Well - Sam, Mike, and Nicole finally arrived in London 36 hours later than they were supposed to, and down 2 suitcases, but the point is they made it. (Most of you know that Sam is my father-in-law, Mike my bro-in-law, and Nicole Mike's girlfriend.) They were truly no worse for the wear from their preceding 48 hour travel debacle - at least nothing that a full English and a hot shower couldn't cure. Of course a brief walk around Hampstead and a stop at the pub were in order, followed by a lamb dinner - Mike's favorite from his visit last year.
The next morning, the five of us (Kyle was working) were off to Cambridge by train. (We did a load of laundry the night before, what with the missing luggage and all.) Chris & I had never been to Cambridge either, and we all really enjoyed it. It has very much the same ambiance of Oxford, but is smaller, more quaint, and dare I say prettier. The weather started off a bit on the rainy side (shouldn't be any surprises here) but by the end of the day we were relaxing in a punt boat in the sunshine on the river Cam being steered by the lovely Lucy and it was wonderful. We spent the afternoon mostly strolling around town enjoying the scenery and dodging the ever-present punt-boat captains in their efforts to give us an awesome deal on a river ride. By the end of the day, the sun had come out, and when punt-pusher Andy approached us he caught us just in the right mood, so we took him up on it and were so glad we did. He turned us over into the capable hands of the afore-mentioned Lucy who was back punting for her first day after a bit of a hiatus, but didn't miss a trick. She gave us a great tour of the colleges & landmarks on either side of the river. She also suggested a restaurant for dinner and was spot-on with that as well.
After spending the night at a very nice B&B just outside of town, we spent the next day touring the colleges of Kings (the most well know of Cambridge's schools), St. Johns, and Clare, which had the most beautiful gardens. And the day was beautiful as well which was truly a bonus. After doing some walking and shopping, we went back to a pub that we'd been to the day before at the suggestion of a market vendor who not only sold me a shirt and a purse, but who's wife was from Schenectady, NY which is but a stone's throw from where Chris & I grew up and where our visitors were from! We most likely never would have gone back on our own as we witnessed and experienced ourselves some of the rudest behavior I'd ever seen on the part of the blond, Eastern European waitress when we'd been for lunch the previous day. However, the vendor told us that it was a well known pub - the Eagle - and that during the war it had been a favorite hang out of both RAF pilots and American service men who had adorned the ceiling with graffiti marking their visit, something Blondie had neglected to mention the day before. (To be fair, this particular bar was in a separate part of the pub.) So we went back to have a pint and got a good look at a place that had most likely little changed since 1945. Very cool.
After waiting awhile for a very nice lunch at a place suggested by the cab driver, we re-claimed our things at the B&B and headed for the train station. Cambridge was most definitely worth the visit.
The following day was one of rest and a slow start, as the gang needed some down time and it was raining. We stopped in to Kyle's store to visit him on his work break that afternoon before going to an early dinner at London's version of Joe Allen (which we thoroughly enjoyed) and then on to see the West End production of "Pygmalion" with Rupert Everett as Prof. Henry Higgins - which we also thoroughly enjoyed. (Spoiler alert: Eliza marries Freddie in the play! Who knew? Who will get the Professor his blasted slippers?!) As Kyle was unable to join us for the play due to work, we invited Chris's admin, Amina, and it was so nice to have her along.
The next day started bright and early as we were off to take the Eurostar to Paree! Stay tuned.
https://picasaweb.google.com/swronsky/Cambridge?authuser=0&feat=directlink
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