Tourist-y Things

Since we've had this week off, we've done a lot more exploring. When we got tired of that, we bought bus passes (excellent purchase) and wandered even more. We found the schools we will be teaching at, the college that we are associated with, lots of bus stops, useful stores (Poundland- it's like the dollar store, but in pounds), good pubs, and good food, both at the pubs and at other restaurants. Since our program doesn't really start until tomorrow, we've had to find our own food, and since we don't have access to any kitchen stuff or refrigeration, this has resulted in lots of eating out. Fortunately, Britain's reputation of horrible food is not completely deserved. We've found some decent "filled baguettes," which are basically mini sub sandwiches, delicious pizza (Liz's favorite) and little cafes with a variety of options. Keenan would love it here- there's Chinese takeout places everywhere!

We've also done some "quintessential Cambridge" things (that's from an advertising flyer we saw). On Friday, we went punting- basically a boat tour in a little boat

that is pushed along the bottom of the river with a long pole. You can either self-hire to try it yourself or go on a guided tour. After seeing some people doing self-hires, we were very glad that we weren't doing it ourselves! One guy floating by in the other direction called out to our guide, who was very good, to ask if he had any tips. He didn't, but I thought he might have more luck if he turned the boat around so that is was facing the right direction...

Anyway, we saw lots of interesting and famous places.

Here's the Cam Bridge. Kind of important, since they named the city after it.

This building has the most Virginia Creeper growing on it of any building in Britain. An odd honor.

Kings College Chapel (and dorms?)

The Mathematical Bridge. It's made entirely of straight pieces of wood, and according to our tour guide, if you took out all of the bolts holding it together, it would still stand. I'm not sure if I believe

this, because if it's true, why'd they use the bolts?

The Bridge of Sighs. There are several around the world. The three I remember are the original, in Venice (or somewhere in Italy), which prisoners would walk over on their way to be executed, and so would sigh; this one, which students cross from dorms to where they take exams; and one in Oxford, over which the guide says they sigh and wish they were studying at Cambridge!