Out and About

I thought since its about the middle of the trip, some observations were in order. First a note- I am trying something different with the pictures. they are now on the right hand column to keep the posts smaller. They are of Kings College here in Cambridge (more on that later) and a couple from the Cambridge Botanical Garden.

Lets talk about the bathrooms here (I am sure many are suprised it took me this long to bring this topic up). Almost every sink has a different faucet for hot and cold water. The cold is frigid and the hot is scalding. It makes washing one's hands quite difficult. Paper towels to dry ones hands are also a rare commodity, opting instead for the air driers. The toilets have very deep basins with little water in them initially. This would lead one to believe that they are in to the whole low-flow thing to conserve water. That would be a mistake because upon the instant of flushing a great tidal surge comes from some unknown place with a teriffic swishing noise.

Also in the realm of food, somethings translate well and others don't. From our end I can tell you this, the Irish Stew at Fenians in Jackson tastes quite like the Irish Stew in Ireland, so I recommend checking it out. The English do very well with hamburgers, pizza, nachos, and many other typical American foods. Chicken wings however are lost in translation. They are often tasty but not really what we would consider "traditional" back home. At one place, the hot wings tasted like they were covered in marinara sauce. Which is not a bad way to eat chicken though it was unexpected.

Nicole points out another thing the English do exceptionally better than we do... sandwiches. They sell them pre-packaged like they do in gas stations back home. In contrst to back home where these sandwiches are to be avoided, everyone eats them here. They are very good also. The more mundane flavors are BLT and Club. Many are more extravagant. Some contain seafood, prawns, salmon, and the like (we have avoided these).

Around Cambridge is very nice. A couple of days ago I went to the Botanical Gardens. They were very interesting. Lots of flowers, trees, and plants. In one place they were even growing sugar peas and squash. They also had a hot house which had pineapples, limes, and cacti. That was an odd sight in England. Yesterday, we went to see the King's College Choir. The chapel is an amazing gothic structure made up of basically stone and stained glass. They had some of the most intricate stained glasses I have ever seen. The choir sang wonderfully, but the service was difficult to understand because of the echo off of the stone. I can only imagine how that place looks decked out for Christmas. We are starting to explore Cambridge and finding it well worth exploring.

Cheerio