Thursday, October 8, 2009

The Beginning of Time

So our first week in October has been very exhausting. I took my driver’s test and passed so I am now legally allowed to drive. My next step is to learn to drive stick hopefully; I find it very unlikely though since driving stick over here is crazy, especially in Cambridge. While I was in driving class Rob was in school also. He spent the week in classes for being a dedicated crew chief. On Friday, I spent the day at school for orientation and Rob had his last day of class. It was also our 6-month anniversary. So once I got home from school we got decked out and went out to dinner at a cute little Greek restaurant in town. We made it an early night knowing we had to get up early the next day to go on a trip that my school had planned. We were to meet up with everyone from school at around 10 right on the River Thames. This meant we had to leave the house around 730 to make sure we got there on time. The day started out with a boat tour on the River Thames this was all the way to Greenwich. The boat ride was about an hour and freezing cold but it was definitely cool to see the city that way. Plus the tour guide pointed out places that you should definitely visit, so we now have more things on our list to see.

(Tower of London)

(Tower Bridge)

(London Bridge)

(Ministry of Defense)

(Big Ben)

Once in Greenwich the professor who planned it gave us a very short tour of places we should go back and see during the free time that was planned. Well during our free time we went and got Mexican food, the first time since we have been here. It was delicious and it was a chance to warm up. After that we headed to the Greenwich market, which used to be a farmers market but over the years has turned into an arts and crafts market. From there we headed back to Greenwich Park and walked up the hill to the Royal Observatory. This is where the line of longitude was discovered. There was much debate about where the Prime Meridian should be, but since it was discovered in Greenwich they wanted it to be there especially since this is where people who were travelling in by boat would change their clocks. So on the top of one of the buildings there is a red ball that at 1p.m. hits the top and falls immediately afterwards.

This means that boats would sit on the river and wait for the ball to hit the top so they knew to set the clocks to 1. So while we were at the observatory, we stood in both hemispheres at the same time.

(Standing on separate hemispheres)

After the Royal Observatory we headed to the Queens House, which is where Anne of Denmark lived. She was the wife of King James I. It was built because they couldn’t stand each other and their relationship started off very rocky and things got worse. Behind the Queens House is where the King used to hunt and when she first got there he asked if she would like him to take her dog for a walk while they were hunting. Well while they were hunting he “accidentally” shot and killed the dog. She moved to the house shortly after to keep her out of the kings business. After the Queens House we headed to the Palace of Placentia, this is where King Henry the VII was born and so was his daughters Mary and Elizabeth.

(Queens House and Palace of Placentia)

We went there just to see the Painted Hall and the Chapel. There really are no words to describe either of them. Walking into both rooms they leave you speechless. We decided that it was time to go home so we jumped on the train and two hours later we were home. From there we headed to a guys house that Rob works with, he was having a party and we really wanted to go no matter how long our day was going to be. It was a good time and we ended up spending the night there. Sunday was a day to relax. We laid on the couch all day.

(London Skyline behind us)

Monday, October 5, 2009

Last Weekend in September

We actually had a busy weekend. Of course this wasn’t planned but it did happen. We spent Saturday morning around the house doing absolutely nothing so I got online and looked up stuff to do in Cambridge that wouldn’t break our wallet. We knew that there was a zoo nearby but they closed at 5 and it was already 2:30 so we looked up to see if anything was open later than that. We found out about a wildlife park that was open till 6. Not much later but enough time for us to get out of our pajamas and out of the house and still spend a decent amount of time there. Shepreth Wildlife Park is about 15 minutes from our house and really cute. Right when we entered the park, we saw this crazy looking animal that neither of us have ever seen.

Most of the animals were in areas that I could reach over and touch them although there were signs that said the animals’ bite. The fact that they could jump over these walls though, frightened me. All the birds were completely caged… thank god. They had three different types of ponies that I wanted to feed. If you got to the park early enough in the day you were able to feed the ponies and goats. The last time I fed a goat I think I was about 10 and it started eating my hair but I was very excited to feed them. It is a shame that we got there 2 hours before the park closed so feeding them was not an option. We went into the Reptile house and there were no real cages and there was a monkey that was just jumping around over your head. I was not a fan. I love seeing animals I don’t really like to be close enough that it could jump on me though. After the ponies we followed the signs for Big Cats. This also led us near the nocturnal house, I figured that if they are letting monkeys and lizards roam free they probably have bats in there just flying around so I refused to go in. We finally got to the big cats and were let down because the tigers weren’t out. You could still see them, they kept them in 2 separate rooms but you could go to see them both. It was cool because the tigers would come right up to the glass and you really see how big they are.

The other big cats that we saw were Mountain Lions, but compared to the tigers they were house kittens. Our other favorite animal there was the wolf. They had two of them and they were so cute, reminds me of why I want a husky. They followed us as we walked along their cage, so adorable. After that we walked around a little longer and then headed home.

On Sunday we decided to go see the American War Cemetery in Cambridge. The cemetery is for American soldiers who died in England during the wars in Europe. There is also a wall full of names for soldiers who were in unknown graves. It’s a beautiful place and really informative.