While in Scotland we decided to take a day trip to the near-by town of North Berwick (pronounced Berig or Berry) to see some puffins. In the summer months, puffins migrate to this rocky island in Berwick. We took a boat tour out to see them and they were adorable! I've never seen a puffin but they're very fat and waddly, even when they fly. The weather was brisk and the water was choppy, our guide described it as "a week bit squally". By the end of the tour we were all covered in a fine layer of salt from being sprayed by the backlashing salt water. I didn't mind though, I love the feeling of wind and salt in my hair. There was this other rock out there too which, from afar looks like it is white with sun bleaching. However, upon further inspection, one can see that it is not sun bleaching but hundreds of thousands of nesting gulls which covers the rock and turns it white. It smelt really bad out there and I was constantly afraid of getting pooped on but I kept my mouth closed and my head down and I made it out unscathed!!! What was really crazy what that this lonely, rocky, treacherous island was once a prison for petty Scottish criminals. If you pulled a Jean Valjean and stole a loaf of bread an got caught, you'd be sent there. Apparently there were really awful conditions. I can only imagine, the island is constantly barraged by cold winds and damp mist. After our boat tour we drove 5min up the road to the deserted Trentallon Castle. It was one of two castles owned by a Scottish clan in Berwick a long time ago. Now, however, it's just fun to explore! I loved walking up the battlements and seeing the view from the top of a tower at the top of a cliff built over the sea. It was super windy and the wind kept trying to steal my scarf and coat but the view was amazing! I felt very Game of Thrones with my hair whipping around me and looking out over the sea.
Geekery in Cardiff...
Yesterday we explored Cardiff. For some this might mean going to the castle (as some people did) or seeing the Millenium football stadium (which I did). But for me, Cardiff was a chance to let out my geeky side even more than usual because a lot of Doctor Who is filmed in Cardiff! Cardiff is a city. There's really no other way to describe it. It looks like a city and feels like a city but closer to the water it gets really nice. The famous Opera house looms over the Mermaid Quay glinting bronze in the sunlight. The breeze was so lovely along the water and we walked along the pier all the way to the Doctor Who exhibit, which was AWESOME!!! You got to go on a fun little walking adventure with the Doctor through the Tardis and battle all his famous enemies, like the Daleks and the Weeping Angels. After the adventure there's a huge exhibit of costumes, sets, replicas and the Tardis herself. It was so fantastic to see so many people so proudly displaying their geekiness in one place, geeks unite!!! That afternoon, after a late and long lunch, we hopped on a water taxi and hung out in a park. I think we were all exhausted and tired of being in a city so it was nice to just sit, climb trees and read Macbeth. By 7 o clock though, you could tell we were donezo. We were tired and sunburnt and hot and dirty and greasy and sweaty (and covered in dried sweat too) and our feet hurt and we were just a mess! We had several legs of the voyage back to Cambridge. We went Cardiff to London Paddington then onto the underground to Liverpool station then home to Cambridge. Let me tell you, London is a fun and interesting place to be at 12am on a Saturday night, we saw so many interesting and crazy people, especially at Liverpool station (where, by the way, you have to pay 30p to pee... what a rip off!). The train back to Cambridge was packed with party goers and I had lovely little chat with the couple across from me who were coming back from drinks with friends in London. It was really interesting to talk to them because they love America and kept going on about how every city in America has everything you could ever need or want and how England is 5 years behind America. I thought this was funny because I'm here in England thinking "this is great, why go back?!" when here they are thinking "why would you come here? You've got it all where you are". It's very interesting to me to think about how people perceive their homes and, in many cases, take advantage of their homes... I definitely have a paper topic for my travel writing class after this weekend though!
Getting our feet wet...
