Cambridge and Jack the Ripper.

So, Friday was a damp, cold day here in England, and coincidentally, the perfect day to go on a field trip to the city of Cambridge. I took Plagues and Peoples, the history book I was supposed to read for my History of Medicine class, with all the good intentions to read it through the two and a half hour bus trip. Of course, all the best laid plans are easily forgotten, as I promptly fell asleep 10 minutes into the drive!

ZzzzzZZzzzzZZzzz…

It was a nice nap, though. I woke up in not so sunny Cambridge, got a coffee and hazelnut and toffee cake-pastry-thing, which was very tasty. We waited in the cold for our tour guide, which I probably would have been irked at if I hadn’t had my nice, warm cup of coffee. =D

Our guide’s name was David, a very spunky old man who must have been inwardly laughing at the sight of 12 straggling college students huffing and puffing behind him trying to keep up the pace.

This is a picture I snapped--I had to run to catch up with the group!

David was yet another in a long list of guides I’m sure Dad would have got along with splendidly—he was full of very interesting (and mostly useless) information and was an absolute master of “bunny-holing” as I call it, i.e. the ability to get distracted from telling the main story by telling 17 other stories (of varying relevance), but able to finally tie everything together in the end. This is very impressive, despite the fact that it takes about 20 minutes to say something that would normally only take 10. Interesting, but after about two hours of walking around in the cold learning about obscure town politicians, astronomers and philosophers most of us were ready to call it quits.

Why doesn't Fresno State look like this?!

Me and Josh...I love his expression. Hee hee!

This is the interior of King's College: founded by Henry VIII. He might have had some serious issues with women, but he was a firm believer in a good education!

This is the courtyard of King's College. Our guide said it is the biggest college courtyard in Britain. It is also the site of the real life Chariots of Fire scene where the guys raced around the courtyard to beat the clock. Although the scene in the movie was filmed at Eaton College near Windsor, this was where it really happened! Cool that.

Our tour ended at this old Norman church. Traveler's prayed for a safe journey here in the Middle Ages. It's really small and circular, based of a church in Italy built by the Emperor Constantine. The circular design is supposed to emphasize the cycle of life and death.

After being released by the Oracle of Cambridge, we bee-lined back to The Eagle Pub, the oldest pub in Cambridge and the favourite (hee hee) haunt of several notables, most of which I can’t remember now.

I think the scientists Watson and Crick, who “discovered” the DNA double helix, studied and debated with their contemporaries there. Anyhoo, we ate lunch there, and it was good! Chris Jones entertained us with his vast knowledge of Disney trivia (most of which I knew already, but I humored him. =D).

After lunch we explored this little market. There were some very pretty flowers there, but Marika, my very responsible roommate, told me not to get any. I guess they are a waste of money, but they're so pretty and happy looking!

:(

Everything is starting to bloom over here due to the warm weather; all the fresh flowers are putting my in a spring-time mood. I can buy around 20 daffodils at Tesco for one pound. They bloom beautifully and the flat looks so much cheerier with them around. ^_^

As we headed back to the bus, it began to rain. It wasn’t particularly raining hard, but the drops were so big that I was immediately soaked. My pant legs were wet and caked in mud. I’m sure Tony, our bus driver, was so happy to see 25 wet and muddy people climb back onto his clean bus. Oh well…Sorry, Tony!

We saw this sign on the way back to London. I surprised they don't have a sign with a silhouette of dancing people that reads: "College Students."

The rest of the weekend was spent putting off writing my Plagues and Peoples essay. I almost have it done now, but it’s due by midnight. I still have a few hours to waste, hence why I’m writing this blog. La la la~

Sunday night, Gurinder from Flat G and I rode the Hammersmith and City Line east to Aldgate where we began our nightly tour of Jack the Ripper’s London. Yes…we followed in his footsteps, heard about the gruesome murders he committed in the 1880’s and learned about how much London had changed through the decades since Jack’s day.

Most of ‘old’ London is now gone; it was either bombed during WWII or town down and renovated in the 1950’s and 60’s, so needless to say, most of the sites we visited were very modern, but our guide gave us old photographs to help us imagine what the streets would have looked like through Jack the Ripper’s eyes.

He was a pretty creepy dude, that Jack. What’s even stranger is that they never positively identified him. Back then, east London was full of darkened alleys, smoke, fog and flickering gaslights…it’s no wonder they never caught him! He could simply fade back into the shadows and fog. Even though we know he’s been dead for a hundred years, Gurinder and I were still pretty freaked out. I dead-bolted the door that night, just to be safe. I don’t want any Jack the Ripper wannabe after me! >_<>

*determined*