We all separated into smaller groups to eat lunch and my little group went to a restaurant called Nando’s. A chain restaurant where you can get roasted chicken and then add your own level of spicy sauce to it. I noticed that this was the first place I had eaten at since coming to England that had a place where you could get your own sodas and refills. I’ll admit, I never really appreciated the free refill as much as I do now.
My little group started off toward the Cambridge University campus. We are women and easily distracted by shiny things…most of the girls went into a small clothing store I knew wouldn’t have my size. I was waiting outside, but decided to strike out on my own.
I found a map of Cambridge further down the sidewalk and found out where the information center was. So I headed off to get a map of town. The information center was HUGE and had lots of souvenirs. The ladies in the center were so nice. They helped me find some gifts and gave me a map to head off on my way.
I had noticed a postcard of the strangest looking clock I had ever seen, and one of the women told me it was down the street. It is called the Corpus Clock. You have to check out this video about it:
It was fascinating to watch, and I probably would have stayed longer in front of it except the rain was really beginning to come down again. I decided to continue to walk toward campus when I saw a sign pointing to an archaeology museum…you know I had to go there.
After going around in circles a bit, I finally found the archaeology/anthropology museum on campus. Apparently most of the collection came from the work of Grahame Clark, who wrote a LOT of archaeology related books. The collection wasn’t huge but it was nice and pretty thorough.
After the museum, I basically wandered around town until 3:30pm and then headed for the bus stop. Our bus taking us from Cambridge back through Bedford was leaving at around 4pm. This was, in fact, the bus ride from hell. No one really said anything at the time, but most of us agreed we felt “rather poorly” after that one. It was slow traffic and roundabout after roundabout, stop and go, I don’t know, it just made for a nauseating ride. Then we literally went straight to the bus going to Northampton.
Most of us got off at a stop downtown and decided to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant called Sophia’s. I ate there before with some of the other students…they opened an hour early to let us eat. Anyway, service was wonderful again and so was the food. I had tortellini alfredo, with ham and cheese. YUM! If you are ever in Northampton, you must eat here.
On Wednesday we had class in the morning with Dr. W_. Then after class the rest of the day was ours. We all kind of realized that night would be the last of us all together so we decided to all meet up at the Sunnyside pub and have a last hurrah. Then we broke up for lunch. I ended up going to the convenience store to get the makings of lunch. Unremarkable…
Then I did something truly exciting…I took a nap. After that fun filled event, I could only follow it up by doing my laundry. Being the truly lazy person I am, I could not be bothered to separate colors and whites, there was one washer and I wanted my laundry done. I now have what used to be white socks with a blue/black hue, I think it came off my newest pair of jeans. Everything looked OK.
Then I headed over to the Sunnyside Pub. Most of us had something to eat and then the pints began to flow. While part of the group ended up playing a drinking game, I got together with three other ladies to play Spades. I don’t think I have played that since high school or college? We had so much fun playing, even though me and my partner lost the game. OK, so we did threaten the winning team with the fact that they may wake up with one less eyebrow the next morning, but we didn’t actually do it.
On Thursday morning we had class for the last time. It was a nice wrap up for the trip and a good time to see each other one last time. I made plans to go into town and eat lunch with L_ and J_ . We ended up eating at a fancy looking pub. The food was OK, but at least they had Magners on tap.
This brings up a problem a number of us have had on this trip. Apparently all/most British credit cards have a computer chip on them that can/does make an American in England very frustrated. This pub was just another example of a place that would not take a card if it didn’t have a chip. I had to dash across the street to get money out of the ATM to pay my bill. Pain in the ass…
We then went shopping to get gifts and last minute items. I got some more snacks for my room as well as the latest edition of Doctor Who magazine. My friends had problems with the card/chip thing today in making their purchases.
Even though I am not leaving until Friday evening, I decided to pack most of my stuff. I am pleased with how everything is fitting in my bags, but I fear that my large bag will be over weight. I have no idea if my airline allows two carry ons, or two checked bags. Some of my fellow travelers had tales of the airlines weighing the checked baggage AND the carry on. I am going to check tomorrow to see what the guidelines are for my airline. In a way, I would like to check the second bag so I don’t have to carry all that weight. Keep your fingers crossed!
I ordered Chinese food for dinner with L_ and J_, it was very good! Then I was able to get on the internet and chat with my mom via Facebook.
Yea for technology!
DAILY DAVID
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