Cows in the mist

After seeing all of the photos, FB posts and news stories of how horrible the weather is back home in the US, it seems very surreal to be writing this from England where the weather is still very much fall-like. There are still lots of leaves on the trees, some even in festive reds and yellows, stubbornly pushing off winter. While it is gradually getting colder and windier in Cambridge, it's still in the low 50s during the day. One drastic difference is the level of humidity here, which makes things seem much colder and damper than they actually are. I'm sure I'll grow to grumble more about this in the coming months and years, but for now I'm just amazed at the drastic change in climate that a little thing like the Atlantic Ocean can cause.

There have been some absolutely beautiful fall days in Cambridge though, and thankfully a couple of them fell on weekends when Drew and I were able to get out and enjoy the scenery. This included walking through King's College Chapel... I use this term loosely because as you can see from it's size it's not exactly what springs to mind when someone refers to a College chapel. It is breathtakingly beautiful on a sunny day when all the colors of the stained glass bounce off the walls and ceiling.

Punters on the River Cam with Clare College in the background

King's College Chapel

The altar which just happens to have a painting by Rubens above it.... you know, like most chapels do

I'll just let the ceiling speak for itself...

King's College also happens to be on my normal walk to and from the Archaeology Department and is home to two of my favorite new friends : ) I usually catch them in the middle of their breakfast as I walk past during the week, but on the weekends they're a little more laid back. They're also pretty hard to spot in the morning mist, but once that burns off you can appreciate them for their all their adorable fuzziness. May I introduce, the King's cows... *insert fanfare of trumpets here*

Drew and I have managed to get out of Cambridge a little bit as well, including a couple trips in to London. The most recent visit was to see the poppies at the Tower of London. I've posted some pictures of this on my Facebook page, but for those of you who are not on Facebook, or familiar with the installation, I'll include some more details here. This exhibit entitled, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, was installed as a commemoration of the anniversary of the First World War. The ceramic poppies were made by hand and then placed one by one in the moat surrounding the Tower of London. In total, there were 888,246 poppies, one for each British military fatality during the war. If you wanted to read more about it, here's a link to the Tower's page: Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red  The installation was incredibly moving and has been the subject of a lot of attention over here. My pictures do not do justice to the magnitude of the exhibit or the emotion of coming face to face with the tragic loss of life in World War I, but at least I have them to share with those who weren't able to see it in person. 

This is where the poppies first started to appear in August. Over the summer, more and more poppies were placed until they eventually spread throughout the entire moat.

Of course traveling through London wouldn't be complete without seeing some of the touristy sites, so here is the requisite photo of Big Ben and one of the London Eye. Consider this your first reminder that you too could see these things if you organize a trip to visit us! 

Cambridge in the fall

Hello everyone!

I'm sorry that there's been such an incredibly long delay between posts (and yes, I realize I never got around to Part 2 of my Agatha Christie story). Fortunately, I am now in a country with wonderfully fast internet, no power cuts and very different scenery, so I will be able to share more of my new adventures with you.

I am now officially set up in Cambridge and after being here for two weeks I feel like I'm starting to get a hang of the place. Last week was incredibly busy as it was the first official week of term. I had department orientations, College orientations, formal receptions, my official matriculation, and lots of other running around to do. I do feel like I've made good progress in getting set up in a new country... phone: check, bank account: check, figuring out how to order online groceries: check.... I know, that last one floored me too. I can't explain how amazing it is to pick out all your groceries online, pick a convenient time for you, and a lovely person shows up to deliver said groceries at your specified time. Presto! For someone without a means of transportation beside their own two feet, it is truly life changing.

Some of my fellow students waiting to get lined up for the Matriculation photo

Me in my Harry Potter robes! 

