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.
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| Punters on the River Cam with Clare College in the background |
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| King's College Chapel |
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| The altar which just happens to have a painting by Rubens above it.... you know, like most chapels do |
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| 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.
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| 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!
