The weekend was overflowing and after our first full week here I had begun to wonder what Cambridge looked like at night. When you have children your quiet evenings become a luxury savoured in the comfort of your own home but one of my favourite times to take pictures is at dusk and at night time when the streets are a little emptier and lighting a challenge. So we set out after dinner in search of ice cream…we managed to find some….can you tell?
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| On Mill Road there are all sorts of treasures like this liquor store where you can find almost any kind of beer from any country. |
As promised the city was enchanting and mystical. The stained glass windows glowed with pictures of saints, warm and reverent . Alleys stood eerie yet romantic as we watched for Sherlock Holmes to emerge from a doorway into the single lamp light upon the cobble stone walk.
But here is the thing about Cambridge: while it seems to pop right out of a history book it is still a real place, with real people, that eat fast food….and then throw their garbage on the street or in the canal. So just yards from the most amazing architectural structures and glimmering canals….
there is garbage, streams littered with pollution and waste.
I will say, Cambridge is a relatively clean city, but I want to show you all of Cambridge, not just the pristine college greens or crisp autumn scenes. I want to capture the parts of Cambridge that other photographers/tourists don’t publish. So there you have it.
Anyway, after a glimpse of the finiteness of humanity we headed over to the Food and Garden Festival on Parker’s Pieces. It was wonderful. There were rides for the kids, samples galore, steak and kidney pies, archery, crafts, wood carving: you name it.
And contrary to what you are probably thinking the pollution was just the “bad”. The ugly was the kids after a full day in town after being up late…we’ll just leave it at that. So we went home full of mini sausages and danishes and vegged out with a glass of wine and a new blockbuster membership.
Today, being Sunday, we went to church at The Great St. Mary’s. Review to follow in another post but I will say that there is something to worshipping in a Gothic Cathedral only to emerge afterward into Market square ready for lunch.
From there we hopped on the bus out to Fulbourne. Fulbourne is one of the many small villages which comprise Cambridgeshire. The reason for our mini-tour was the Cambridge Down Syndrome Group’s summer party. That’s right, Down Syndrome does exist in Cambridge and the families are just as amazingly delightful as the ones in Canada, (including the kid that pulled Ella’s hair with both hands- the poor girl, this is the second time this has happened since we arrived.)
There was a tonne of fun activities and of course, lots of food, and good company. It was so good to get connected and share stories with seasoned moms whose children were much old than Ella and a new mom who was brave enough to come and show off her adorable six-week old angel.
The house is really coming together. The living room finally feels warm and welcoming, the kitchen is getting worn in (despite my attempt at chocolate chip cookies tonight…no recipe+British ingredients+Gas oven with no temperature gage=Epic Fail) and everything is starting to become familiar.
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| Jakob and Daddy building our 3 pound dresser from IKEA. |
I will have to have you over for another tour soon 🙂
Tomorrow begins another week, Jakob in school, running errands and picking up stuff for the house.
But for now, savour the Sabbath.
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| This was taken just before the porter of St. John’s informed me that you are not allowed to use a tripod on college grounds…lots more to say on that but let’s just say he even said it was a silly rule. |
Happy Sunday from Cambridge.
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