On Friday we explored Bath. I wasn't expecting it to be as beautiful as it was. Bath is about 3hrs Southwest of Cambridge. The first thing I noticed about Bath were the seagulls. They were all over the place but I didn't mind because they were just a symbol of being a little bit closer to the ocean. Not only is Bath famous for the Roman Baths but they also boast about their Jane Austen heritage. Jane and her brothers and sister lived in Bath for a while for health reasons. The water in Bath has also been said to have magical healing properties. This myth goes all the way back to Roman times when Romans would bathe in the naturally warm mineral water to cleanse themselves and feel a deeper connection to the Goddess Minerva. When Jane's brother had gout he would drink 8 pints of the irony water every day before lunch. This may not seem like a lot but when you've tasted the hot, irony, salty water you can't even imagine how someone would voluntarily have more than a sip or two! Bath also has a lot of great parks and a small group of us enjoyed the afternoon sitting in Henrietta park among the flowers, ivy and low growing trees, napping and weaving flowers into each other's hair. Some of us explored a bit of the night life after grabbing some pizza. We went to a pub called the Pig and Fiddle which had a really great atmosphere and good scenery (a group of young, dapper British gentlemen were sitting at the table across from us)! Later we went out dancing which was hot, sweaty and made me temporarily deaf but still fun! After a busy day I just wanted to crash but it was so hot in our hostel (which was right above a bar) that it was a bit of a battle of wits between me and all the drunk people outside- who will win, the loud drunks or the persistent sleeper?! I think I won because I eventually fell asleep only to be woken too early the next morning by an alarm... on to the next adventure!
Tea in Grantchester...
This morning we walked the (approximately) 3 miles to the small town of Grantchester. We walked along the river and through fields a la Pride and Prejudice. It was really quintessentially English and I got my dog fix! I've been missing my baby boy, Jackson, but there were so many dogs out walking this morning that I got to say hi to. On our way to Grantchester we passed a cricket field as well. I still haven't figured out cricket despite it being on nearly every screen in every pub in Cambridge, I have figured out that it looks like a ton of fun though! Our main destination in Grantchester was The Orchard. It's this really adorable outdoor orchard (aptly named) which has morning coffee, luncheon and afternoon tea. I got a cheese scone with blackberry jelly and a pot of mint tea, it was absolutely delicious and oh so classy! I also had a major geek freak out because The Orchard has been a favorite of authors and actors since it opened up in 1897. Goosebumps erupted all over my arms and legs when I read that Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, AA Milne, Prince Charles, Emma Thompson, John Cleese, Stephen Fry, Eric Idle and Hugh Laurie have had tea in The Orchard. I could go on for pages and pages describing to you the exact scent of the blooming flowers or the way the trees draped over the tables creating a tent like feeling for diners but the poet, Rupert Brooke, does it much better than I ever could! Here's a bit of a poem he wrote titled The Old Vicarage, Grantchester:
Just now the lilac is in bloom,
All before my little room:
And in my flower-beds, I think,
Smile the carnation and the pink;
And down the borders, well I know,
The poppy and the pansy blow.....
Oh! There the chestnuts, summer through,
Beside the river make for you
A tunnel of green gloom, and sleep
Deeply above; and green and deep
The stream mysterious glides beneath,
Green as a dream and deep as death...
I mean, I guess he did an alright job... just kidding, this excerpt perfectly describes the beauty of Grantchester. It's one of those places where you could sit for hours with tea and a book (or without) and just be inspired all morning long!
Fe-ELY-ing Groovy...
Today we went to the near by town of Ely. It's about a 10min. train ride from Cambridge and is a bit smaller and adorable! Right when you get off the train you can see the Cathedral along the horizon. It's squat in the middle but has these great big turrets at the front and back which cast shadows in the surrounding gardens and streets. We went on a tour of the ground floor of the Cathedral where I learned some pretty interesting facts- which I now forget so how useful is that, right?- but I do remember some things, which I will now share with you lovely people! There has been something (foundation, church, cathedral, etc.) since the 700's. It was slowly built up to be a beautiful Catholic place of worship but it kept collapsing and having to be rebuilt due to structural issues. During the Protestant Reformation, all the decoration in the Cathedral was taken down or destroyed but has been redone since. While a lot of the art and newer architecture is from the Victorian era, some is more modern. There is also a small chapel on the left hand side of the Cathedral called the Lady Chapel who's walls are adorned with engravings of the Virgin Mary's life. There are also these hidden, carved faces throughout the Cathedral called green men. During the Black Plague the church decided to try Pagan gods and rituals to repel the plague which included adding statues of the green men to the Cathedral. The green men symbolize rebirth and the cycle of life as all the faces are surrounded by wreaths of ivy and other flora/fauna. I also learned that the Cathedral is used in a lot of movies. In The King's Speech, when Colin Firth and Georrfey Rush are practicing for Colin's coronation as King in Westminster Abbey, a lot of these scenes were filmed in Ely... generally, it's a rELY cool place!
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