day, Mom just wanted to be able to relax, so she asked if the room was ready yet.  The clerk told her that yes, it was ready, but she would have to pay 10 pounds if she wanted to occupy it before check-in.  Shocked but too tired to care, we agreed to pay it.  The room was on the third floor, and we finally managed to reach it after having to use our key card to get through at least three access doors into hallways. 

The room itself was fairly large, but incredibly bare.  It had a large bed and a TV.  The rest was open space that looked like it used to have furniture, but not any more.  One wall was painted bright orange, and the others were a dirty white.  Not "dirty white" as a color of its own, but white that had become dirty by what seemed like a very talented person walking sideways up the wall and onto the ceiling, while simultaneously drawing chalk figures behind them.  The one painted wall was faded in areas that presumably once held pictures, but now just had holes.  At least the shower had running water!

We decided to ignore the displeasing aesthetics, hope for a more pleasant clerk at the desk, and take a rest before heading out to explore Cambridge for a while.