Travels in History

Sunday Bike Ride

We set out to ride along the River Cam and found a lovely bike route, lots of walkers, bikers, skulls on the river, dogs, children, narrow boats, swans, ducks, and all sorts of lovely views.

The guy on the bike is the coach, yelling instructions.

Of course we stopped to take photos.

We stopped at a strange little garden center with a book section, an Edinburgh Woolen Mill (!) and bird seed, which we have been looking for, since there are bird feeders in the yard.  We did find the bird seed, but we also found food for plenty of other backyard creatures.

Do we really need to feed squirrels?

These were the expensive ones.

Love the name.

Better than bread crumbs, I am sure.

Along the Cam.

Baits Bite Lock.

Brought back memories of our family narrow boat holiday in the early 1980s.

We went about 6 miles up the river and back. There were folks out rowing the entire time.

St. Andrews Church, not that far from our neighborhood. And the sun came out.

We stopped and had a late lunch at The Waterman, just down the street from our house.

Friday Night

We had thought we would go to King's Chapel Choral services on Friday, not really thinking about the fact that it is half-term. We found a notice saying no service tonight, and this really big truck unloading.

So, on to plan B. We had a drink at the Eagle, but it was crowded, so we moved on to Yo Sushi! for dinner.

The dishes come by on the moving belt, and you just take what you want. Not hard to add up a big bill at such a place. And it is almost always full of people. The food was great, and we did not eat too much.

The blue bubble lights turn red when you push the button for help, and a recorded voice with a heavy Japanese accent yells for someone to go to your table.

Our House on a Nice Sunny Day

If you look really carefully you can see green leaves coming out on the rose by the neighbor's front door (the blue side of the house).

Monday - Heathrow and London

We got up early Monday to catch an 8am coach for Heathrow (via Standsted, Hatfield etc.) to take the kids and Coralie to their flight.

Elizabeth and her just completed scarf waiting for the coach. It was cold, and we were early.

We slept some on the 2.5 hour ride. No problems checking in at United, and Alex and I waited until they were all through security before we left. 

We took the tube into London, and went right to the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square and got tickets for that evening's performance of The Rivals. Then we went to China Town to have lunch.

We ate here, where all the New Years Rabbits are still up!

But in the streets they were taking down the lanterns from the New Year celebrations.

After lunch, we walked to Covent Garden Market, and wandered around the stalls looking at all the things to buy. And we wondered if it would be a good idea to bring the kids when they are here next time. They would certainly like it!

So many little things to buy.

We stopped to take a look at Burlington House, where Alex did hours and hours of dissertation research.

And we window shopped through Burlington Arcade, where there are beautiful expensive things, and fantastic window displays.

The historic marker for the founding of Penguin Books!

We were just talking about Penguin Books with Coralie, since Alex bought the 100 postcards of classic Penguin covers.

 

Me in front of the Theatre Royal Haymarket. I love Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles, and I couldn't quite believe we could just wander into town and get tickets to see them in The Rivals. We used to watch them in the early 1980s in To the Manor Born.

We walked past the theatre early in the day to check out the neighborhood and make sure we knew where we were going.

 

Regent Street at night. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, and had coffee and some time to read at the cafe in the Waterstones at Trafalgar Square.  

We had dinner at a little place around the corner from the Haymarket.

We had great seats, in the 9th row. The half-price ticket booth does not give you choice, you just get the best available at half price. We would not normally get such good tickets, but how could one resist. The theatre is beautiful, and well restored.  The show was fabulous. Of course the acting was great, no surprise. And the play is really funny. A wonderful evening.

We caught the second to last train back to Cambridge from Kings Cross, and it was pretty full. We were somewhat surprised riding in the taxi back from the station at how many people were out at midnight, until we remember that the students are on their half-term holiday this week, so they don't have to get up and go to class the next day.

Love this Bus Sign

We saw this sign on several buses. 

 

The Tower of London

In a bit of rain on Saturday we set out for London again, this time with only one destination: The Tower.

We stood up on the train from Cambridge, it was more than full.

Different kids do different things when you point a camera at them.

Nice way to get around having to translate signs.

The maps are confusing, but it was a good chance to show how "The Tower" is not really one tower, but an entire palace complex, with lots of towers.

There was rain enough to keep everything wet, but it never really rained hard.

The only bit of the Roman Wall left in the Tower.

Inside "Fit for a King: 500 years of Royal Armor." Hard to take photos, but a cool exhibit.

Daniel liked the interactive bits, here he is trying out a bow.

Alex tried the cross bow. Hard to get the right tension.

Elizabeth has a go.

This explains the odd patterns on the new coins. I had been wondering.

The really amazing thing about this photo is that there is no line for the Crown Jewels. When we went after lunch there was a short line, but not that bad.

I love this poster for the new cafe.

 

Thanks for taking a Pang family photo, Coralie!

 Nice view of Tower Bridge, even in a bit of light rain.

In the Medieval Palace there is a room where re-enactors demonstrate weapons and amusements. Daniel was curious about this game, which is often called Nine Men's Morris. At the Tower they called it Merrelles.

After watching the girl play with the Knight, Daniel got his turn to play with this lady. And he won!

