The flight to London was fairly uneventful. Despite the three-foot sweels in turbulence due to a storm over New York, the Plane and I arrived in one piece... at 6:40 am. London is onlya 20 minute tube ride away from London's Kings Cross station, but I took my time. I walked around the station (from where Harry Potter goes off to school) and had breakfast before I was off to Cambridge. The way to cambridge was a pleasant train ride with only 5 people in my car. I was tired but determined to stay up and beat the jetlag. As the train pulled into the station, the rain began to pour. I phoned Marcus and he came to meet me at the station. With great coincidence, Eddie and his Fiancee, Shana, were only minutes behind us on the next train, so we all walked back to Marcus' apartment together.
After a short conversation and pit stop, we were off to Pub to get some lunch. We began with a quick pub lunch of pickle relish and cheese sandwichs. It was delicious with purple-vinegary pickle relish and coarse wheat bread. From there, we went towards the Cambridge campus. One of the benefits of being friends with a Cambridge student is that you can get into places like the King's College, which are normally reserved only for students. We were also able to enter the King's Chapel, which gave us a glimpse of the opulence of pre-modern Cambridge University life.
The town of Cambridge is beautiful, as well. Nearly every house or aparment has either a garden or a front-step flowerpot arrangement. Every garden has wildly lush, flowering trees and bushes, with vines and ivy crawling over centuries-old brick garden walls. We gladly waited a number of times while Shana took pictures.
After our brief tour of cambridge (and a stop-in to buy some REAL cinnamon bark) we went home to freshen up for the REAL pub outing. I am sure it was only a glimpse of what was to come the next day but I had a wonderful time with Marcus' friends and family, Eddie and Shana drinking pints and having a authentic Cambridge experience.Needless to day, Marcus was pretty tanked by the end of the night. I am still impressed at his fortitude on his wedding da;. It must be that remaining university spirit, still alive inside of him.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Off to England
Due to the timewarp of having 5 hours of jetlag and 2 days of wedding, I'll have to transport us back in time to they day of my departure: 07/16/2009:
The shuttle is 45 mins late, but no worries. I'm off to jolly England! I've taken the day off, so my whole morning has been spent freting about what I have left behind. Between bouts of paover forgetting my pants or fearing that I had only packed one brown shoe, I managed to take in the old classic: 'Honey I Blew Up the Kid" . Somehow, Rick Moranis' hijinks are a great stress reliever.
When the shuttle arrived, I tipped my hat to Don Harrington (DH) who wished me to take his guardian angel with him. DH is a kind-hearted soul but is errily reminiscent of the old child-'enthusiast' from Family Guy. It must have been casual Thursday, as he was not wearing his uniform plaid shirt.
The degree of bustle at the airport was unexpected. Apparently, lots of people travel from Dulless on Thursday in July. One poor family I saw dragging 4 kids and 8 big moving boxes onto a plane to Spain. And I certainly won't forget the Harley-Davidson stereotype complaining about all the 'foreigners'.
I just had to keep reminding myself that sleep is only an hour away; that I would be magically transported to England and would emerge from the plane yawning and stretching, but bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for my rendevous with Marcus and Eddie, my old high school cohorts.
The shuttle is 45 mins late, but no worries. I'm off to jolly England! I've taken the day off, so my whole morning has been spent freting about what I have left behind. Between bouts of paover forgetting my pants or fearing that I had only packed one brown shoe, I managed to take in the old classic: 'Honey I Blew Up the Kid" . Somehow, Rick Moranis' hijinks are a great stress reliever.
When the shuttle arrived, I tipped my hat to Don Harrington (DH) who wished me to take his guardian angel with him. DH is a kind-hearted soul but is errily reminiscent of the old child-'enthusiast' from Family Guy. It must have been casual Thursday, as he was not wearing his uniform plaid shirt.
The degree of bustle at the airport was unexpected. Apparently, lots of people travel from Dulless on Thursday in July. One poor family I saw dragging 4 kids and 8 big moving boxes onto a plane to Spain. And I certainly won't forget the Harley-Davidson stereotype complaining about all the 'foreigners'.
I just had to keep reminding myself that sleep is only an hour away; that I would be magically transported to England and would emerge from the plane yawning and stretching, but bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for my rendevous with Marcus and Eddie, my old high school cohorts.
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