Cold, Rainy and Windy aka. Welcome to England

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After only one week of work, it is a three-day Bank Holiday weekend! Bank Holidays are public holidays akin to Memorial Day and Labor Day in the US, however, they are generally granted with the sole intent of giving everyone a day off and not in celebration of anything in particular.

On Saturday, my friend Carolyn Donohue (who is currently on a week-long layover in Norwich on her way to a summer job in Berlin) came down to explore Cambridge with me for the afternoon. Carolyn and I have visited both Cambridge and Norwich together previously on a Church youth group trip that we went on in 2002--so we set off to see the not-so-stereotypical sites that Cambridge has to offer. First, we visited what we thought was the site of the Cavendish laboratories (the site where Watson and Crick made their infamous discovery regarding the structure of DNA... poor Rosalind Franklin). Carolyn's grandfather, Jerry Donohue, was an x-ray crystallographer in Cambridge at the time and actually shared an office with the duo. His help in deciphering the structure of guanine was imperative in Watson and Crick's work and he is thanked in the Nature paper they published about their findings. To top it off, Jerry Donohue has his own wikipedia site (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Donohue)--which according to Carolyn has legitimized his fame. Next, we awkwardly meandered through the Eagle Pub (with no intention to have a drink or a meal), the site where Watson and Crick formally announced their discovery. In the back of the Eagle Pub is the RAF bar. The ceiling and walls of the RAF bar are filled with inscriptions burnt by the cigarette lighters of British and American WWII Air Force officers prior to their deployments to Europe. Afterwards we went across the street to the Fitzwilliam Museum--primarily, because neither of us had ever been inside and because its FREE. The museum has a modest but impressive art collection with contributions from Monet, Degas, Renoir, Picasso and Matisse.

After visiting the museum Carolyn and I jumped on a train to Norwich to hang out with her old flat mates (Carolyn spent last year studying at Norwich's University of East Anglia). We went out to UEA's LCR (Lower Common Room) which by day, hosts an indoor farmers market and by night is a student club with a capacity of 3000. Despite being in the middle of exams the place was almost filled to capacity.

We slept in quite a while on Sunday only to wake up to an onslaught of horrible British weather. Unfortunately, the rain, wind and cold was not remedied by a change in geographic location as I made my way back on the train to Cambridge. I spent the rest of the day and the better part of today under a pile of warm blankets cuddled up with a warm cup of tea staying as far away as possible from the drafty windows. As luck would have it students do not have control over the radiators in the rooms--and we are at the mercy of the college for the heating to be turned on.

I forgot to bring my camera's USB cable so for the meantime (until my parent's come to visit in two weeks) I still can't upload any pictures.

Cheers!

Sarah

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Comments

[Sara]

I'm a better friend than you because I'm actually reading your travel blog, lol. Sounds like you guys had fun checking out free things. I'm all for the free stuff. I can't wait to see photos!