hoos in cambridge

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

It's been awhile...

We heart Bruxelles.
Forgive us, blog readers, for neglecting you. Particularly considering that we still have loads of photos and stories to post from our summer travels. Since returning from our holiday, we have been going non-stop. Will is hard at work trying to finish key parts of his research before his second year review, and Jackie has begun filling out applications and writing essays for law school. In addition, the fall activity season has begun in Cambridge, and our planner is filling up quickly. Not that we're complaining. We're excited and ready to make the most of our final year here. Oh, did we mention that we moved as well? Like, we said, we've been busy.

Nevertheless, we would like to offer you, dear readers, a gesture of our appreciation for putting up with our posting procrastination. The Bruxelles photos are up. See above, or the link down the right side. Bon appetit - er enjoy!

W + J

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Scotland: The Photos

Click here for Highlands Photo Album

Nearly two weeks after our return from Scotland and on the eve of our trip to Germany, I (Jackie) have finished editing all 500 photos from our 10 day roadtrip through The Highlands. Yay! If you're looking for a relaxing way to spend an hour, the 325 deemed "shareable" (due to quality, not content) have been posted on our flickr. For those of you perhaps hoping for a more condensed version (i.e. 5-10 photos) to appear in my "travels" album of Facebook, no such luck. As Facebook continues to evolve into a larger, increasingly corporate entity, I have had growing concerns over my content rights and, thus, have decided to no longer post photos there.
But have no fear! When Will gets around to writing our trip summary, we include photos in the post. So if you're not up for 325 photos of amazingly gorgeous, wild, and rugged Scottish Highlands + Isles that will speak to the very depths of your soul, tempting you to throw caution to the wind, jump on a plane, and drive for miles around that glorious country, then I suggest you wait.

If you can. ;o)

Monday, July 20, 2009

Summer in Cambridge is...

The Mill Pond on a sunny afternoon.

punting on the Cam
(W+J)

(the Bridge of Sighs at St John's College)

(John's again)

(wahoos)

playing tourist
(King's College chapel)

(the organ)

(the ceiling)

the gardens at Wychfield

cows - everywhere!

tea at The Orchard

(with old friends)

graduation day
(Great St Mary's - the University church)

(Will's colleague, Charlie and his wife, Annie)

(walking on the grass)

(celebrating with a friend)

(the Senate House)

(after 3+ years of intellectual toil, this is what you get: a piece of A4 that looks like anyone could have printed it off their home computer)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Devon: God's Country

Click here for Devon photos, or scroll down to 'snapshots' on the right-hand side of the page.
Ever since Streetcar came into our lives (see our Windsor post), we've been waiting for the opportunity to visit some of the more remote areas of England that are only practically accessible by car. Despite the blessings of useful rail travel, our scope for taking weekend trips was limited mostly to London and a handful of other cities, only. So, with summer growing closer and closer, we decided to do what any self-respecting Englishmen would do: head to the West Country!

In general, the 'West Country' includes the counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and others. Devon and Cornwall, in particular, are known as the 'holiday' counties because of their natural splendor, rural attractions, and sandy beaches. Knowing that we would only have a limited amount of time, we narrowed the scope of our visit to North Devon on the recommendation of one of Will's co-workers (whose family is familiar with the area). We chose this area because of its proximity to the coast (so we could see some sea) and to Exmoor National Park; a heavily forested wilderness.
Although neither one of us has ever been an avid hiker, we decided to change the game a little this time and experience the scenery. As you will see in our picture gallery, we were not disappointed. Coming from a place as flat as Indiana, Devon was exceedingly breathtaking. Impossibly steep gorges breaking down hundreds of feet into the sea; windswept hillocks teeming with sheep and cows; tractors, tractors, and more tractors. As Will's colleague warned us, time slows down in Devon. It did; we loved it. We started off at the village of Combe Martin with it's craggy bay and high hills. Following that, we drove to Braunton where we had fish and chips at Squire's (Award Winning!) fish restaurant. Having had a five hour drive from Cambridge, we had a picnic dinner in our room and called it an early night. The following day we headed East into Exmoor and the twin towns of Lynton and Lynmouth. From Lynton we walked along the precipitous South West Coast Path to the Valley of Rocks where we took our pictures with some mountain goats. We then came back towards town and walked down the (very) steep cliff into Lynmouth. From Lynmouth, we walked up the river into the National Trust's Exmoor property, Watersmeet. Like something out of a Stanley Kubrick movie, Watersmeet is a little house cum tea room in the middle of the woods. Only in England. After all that walking, we fortified ourselves with some delicious homemade pasties in Lynmouth, nearly killed ourselves walking back up into Lynton (the Victorians were smarter than us. They built a railway). From there we drove across the county to Hartland Point Lighthouse where we saw yet more, unique landscape.
This trip was also the first major test of Will's new UK license, as, on occasion, we had to turn down a single track or two. Nevertheless, everyone is fairly courteous about it and you just have to not be in much of a rush to get anywhere. In many ways, this trip was a tune-up for our big, Second Anniversary trip to Scotland; where, undoubtedly, we will be doing lots of single-track, rural driving. Of a brief technical note, we were driving a nearly brand-new VW Polo BlueMotion. In our 780 miles worth of driving we used 12.5 gallons of gas (approx.). You do the math. Note as well: Devon is NOT flat highway driving.

Oh and the food! We could go on and on. On our last night, we drove to Winsford, Somerset; a small village down, of course, a single track (we were stopped by shepherds so their flocks could cross! AND we forded a stream!). There, we had dinner in the Royal Oak Inn, a lovely old pub now gastropub. A gastropub is a place with a pub atmosphere (old furniture, wood paneling, beer) but gourmet food (wine, appetizers that aren't potato chips, no mushy peas). Will had a delicious meal of Winsford Lamb (yes, some relatives of the very same sheep we saw, perhaps!) and Jackie had an excellent vegetable dish.

We stayed at a lovely B&B called Bowden Farm. Our hosts were friendly and very hospitable. We're still getting used to the idea of a bed and breakfast; you're not quite a houseguest, but you're not quite staying in a hotel. It's kind of like Keanu Reeves; is he acting or isn't he? It's certainly more enjoyable. We're staying in B&B's throughout our time in Scotland so we should professional at it by the end of July.

Devon was an interesting trip. It was our first trip out into a place of natural beauty since moving to Europe, really. While we did more or less what we could in the area we stayed, we definitely felt like we could have stayed longer or, better yet, that we could go back.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Summertime

Roses at Wychfield.
We're off to the West Country tomorrow for a weekend exploring the coasts and moors of Devon. Be back Sunday afternoon with stories and photos. Until then, here are few pictures taken last weekend as we celebrated the arrival of English summer with a trip out to The Plough.