Good Night Cambridge

Our journey from the airport was rather uneventful. We got our own coach (bus) and circled around London on this huge highway until we finally went north to Cambridge. The country side was beautiful, lots of leafless trees, growing ivy, old houses, and, of course, sheep. The green country side made me wonder what it would look like if it was a better season. Even better I would imagine. The falling rain added a Pacific Northwest feel that made the landscape slightly comforting. The majors clues that things weren't normal were the cars, everyone driving on the wrong side of the road, and the bus driver talking about what pubs were great to go to and which weren't so special. The driver actually offered to take us to a great pub in his home town - an offer that didn't pan out as it would cost 150 pounds to get us all there. I kept slipping out of consciousness on the way, each time I came awake I would look out again to view more of the country side before I would succumb to the tiredness that was pulling me down from a full day of travel with only five hours of half restful sleep. I kept telling myself that I should stay awake and see as much as possible as I only had a month left - my body demanded otherwise. We arrived at our Bestwestern and settled in. My roommate is Will M. The rooms were quite ingenious. Everything is triggered by the roomkey being placed in a slot. Heat, lights, and all switches automatically become active with the card placed in the slot and turned off after a minute when it is not present, saving power. It was a bit odd having a bathroom with a sliding door that didn't latch and a shower that had only half a divider from the small bathroom. It was decided after soaking a floor mat that it might be best if we just placed the spare mat outside the bathroom and just let the water pool. Showered and ready to go we wondered outside following a street until it ended at a train station. Along the way we passed a cathedral of some sort (which are everywhere), really old walls that were well worn, and some great architecture on buildings. At the station we ran into the largest fleet of bikes I had ever seen. Will started to feel sick so we came back and he crashed while I continued a reading on Epicurus.

Downstairs we joined our group where it became clear that alcohol was going to be a theme for our journey. On our way to dinner we were pointed out all the places we could drink and eat. A bakery caught my eye as well as several more cathedrals. We sat outside at The Eagle pub tonight. My group all ordered the same thing, a beef pie. We each got steaming hot bowls of a beef stew with a crispy pastry on top, mash on the side (potatoes), and steamed carrots and broccoli. It was amazing! So filling after the plane food that we had survived on. I was declared the only one who had ordered milk in professor johnson's six trips to Europe - a label I didn't mind. Many students got pop or beer.

After eating we wondered around the area, finding the bakery again, Kings College, and an farmers market, as well as lots of places to eat and look into for shopping. We ended up back in our rooms ready to crash - already planning to eat breakfast early and get out to explore, hit up the bakery, and go to the market for lunch before our one o'clock tour.