While he played, Elizabeth and I listened to this Knight explain a Medieval map of the known world (13th Century). 

Looking out from the walls to the modern city.

 On our way down off the walls. We visited the main gift shop, and had coffee across the street, then we headed back to King's Cross to catch the train back to Cambridge.

We stopped briefly at the temporary home of Platform 9 3/4. There is so much construction at King's Cross at the moment that this is the best they could do. The bricks are very fake looking, but what can you expect from Muggles?

 

Visit to Ely Saturday

Today we took the kids and Coralie to Ely. We were happy to go back, and even on a foggy day, like the idea of going back up to the top of the Cathedral. 

We noticed this good advice at the train station. But do we really need a sign that basically says don't be stupid? I read an editorial arguing that we just don't need to be told there are nuts in our nut candy and that our coffee might be hot. Does this belong in the same category?

Daniel in his new hat with the Ely Cathedral behind him.

Does Daniel think this photo is all about him?

View from part way up the West Tower of the Octagon and Lantern.

Our guide explains things up on top of the West Tower. We walked up 288 steps to get here. He does it three times a day.

It was windy, but the view, even in the fog, was fantastic.

The West Tower is about 100 steps higher than the Octagon where we went last time.

Elizabeth said it was much warmer down out of the wind.

Daniel and that hat seem to just make a cute photo anywhere.

I love this. It has inspired at least one poem, which can be found here.

Next stop: lunch at the Minster Tavern.

At our favorite bookstore, Topping & Company in Ely.

The river Cam on the walk back to the house.

Thursday Adventures

Thursday morning Elizabeth and I went to my craft group, where we both worked on some knitting. I am, for the first time, actually trying to follow a pattern. If the fingerless mittens work out, I'll blog about it all when they are done.  Then we all met up at Alex's office for a little look around. Then we all set out for Grantchester. Since we were walking, we took the muddy path, rather than the paved bike path.

Ministry of Silly Walks.

Taking a little rest by the river.

Of course Elizabeth climbed a tree. We got to the Orchard and had tea and scones. I'm not sure why, but none of my photos were very good. We took a taxi back to Cambridge, and made a quick visit to the Fitzwilliam Museum. Then we wandered slowly back through town.

Daniel liked the big whale.

So did Elizabeth, although she was not quite so willing to ham it up for photos. Maybe she needs an animal face hat.

I love this dog, waiting so patiently while his owner shops for chocolate.

We had dinner at the Baron of Beef. We just liked the name. The food was fine, nothing exciting, but exactly as we expected. 

Wednesday in Cambridge

Wednesday morning the people from John Lewis delivered the new bed. Although the owners were sure this included assembly, it did not. So we did it ourselves. 

It took pretty much all morning, but we got it together.

Elizabeth helped some, but mostly she worked on her knitting.

Then we wrote postcards. And had grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch.

We walked into the city centre to do a little shopping. Daniel bought this hat in the market. 

Alex tried it on.

 

London!

Today we got up early(ish), and took a taxi to the train station to catch the 8:35 to London King's Cross. We may have put in too many activities, but we had a great day, and did not mind the bit of rain that fell.

Note to self, no mater how long the line at the lifts, don't take the stairs (spiral, almost 200 steps) at Russell Square Tube Station unless you are looking for an extra workout.

 

First stop, the British Museum.

Daniel had fun with the camera.

Elizabeth seems to be more into seriously reading and looking at stuff. 

Couldn't resist the Alexander the Great signs.

Next museum, the Victorian and Albert. We did not plan to stay long at the V&A, but we did get caught up in this modern design exhibit. We though Elizabeth had followed us when we left, but she had not. When I went back in to look for her I found her at the very end of the exhibit taking photographs (her father's daughter!) and then I realized she was taking photographs of cool ceramic tea pots (her mother's daughter!). After taking a "choice" at school about making teapots, she has been observing great ones here.

Then we went across the street to the Science Museum. We were all dragging a bit, and I am afraid we were not really energetic enough to appreciate everything. But Coralie and I loved this huge globe with rotating digital projections of weather and climate data.

And of course we had to stop and check out the Jacquard loom! I wish I could see it work.

The science museum deserves an entire day I think, but we were fading a bit. The gift shop revived us, it is fantastic. If I lived in London I would go there just to shop for birthday gifts and things.

Then it was on to the Natural History Museum. We did not really do this museum justice either, but we enjoyed a few galleries, and the huge dinosaur in the great hall. 

The sun was going down as we left the museum. Alex tired to get the kids interested in the fact that the print in our living room is of this door, but that did not impress. What impressed them was that our next stop would be Hamley's, the biggest toy store in the world.

On the way there we stopped to look at a window display of really cool cakes. We tried to replicate the tiny Daniel photo of his nose pressed up to the glass at Barone, but I think looking at the wedding cake figures really does not do it.

Amazing lego stuff at Hamley's.

Cool robots.

Everyone found cool toys to look at.

The amazing thing is that in the end we did not buy anything.

On the way to the tube station Elizabeth found a window she really loved. 

We got sandwiches for dinner at King's Cross and caught the very full 7:!5 train back to Cambridge. We had a great day. Four museums may, however, have been too many for all of us.