Kings and bus drivers.

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It had been a few days since I had acted really touristy so I decided to head into Cambridge city to rectify this. It's not a particularly large city from what I could see, in fact I was surprised at how close some things are smooshed in together. Especially the colleges. They are all practically on top of each other.

So it was like nine in the morning when I spotted a shopping mall. What's a girl to do? Explore of course! To be fair I hadn't really had time so far to check out the fashion so this was the day.

Oh my lord I was blown away! The clothes over here are to die for! Not to mention the shoes and bags... Such range... Such style.... But urrrgh such prices. That's the problem with not earning in pounds at the moment, I almost can't bear to buy anything cause when I convert it back to nz dollars it's just tragic. So window shopping it is for now! But OMG Jane Norman, top shop, river island, miss self ridge, monsoon and oasis just absolutely captured my heart.

However, I do think it's a crime for me to live here and not make the most of this stunning fashion. If you also agree then please send all donations to 83 highfield drive, little port, Ely. I will take all sorts of currency and send you a photo of my awesome purchases!

The funny thing is since moving here i have mostly observed people wearing jeans and a hoodie. Casual and kinda boring. Certainly not the short shorts and crop tops that are everywhere. It's far too cold for that kinda behavior! But the UK supplies it all anyway including an excessive amount of jandels for a country with a better track record of mud than sun. Seriously though it kinda cracked me up when I realized that there are more brands of jandels here than in australia.

Anyway back to Cambridge!

I went punting down the river in the early morning and it was such super fun! Jolly times indeed! The tour taken by the lovely Lucy (such a sweetie) took me and three Japanese tourists down past the seven main colleges of Cambridge including Trinity college (still the richest and most prestigious), kings college, queens college, Clare's college, st johns college and Morton's. Also we saw the kings college chapel, sir Christopher wrens library and the bridge of sighs. It was a really beautiful and interesting tiki tour. As we went in the morning we practically had the river to ourselves. By the way the river is called the river Cam and there used to be only one bridge to cross it hence the name cam-bridge now known as Cambridge! Interesting stuff!

After that I decided had to see inside the kings college chapel as I had heard such good things about it. So I paid a hefty fee (in other words a bit of a rip off) to go inside and actually it was pretty darn amazing. It took 100 years to complete during the reins of both King Henry VII and VIII who wanted to build a college to rival those overseas. A lot of the architecture and interior design was completed just after the wars of the roses so the Tudor rose and other Tudor emblems are pretty much everywhere inside. It is really beautiful, intricate and impressive work especially considering the era in which it was built. I was also really lucky to witness the kings college symphony orchestra practicing inside for their end of term concert. My word they were good. This was really the cherry on top of the cake as it just added to the completely magical spiritual and inspiring experience I was already having.

I then brought some candy and carried on my aimless wandering, ending up down some cute lil streets with boutique shops including an old style sweet store that was huge and just filled with jars of sweet treats! It was like something out of willy wonkas!

Almost had an argument with the bus driver on the way back. He was like "you don't want this bus" and I was like "what the..? Um yes I do actually.." weirdo. I then actually had to explain why I wanted to take that bus! But it made me chortle as it kinda just encapsulates the customer service (or lack of) I have received thus far. When you go to get groceries they wont smile and they actually watch while you pack your own bags! Even if they can see you are struggling. Sometimes you don't even get acknowledged in a retail store. I have been to a couple of the places where the retail assistants will just carry on their convos and when they are ready they will look at you like "what do you want". So Ive decided im going to try get a retail job as it looks like the easiest thing on the planet. I mean if I smile at someone and ask them how their day went I will probably get an employee of the month award!

Another thing I have noticed is that everyone bikes around here but apparently New Zealand is one of the only places in the world to enforce a helmet law. Strange as England has such strict health and safety laws for pretty much everything else. (Exhibit A being the "no bumping while on the bumper cars" signs at the arcade.) Maybe I should get a bike while here. It can transport me places and keep me away from grumpy bus drivers too! Win win situation!

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