"Punting on the Cam Under Bridges", or "Cambridge" for short

Cambridge is like San Luis Obispo in that it is a little college town in a beautiful area. However, it's been around centuries longer, and the architecture is slightly more intricate and breathtaking. We had such an amazing time in this town with our friends Eric and Nicki Appel. Eric is part of Jesus college studying Chemistry and Nicki is a nurse, and they have been there for a year so far.
Jordi and I finally made it to their little apartment - after a red eye flight, the wrong bus tickets, buying more tickets, a two hour bus ride, and a trek through the town with backpacks the size of donkeys on our back.
Their apartment is made of old stone, with a bright blue front door, right on Jesus Lane across from the college - perfect :)
We were so exhausted from not sleeping in a long while, and I was starting to get sick, so Nicki graciously gave us their bed where we proceeded to pass out like rocks for the rest of the day. Eric came home in the afternoon, and they woke us up to go for a walk.
The town is incredible to walk through. Narrow winding alleyways with ancient stone buildings on either side, cobblestone plazas, tea houses and English pubs on every corner, and views of Kings Chapel from almost everywhere in town.
We got sausages from the Sausage Cart (looks like he belongs in Disneyland) and they showed us the oldest pub in town. This pub had gardens and a pretty outside area, as well as tons of tiny little nooks and crannies, with fire places and cozy chairs. There were tons of names burned on the roof, apparently from soldiers in World War Two. As Eric said, Cambridge is so cool because "it's the real thing!" All the coats of arms and World War memorabilia arn't just decoration!
That night we rode bikes across town to a comedy show. It was a funny show, and it was awesome to ride bikes through town :)
The next day was Saturday, and I was feeling pretty sick. Nicki had to work, but Eric showed us around a few of the colleges (getting us in for free, which was great!) and inside Kings Chapel. Later we went to the park where Eric and Jord played frisbee while I slept on the grass. The grass was so green and the trees were starting to turn colors, it was a beautiful afternoon in the park!
Afterwards we meandered back into town for my most favorite English tradition: tea and scones. We went to a little place called Aunties, on the corner of the plaza. The traditional tea is English Breakfast with milk, and a huge puffy scone with clotted cream and fresh jam. It's pretty much amazing!
We hung out the rest of the afternoon, and when Nicki came home we made fajitas (they've mastered the art of making Mexican food in England) and watched James Bond :)
Sunday we bounced out of bed and rushed to church, which I think was called Christs Church. It was a small walk from their house, in an old church building. The message was on Science and Religion, and at the end the pastor asked Eric and two other students from Cambridge (studying science) to come speak a bit about being a Christian in the Science world. It was very interesting, one guy talked about how Science asks the question "how?" whereas Christianity asks the question "why?" so really they are very much compatible. Eric spoke on how the topic of Christianity always becomes more personal than scientific when he is talking with his colleagues.
After church, we went on a huge long walk through the town and meadows along the river to a pub situated on the banks of the river. They had a huge grassy area along the water with dozens of tables everywhere. It was a beautiful sunny day, so I think all of Britain was hanging out outside, and most of them were at the tables on the grassy area of this pub, including us. We got some tiny glasses of cider and chatted for over an hour until our food was very huffily put in front of us. (I am SO sorry I am at your restaurant ordering food. Please forgive me for existing, and I will never trouble you to bring me the food I paid for ever again!) But the food was good - British, so very saucy and fried. Then we all went to the bank of the river and layed down and took a good little nap in the sun. It was so nice and relaxing! As soon as the sun went behind the clouds, we got up and trecked over an hour through the meadows and town back home. I loved thinking that all I had done that day is go to church and go out for lunch, but with all the walking and waiting and napping, it was already evening!
That night two other American couples that the Appels are friends with came over for a BBQ. All the boys bbq'd outside and we had a good American feast, complete with vegetables and fruit (inventions the British haven't discovered yet.)
Monday, the next and final day of our Cambridge adventures, we woke up and rode our bikes to meet Eric, who was already working. We then all 4 rode our bikes to the outskirts of town, tied them up, and continued our journey to Granchester by foot. The whole walk was, as Nicki described it, "exactly like Pride and Prejudice". You know the part where she walks through the meadows to get to her sister who is sick? It really is like that, and it is incredibly beautiful! There are tons of cows who watch you walk by in their sorrowful way, and big trees and the pretty winding river. We got to Granchester to a place called the Orchard, which is a tea garden where you litterally sit under the apple trees in the orchard! We went into the old wooden house where you pick out a huge puffy scone from the basket and order a pot of tea, and then take your tray to a table in the orchard. It's so fun, and so pretty! We sat under the apple trees (which can also be dangerous - 2 huge apples fell right next to us!) But anyways, we thoroughly enjoyed our English breakfast tea with milk, and Scones with cream and jam. Also, we were sitting in the same orchard that Virginia Woolfe, and countless other authors and poets used to come and try to outwit eachother. How could we not thoroughly enjoy ourselves??
After a good long time sitting in the "spotted sun" (the English never say party cloudy, they always say partly sunny, sunny spells, or spots of sun - it's very optimistic) we headed back to town. Eric took us into Trinity (i think) to see the oldest library ever! They had a first edition collection of Shakespeare plays, and Sir Isaac Newtons notebook with his notes on Principia Mathematica. And perhaps my favorite: the rough draft copy of Winnie the Pooh! Apparently the writer went to Cambridge. I read in Milne's cursive about Piglets birthday party and Owl writing the card - very fun :)
The rest of the afternoon Jordi and I spent running around town trying to figure out if we could get a phone or Skype from our Ipod, but both ideas failed, so we are now stuck with payphones and internet cafe's. Oh well :/
That evening we met down by the river and rented a punting boat. Eric was pro at it, and took us all the way down without any hitches. It is such a beautiful ride, going under all the bridges from all the different colleges. On the way back, Jordi punted, and did a very good job! We had a good talk about Isaac, which I appreciated, and then went out for pizza.
The next morning, we woke up early, packed up, and headed out for our bus to London. We very sadly said goodbye to the Appels, with whom we had the best time ever! I loved staying there with them and getting a feel for their life in England. I'm also glad we got to spend so much time in Cambridge, a place many tourists only touch on. We had a great time getting to know Eric and Nicki better, and are so grateful for their hospitality and generosity!
Now on to London....