A Day in Cambridge

Last Saturday Ric and I headed up to Cambridge for the day. It only takes about an hour to get there and it's a really cute little town. But packed with tourists. I actually wonder if it's that touristy all the time and, if so, what's it's like going to "university" (as the Brits would say) in a place that's such a tourist attraction.


There is so much history there, and of course a huge number of colleges. I didn't realize that Cambridge was started when a few people at Oxford disagreed with the philosophies of that school and decided to split off and start their own. Cambridge now has 31 colleges, the most famous of which are probably St. John's, Kings College, Trinity and Queens' College.


The highlight of the day was taking a "punt" (or little flat bottomed boat) down the River Cam, which runs along "The Backs" (or back lawns of all the universities). There are so many stories about pranks being pulled, competition between schools, famous people attending, and how influential these schools have been throughout history. Trinity, for example, is the third largest landowner in the UK, behind the Royal Family and the forestry service. Another interesting story is that the Queen at some point, not sure which one, really liked swans so she passed a law that no one could kill swans anymore. However, she also really liked to eat a little swan on Christmas Day, so St. John's University was allowed to kill and cook one swan per year, but no one else can.

At the end of the day we watched a little of the King's College Boys Choir, which was beautiful and the chapel was amazing. It took 100 years to complete and ended up being 1/4 the originally planned size (because it took so long anyway). They forgot to tell the organ makers, though, so the organ was built to fit a church 4 times the size. They put it in anyway and now it's just really loud :) Love all the stories...

Here are some pics, but the whole set is on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbremer/sets/72157603998747652/


Anyone who's read Harry Potter will recognize this from the King's Cross Station. Platform 9 and 3/4!!!



Ric on the main street in Cambridge



One of the Universities



Down by the docks getting ready to take a punt down the river




Our punter



The Mathematical Bridge



"The Backs"... This one is King's College and the chapel

Gorilla protection

Good article from the BBC about Rwanda, Congo, and Uganda joining together to help protect the gorillas in the Virunga National Park. That's where Ric and I will be in less than a month...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7254357.stm

Back from Barcelona

After trying to land once last night and pulling up at the last minute because the flaps on the wings that help slow the plane down weren't working, we successfully returned from a nice weekend in Barcelona. The flight back took us much longer than it should have because of an hour sitting on the runway waiting for "paperwork" and the ineffective first approach to Heathrow (at which time the guy beside me pulled out the emergency landing card and started brushing up on the nearest exits and proper procedure). But we had a really nice weekend and are already talking about when we can go back.

The hotel (Gran Hotel La Florida) was amazing and at the top of Mount Tibidabo looking over the city and water. And it was much warmer than the weather we left behind in London. Overall, we had great food, a lot of time to relax, and enough culture to equal a wonderful weekend.

Here are a few pictures, but the whole group is online at Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelbremer/sets/72157603934183487/

That's our hotel at the very top of Mount Tibidabo:

View from our room over the back patio:

View to Barcelona from our room (it was partly cloudy most of the weekend):

Very cool apartment building in the city:

Walking down Las Ramblas:

Museum of Modern Art:

Tapas at a great place in the Born neighborhood called Taller de Tapas:

A cool buidling at night (part of the University of Barcelona):

Jack the Ripper... and other walks

For those of you who, like me, weren't sure who Jack the Ripper was and exactly how he got his name, I can highly recommend the Jack the Ripper tour in London. Ric and I went with a big group on Tuesday evening after work and really enjoyed it. You basically walk around the neighborhood where, in the late 1800's an unknown man committed six gruesome murders and was never caught. Looking at this objectively it's a pretty morbid tour to go on, but it actually turned out to be quite enjoyable. Not only do you talk about Jack and his victims, but you get a nice dose of London history along the way.

And, maybe the best part, we saw Amy Winehouse on her way into a London Fashion Week party as we were walking by! She was of course extremely recognizable with her big bee hive hair-d0. And all the paparazzi that surrounded her.

They have a ton of great walks that you can do - one that goes around Old Hampstead Village Pub Walk, which sounds awesome, and a Pub Walk along the Themes, which we're going to try when my dad's here in April.

So if you're coming to visit, check out www.walks.com and let us know which ones you want to try out, they all look really cool!

We did it!

We actually ran 8 miles on Sunday (and it was 8, not 7, because we took a wrong turn about 3/4 of the way through...). Neither Ric nor I had ever run that far before, so it was a pretty successful day. And it gave us hope that we'll actually be able to complete the half marathon in Cape Town, although it starts at 6am and almost the entire 2nd half is uphill. Here's the route profile.

The taco casserole turned out yummy as well. It's a really easy recipe and always a crowd pleaser. Here it is on BettyCrocker.com. I typically use more onion and tomato than it calls for. And if you like black olives, I'd add some chopped ones as well.

Happy Tuesday!

Phew!

I'm not sure about anyone else, but I had a rough week and am and really, really glad that it's Friday. Looking forward to a quiet weekend and plan to spend every minute, starting now, getting myself psyched up to run 7 miles on Sunday. We did about 4 1/2 or 5 one morning this week and it almost killed me. Ric was way ahead and I'm dragging along behind, barely able to lift my feet over the uneven pavement. Let's just chalk that up to a bad day and hope that things look up on Sunday, or I'm going to be in big trouble.

We have quite a wild and crazy Saturday night planned... catching an 8 o'clock movie (There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis) and maybe even a dinner out beforehand. Then cooking dinner for some friends who also live in Hampstead. Making my famous (or not) taco casserole. It's usually a crowd pleaser.

And that's about it! Don't think there's much else to report from across the pond... We've been getting great weather - cold but clear and sunny for the most part. We're heading to Barcelona next weekend, so we'll be sure to report back!