Wednesday, April 23, 2008

England Day 3 - Cambridge

On Sunday, our third day in England, my mom, Monica, Charlie, and I went to Cambridge. I spent my junior year studying there, and hadn't been back since I'd finished that year (three years ago). Monica and Charlie had also studying in Cambridge, and my mom had visited while I was there, so it was fun to all go back together.

We got up pretty early, made our way to King's Cross Station (the nostalgia setting in already) and boarded a train to Cambridge. When we arrived, everything was familiar, including the walk from the station to the city center - which had always seemed to take forever, because you were either on the way to the station, running late for your train, or on the way back from the station, tired from traveling.

Before long were to the corner that led to the place where I had lived. The one-pound discount shop on the corner had been turned into a department store. But we made it to Botolph Lane, and Botolph Court (where I had lived) was exactly the same. It's probably been the same since it was built in the 1800's...We also saw the hot cocoa place that was right outside my door, though unfortunately for us, it was closed.
From there, we went into Corpus Christi College and saw all the familiar sites - the food hall where I'd eaten most days, the new court and old court where friends had lived, and all sorts of other fun things.We walked up Trumpington Street and went to the market in the city center. We spent time just wandering the streets remembering where people had lived, which places we had gotten tea at (which was practically all of them), and reminiscing.

We had lunch at Cafe Uno near the River Cam and a place renting punts. After lunch, we walked along the backs of the colleges, which was beautiful as always.

We stayed in Cambridge until around 5pm, and then headed back to London. Once in London, my mom and I headed to Leister Square to have dinner with Jackie and Sunita, who had just returned from two weeks or so of traveling. We ate at a place in Chinatown that was pretty good, and then headed back to Monica's, where Jackie and Sunita had left some luggage. We chatted a bit there and then they headed back to Oxford, where Sunita is studying, and my mom and I got a bit of sleep.

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