Day 38: Princeton

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I was too stingy to pay for a cab to the train station so I ended up trekking across Philadelphia with all my stuff, and arrived looking like a tramp. Luckily I didn't have to wait long for a local train to Trenton and then a connection to Princeton Junction. Someone, I can't remember who, explained to me why the trains are so rubbish here. The tracks are owned and maintained by freight companies. This means (a) passenger trains have to go really slowly, as the tracks aren't designed for speed, and (b) freight trains get priority, so every time there's one coming past you have to wait in a siding for ages. Anyway, whinge over, after I arrived Judith picked me up and we went back to her house where Abu and Maria (a friend of Judith's from Cambridge) were waiting. We had to go to a supermarket to grab food for the weekend, but then we headed into town to see the university campus. Veerrryyy nice, although obviously not a touch on Balliol. The sports facilities were also incredible - we need to make rich alumni in Oxford get involved!

We then began our trip to the Jersey Shore. En route we stopped off in a mall because it had a cheesecake facotry (not that I like cheesecake) and ate lunch in a diner. We then got back in the car and made our way to Belmar Beach which we'd been told was nice. We weren't disappointed. You have to pay to go on New Jersey beaches before 4pm so we timed our arrival well. After much persuasion Abu even swam, and we all had fun throwing around an American football with some French Canadians we met (one of them had a sister at LSE - small world).

As the sun started to set we (and everyone else on the Jersy Shore) drove over to the boardwalks where there are tacky restaurants, arcade games and fairground rides (a bit like Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach). The others had massive bowls of nachos for supper, but considering I'd spent all afternoon munching on the sweets that Simon had posted out to me I stuck to a side of sweetcorn. We had great fun watching the arcade games but were too skint to do them ourselves, and then had to leave quite early to get ABu to the 11.10 train to NY from Princeton.

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Photos

A Princeton tiger
Apparently it's bad luck to sit on it

The chapel
Built in the 1920s and based on the one at Kings College, Cambridge

The football stadium
Seats 17,000, which is more than cntre court at Wimbledon

BG!
We saw this guinea pig in a pet shop in the mall. I think it must be BG reincarnated