Cambridge, what a relief!

Cambridge was  exactly what I needed. A city that wasn’t too big, where I could do something touristy then relax because that only took a couple hours. I stayed with Perrin, Dad’s friend Dan’s mom. She is an amazing woman. In her 70’s and loves to walk and bike a lot. A lot a lot. I loved it. She acted 25 years younger and I could tell her anything. She liked my independence and how she could leave me on my own for the day. I liked how she made me “supper” each evening, topped off with a fruity dessert. It was such a relief to have my own bedroom, where I could scatter my stuff everywhere. It came with my own attached bathroom, also a clean and comfortable delight.

                            

First day, Perrin took me to all of the Cambridge colleges. She’s got major access to many places because of her son David—he works with the school. Her late husband used to be a theologist with the school as well, so everything in Cambridge is really close to her heart. It’s awesome how much passion she has for the area. We saw each one and with every one she told me the story of it’s past. Didn’t have my camera though….Oops.  She’d even point out the flowers that were budding in each courtyard. She’s a huge flower buff. That night she made supper and it was amazing to have a home-cooked meal. I’ve been living off of canned soup and apples. Okay, but not super filling.

That night, I went out with Daniel, her 19 year-old grandson who lives next door. He took me with him and his friends to a classic pub in a nearby village called Granchester. Called the Blue Ball, there was a man I later found out was from Phoenix, Arizona playing acoustic guitar. He was from the local military base, but played in pubs for fun. Dad would’ve loved him. I knew the music, so it was extremely comforting and such a crazy cool performance. There was a fire burning in the fireplace and about 10 people sitting around him. Candles were the only source of light. And there was a former Nigerian cricket player, enormous and loud, but really funny, echoing each song. Totally intimate. Had me an ale to which I don’t remember the name. We sat outside at first, the 7of us, and chatted around candlelight. But then I realized it was about 30 degrees out and I couldn’t stand it anymore. Pretty sure that’s where my current sickness gained power….

Next day, I took a walking tour with all the elder folks. Informative, but the tour guide liked to make fun of Americans and point out any British superiority she could possibly find within our tour. Began to be annoying. Nice other British lady apologized to me on her behalf. I didn’t care much because I had about 45 years of youth on the guide. Ha. In anycase, she took us to King’s College Chapel. Very famous and very big and way way pretty. After my tourist duty, I found a pasty shop (it’s like a deluxe hot pocket) and took 2 hours advantage of their free wireless internet. Wrote a long blog with lots of pics that I ended up deleting bc my last blog got hacked into. Really a grand waste of time.

                                                     KIngs' College Chapel

Watched t.v. that night. Hadn’t done that in a few weeks. Felt reallllly good. I even got into American Idol. They cut it off at weird points and skip commercial breaks that American t.v. gives, and adds in their own. Kind of choppy. I couldn’t bask in the brain-rest enough.

Saturday, Perrin drove me to the English countryside. We visited a restored 300 year-old mansion. I got to go inside and see all the old rooms. Kind of gaudy furniture. Not my style. But we walked around their hundreds of acres with Cheska, the next-door family’s dog. We strolled through lamb poo and staring sheep. They were everywhere. So cool. 

Sheep

Me and Cheska

Perrin and I, Old Fort built for looks behind us.

Afterward, I headed back to campus and took a punt tour. A punt is like a big canoe and it’s typical of the school to offer tours down the Cam River. We went by all the  colleges and I got a student perspective tour. Awesome. 

Punting in the Cam River

Me in a Punt

That night, Perrin took me to her choir’s concert, the Messiah. I sat next to a radiator (thank gosh it’s freezing in old churches!) and watched her sing Alto with a choir of various ages. Really cool.

Today she told me to have a good “lie-in”. So I skipped church with her and slept till 10am. Went for a run. Perrin lives about 10 min. from campus and near some great bike paths. Love em. Especially bc the sun I somehow coaxed to shine over from California was upon us all weekend. Been wearing some comfy “trainers,” aka shoes that look sporty, to run in bc I was trying to save space in my backpack and not pack my running shoes. But I miss them dearly. I feel awkwardly amateur without the big white marshmellow shoes. (Apparently, that’s what the French think of American running shoes…?) Don’t care, bringing them to France! After my run, we went to a Sunday buffet lunch and I paid for our cappuccinos afterward.

Finally, Perrin topped off our culturally English weekend with a trip to the afternoon Evensong in King’s Chapel.  I sat next to the King’s Choir as they sang the Evensong (of Lent?) for an hour. Super duper sweet. Esp the cute little 8 year-old boys. They were so into it! And amazing. I could never belong mostly bc I sound like a yawning dog when I sing.

Back to London tonight. Sticking it here till I leave for Paris on Tuesday morning. Hopefully my blog will survive….