The town really starts to bustle first thing - all the shops are open, the town center gets setup with some carnival rides for the kids, a violinist & vocalist set up shop with their speakers and CD’s for the adults, the farmer’s market in full swing and crazy costumed marketers are out pushing their local store’s wares.
We started the morning off at the bakery – a sausage roll for me and a cheese twist for Ashley. Breakfast £1.85
Unfortunately, with our focus on fighting our way to the frontlines to place our order, we failed to order anything to wash down our freshly baked breakfast… ugh.. no way we’re fighting that crowd again for a chocolate milk, so we opt for the old Starbucks.
Hot chocolate and a coffee £5.50… haha. Yes almost 4 times the amount of our breakfast for two drinks, gotta love paying the American premium!
Oh yeah, side note, finally converted my keyboard to UK standard – I held out as long as I could, but the fact that I work in an Accounting dept in the UK it was getting old typing out the word “pounds” instead of having the symbol and my colleagues were really getting tired of me calling everything dollars, it tends to cause confusion. Especially given the fact we have three bank accounts: Dollar, Euro and Pound and I have been assigned the fun task of switching all of our accounts to a new bank! It’s critical to use the correct terminology referring to money or I could get us into some trouble…..
So a quick note on the exchange rate.. Starbucks £5.50 equals about $7.98 !!!!! Gasoline (Petrol) prices, of course they charge per liter because it looks better, but I worked the formula out for you all:
£0.84 per liter. 3.8 liters per gallon. £0.84 * 3.8 = £3.19 per gallon * $1.45 (Avg FX Rate) = $4.63/Gallon !!!! And this is the lowest it’s been in around 8 years !
Enough math, back to Hitchin, wish I could say I had some pics to share, but apparently we took all of ONE picture during our adventure… haha.. here it is:
Dude was rocking the electric violin.. We spent a good 15-20 mins just soaking in the amazing music and singing that these guys were pumping into the streets:
After visiting every shop in Hitchin, we spent some time at the Hitchin museum (all the way across the street from our flat) studying up on the history of this great little town. It was time well spent getting to know all the in’s and out’s of our home for the next 5 months (time is flying)...
On Sunday, we went to Cambridge! What a crappy day to tour around… the temperature just kept dropping as the day went on and the rain got stronger. But in spite of it all, we had our best shopping experience yet. They had an amazing craft market in the town center. Here’s some pics from our day in Cambridge:
Cambridge is just an amazing city to see. The entire town seems to be plucked from the middle ages - new shops occupy these amazing structures everywhere, it's a very cool experience. In the middle of it all is the market:
None of the pictures i'm posting do it justice - the weather was miserable. You can see the sidewalks..
This was more of a crafts market.. there was a lot to see here. We picked up some great hemp shopping bags (because we're hippies now... the UK is VERY environmentally conscious, if you use plastic bags you get evil looks everywhere! haha). The bags came in handy as Ashley found some art to make our flat more comfortable. We came across a home brewer of flavored liquors and bought a bottle of some "damskin" flavored Gin in a cool looking bottle.. this is what we were looking for, some local talent and craftsmanship.
All this shopping was making me hungry, it was getting closer to lunch time. Luckily for me there were some vendors in the market. Here I am, clearly enjoying an Ostrich burger.. mmmm:
I also sampled some Ostrich sausage.. it was actually pretty good. Supposedly more healthy than beef, it tasted pretty similar.. I could eat more.
From the market, we explored the colleges that surround us on every side. Cambridge is literally a college town. You could close yours eyes and walk in any direction and you'd manage to encounter some world-renowned school.
Here's a shot of the courtyard entrance to King's college:
And the famous mathematical bridge at Queen's college. Yep. I'm sure Omer will appreciate this more than the rest of us, with his love of engineering.
As the day got worse, we tried to wait out the evensong ceremony at King's College. We went to a pub to dry out, waste some time and watch some football (soccer), had a beer, then off to church.
Wow. The sun was setting on this dreary day by the time the service was beginning. People were huddled in the arch of the entrance to stay out of the rain. You enter the cathedral and even with the amazing church's we've experienced so far, you can truly understand the awe that is inspired when you entire a place like this. The ceilings 100 ft high, with intricate tracing and a detailed wood organ screen carved with amazing detail. I wish pictures were allowed, but because we entered a service, they were restricted.
The choir enters and the service begins, and I don't care what you believe, I'm not catholic, not very familiar with their rituals, but the choir's echo off the walls of this building sets you at ease and allows you to forget the rest of the world for an hour.
We were ready to go home after the service. A perfect way to end the day, at peace, a little cold, but ready to face another week before our next adventure.
That's all for our trip.. a new British word for the week: Daft.
Used in a sentence: It's daft to spend two hours in the rain to see a 30 minute service. :)
Bath and Oxford this weekend!
Happy 30th Tom!
excellent writeup as they say. electric violin has always been one of my favorite jam-out tools. sometimes i call my jam-out tools, tools.
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