I don't want to overwhelm you all (or myself) with too much in this first post, so I thought I would fill you in a bit on my College. Yes, I'm going to the University of Cambridge, but within that University are 31 Colleges which operate completely autonomously. Without trying to be patronizing... think of Cambridge as Hogwarts and each of the Colleges as the different Houses (don't worry I didn't get sorted into Slytherin). I am one of the newest members of Girton College. A really beautiful place that was founded in 1869 as the first women's residential college in the UK. I have to say I'm really proud of the fact that I'm part of a College that played such an important role in women's rights, both educationally and socially. I'm also a huge fan of the fact that I'm finally part of an educational group that has colors other than blue and gold! I'm not saying that I don't love those colors but a little variety is always nice. Girton's colors are green and red (yay Christmas!).

Girton actually has two sites in Cambridge. The main college, which is located about 2 miles out of the center of Cambridge (because the female students had to be far enough away from the male students when it first started!) and a newer section called Wolfson Court, which primarily serves as the hub for graduate students. While Wolfson Court leaves a bit to be desired architecturally speaking... one of the first conversations I had with a fellow student included him comparing the aesthetics of Wolfson Court to a nursing home... the main site is absolutely beautiful! It also boasts an indoor swimming pool, a duck pond, orchards that students are welcome to use whenever they like, and endless amounts of green space to have a picnic in or just relax.

I think I'll end there for now, but there's much more to come!

Girton's main gate. The building was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and I love the red brick

A beautiful courtyard in the middle of Girton

A is for Aswan, Agatha and Abu Simbel (Part 1)

Happy New Year Everyone! While 2013 was a rather crazy, stressful year, the last 6 months were pretty great... so here's to keeping that trend going in 2014!

As a Christmas/birthday/New Years present to ourselves, Drew and I decided to get out of Luxor for a few days and head down to Aswan. I think people who have traveled through Egypt will agree with me when I say that Aswan is truly one of the most beautiful places in the country. Clean air, beautiful water swirling around the Nile cataracts and picturesque temples floating on islands. The High Dam is not so picturesque but never mind that part.

As a fitting end to our wedding year, Drew and I decided to splurge and stay at the Old Cataract Hotel. This hotel is legendary in Egypt and the likes of Winston Churchill, Agatha Christie and more government dignitaries than I can count have stayed here. Drew and I spent a large amount of time sitting outside on the terrace of the hotel (especially at sunset) and on the balcony of our room which had a beautiful view overlooking the temple on Elephantine Island.

The view from the terrace at the Old Cataract where Agatha Christie would sit and write Death on the Nile. It also makes an appearance as a setting in the novel and parts of the movie were filmed here as well.

Drew was in such a good mood he even had a pomegranate mojito!

The view across to Elephantine Island

 

Aside from the awesome hotel, another reason for our trip to Aswan was to see Abu Simbel, the last major Egyptian monument that I had not checked off my list. It's about a 3 hour drive through the desert from Aswan to Abu Simbel but SO worth it. The site contains two temples, one for Ramesses II and one for Nefertari, and they were two of the temples saved by UNESCO in the 1960s from the rising waters of the Nile because of the High Dam. For those of you who have seen the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, that temple was a gift to the US for their role in assisting with the relocation of several monuments during this time frame, including Abu Simbel. Had it not been gifted and relocated it would now be sitting somewhere at the bottom of Lake Nasser.

I won't bore you with a long Egyptological diatribe about the temples but they were constructed by Ramesses II during his extremely long reign. The temples sit near what would have been the southern border of ancient Egypt with the kingdom of Nubia and were constructed in part as a modern day equivalent of "Hey, look what I can do!" Today they're equally as impressive as both an ancient monument and a testimony to what people from around the world can do when they all decide to cooperate with each other.

The temples now overlook Lake Nasser, which is really pretty but also a very sad reminder of all the Nubian monuments that are submerged underneath it

I finally made it! 

Ramesses fall down, go boom...

 

Ramesses' favorite queen, Nefertari

While Nefertari's temple is much smaller than Ramesses' temple, I actually liked it better. The carvings were much better, in my opinion, and it was impressive without being overdone. 

This is the best image I could find to give perspective of where the temples were originally located and where they were relocated to. The mountains that the temples now sit in are completely artificial and hollow on the inside.

Stay tuned for the next installation of this blog post to hear about my birthday in the Agatha Christie suite and our New Years Eve celebration!