Cambridge, England, Country 6, Stop 14

New country for the kids!!!

July 22

***Dmitri: After a long wait at the Zadar airport, we catch our dirt-cheap flights on Ryanair to the UK. Ryanair is a flying commercial and upsell in the air, so if you can ignore that part it’s a great deal. In any case, this gets us to Stanstead Airport, which is a smaller airport north of London. From there it’s an hour cab ride to Cambridge, which holds a special place for me. I did a month here in summer school just ages ago, between my Sophomore and Junior years at USC. It was an idyll, filled with foreign students, heady lectures on medieval literature and life, and a month in this beautiful university town. Pubs, punts, pints, shops, colleges and beautiful buildings. Will it hold up to the nostalgia? I’m excited to share this one with the kids.***

Son and father watch a movie together at the Zadar airport and have the same reaction.

We stay at the Fellows House Hotel in Cambridge and it is wonderful. Plenty of space, small kitchen area, gym and pool, great location. We think we will be quite happy here the next 5 days. Until....

Our shower overflows. Like it's a lake in the bathroom. The hotel front desk seems to think we are just fussy Americans when Dmitri asks like 3 times to have someone come and take a look at it. Then when someone finally does, he tells us that the whole thing need to be rebuilt. Feeling somewhat vindicated, we switch rooms. No big deal. All is right again and we are able to take showers without flooding the room.

July 23

We have a great first full day in Cambridge. Mia says it doesn’t feel real. And it doesn’t. It’s like we are walking around inside a Harry Potter movie. It doesn’t hurt that there are graduations going on and various students walking around in regalia. We walk around and then decide to go on a punting tour, which is a lot of fun. It's a gorgeous day. We have expected grey skies and drizzle and it's sunny and beautiful. We visit one of Dmitri's old haunts, The Anchor, and even find a place to get decent Mexican food! Dmitri visits his old college, Selwyn.

We cap off the day with takeaway Chinese food and an English game show on the television.

July 24, 2021

We walk all around the city centre for most of the day, making our way around Cambridge. We visit a Sainsbury's.

While some people have been maskless since the UK's Freedom Day on the 19th of July, we still wear masks while indoors. Mia and Dmitri find a well-loved treat, a Battenberg cake:

And we find other items that make us giggle. It's SO fun to visit grocery stores in other countries.

Mia gets her first taste of clotted cream. And loooooves it. Since we have a mini kitchen in our hotel room, we stock up on scones and clotted cream from the store.

And to wind down, we watch another game show. Why are foreign game shows SO much more fun than the ones back home? Our new obsession is called The Wheel. It is so funny and we have a blast watching it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wheel_(game_show)

July 25

Another day, more gorgeous weather. So what to do but stroll around and enjoy.

Mia and I have our eyes on this drink on this drink posted outside our hotel. We decide we have to go and try it out.

It's called Life on Earth

July 26

And our time at Cambridge is coming to a close. We've had a great time, but it's time to pack up and get ready to head to London tomorrow. Wish we could have stayed in Cambridge for a month. Mia is starting to think she might like to do a semester abroad here. And I am wondering if Dmitri could get a year teaching in Cambridge....

***Dmitri: Well, it held up! Cambridge is a gorgeous university town, and it's not a whole lot different than 20 years ago. That's not surprising seeing as it's over 900 years old. Punting, still great. Pubs here, still great!***