Two Aussie girls in a quaint English college town

The other weekend Alli and I went to Cambridge, and discovered where England is hiding all of their good looking men – on the punting boats on the Cam River. I’m serious, I have never seen so many attractive guys in one spot in all my time in England. Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time down by the river that weekend.

Cambridge is a gorgeous little town, nicer than Bath I might even say, because it isn’t quite so touristy.

Alli and I took the train from Kings Cross on Saturday morning and 45 minutes and a good gossip later, arrived in Cambridge. I’m not sure if they layed it on just for our arrival, but the stench of horse manure was the first thing that hit us when we arrived. It was rather awful.

After dropping our bags off at our cheap and compact (but cute) hotel we walked the mile and a half into the city to begin our sightseeing – at H&M, where I contemplated purchasing a jumper because of the overcast weather and my stingy packing. Instead I bought a sequin top, which turned out to be a better investment as the sun came out and the day turned in to a beautiful one.

We walked through the town, and around the amazing Kings College, and headed down for our highly anticipated boat ride. Cambridge is famous for its river Cam and the punting boats. According to Wikipedia…

A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole. A punt should not be confused with a gondola, which is propelled by an oar rather than a pole.

Alli and I sat up the front of the boat, enjoying the sun and the views, and playing the ubiquitous travelling game – Tap That. It is Sparky, Bec and mine’s favourite game, and if you have travelled with us before you will know how to play it…

Saturday night Alli and I had an uber romantic meal at an outdoor Italian restaurant, where we got the party started with some champagne. Then we met up with some friends of Alli’s at where else but the Slug and Lettuce. After a bottle of wine and a couple of cocktails between us, we decided to call it a night.

We were up at a reasonable time and were in reasonable health, which is a rare occurance when Alli and I travel together. We made our way back into town and set ourselves up in a park beside the river, watching all the self punters run into each other and fall into the water – hilarious!

Sunday afternoon we visited Alli’s friend’s mum for lunch, before making our way back to the train station and then spending most of the trip back sleeping and sweating it out in a cattle class train.

Another thing to cross off on my “to do before I leave England” list!

Random thoughts

Redheads (or gingers or rangas or whatever you want to call them) look better with longer hair. It's like the more hair they have, the less red it looks.

Graham's Law (hi dad!) states that gases flow from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure. I think that people in elevators need to apply this theory and disperse themselves evenly rather than all cramming in to my lift.

A friend of mine at work who is deaf taught me how to say champagne in sign language and it is awesome. You pretend to pop the cork and then do fizzy hands. I am now hoping to encounter a deaf bar tender so that I can pull this one out. Is that politically incorrect?

I saw a train going through the automatic wash today, which was pretty cool.

There is a lady at work who's surname is the same as a processed meat. It makes me laugh everytime I see it.

Yeah, it's been a pretty quiet week, but...

This weekend I am going to Stockholm, and the weekend after that I am going to Bath, and then at Easter I am going to Disneyland Paris. Yay! Plus, Amber has had her Visa approved so should be back in London soon to stir up some trouble!

Coach trip!

I decided that it was time I saw a bit of the United State of England, so Kirstan and I joined a group of mostly middle aged people for whom English wasn’t their first language (yes, you too annoying American mom and daughter) and did a whirlwind tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath.

Starting at sparrow’s fart, we headed to Windsor Castle with its towering towers and its extravagant extravagance. No one wants to hear me harp on about a castle, so instead I shall interject with a photo...


We left Windsor and made our way to a pub in the middle of nowhere (Salisbury) via one of the most famous racetracks in the world. Thanks to dad’s detailed description of the rise of the course in the back straight I was able to identify it as Ascot before we came to the main entrance signage, impressing those eavesdropping around me. A pub lunch of bangers and mash just added to the whole Englishness of the day.

Then it was on to Stonehenge, Kirstan’s highlight of the day. It is rather strange that they don’t quite know how or why this amazing stone arrangement was erected (he he he!) thousands of years ago. If you want to know more, go to Wikipedia. Now for some more of my fabulous photography skills...

Kirstan and I nearly got left behind because we were purchasing hot spiced apple tea (think liquid apple pie awesomeness), but just made it on to the bus and had to endure some glares on our way to Bath.

Even though several people told me how lovely Bath was, I wasn’t expecting much. However, it is one of the most gorgeous little towns I’ve been to. We did a tour of the natural spring (our third audio tour of the day, any more and my ears would have started bleeding I fear), where Kirstan had a little paddle despite the numerous verbal and written warnings.

Just in case all this writing was starting to make your eyes bleed, here are some more photos...

With a bag full of presents for my darling nephews and niece and a camera full of (mostly in focus) photos, Kirstan and I made it back to Ye Olde London Town feeling like we'd seen a bit more of this small island.

"And you my love, won't you take my hand? We'll go back in time to that mystic land, Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow, I will take you there, I will show you how"

Stonehenge, Spinal Tap