Read about our time in Wales here.

Wednesday morning, the boys and I caught the train to Cambridge. I was nervous about the journey because I had three boys and two suitcases to deal with and we had to not just switch trains in London, but switch stations by way of the Underground. But not to leave you in too much suspense…it was fine. (George’s journey the next day, by contrast, did not go so swimmingly, but that’s not my story to tell.)

Rachel (Gareth’s sister) picked us up at the train station and we headed to a shopping center to meet up with her boys (Dan, 13, and Ethan, 9) and Pat, their grandmother. The boys were so excited to see Dan and Ethan, and it was really cute when they saw each other and were all shy for about 12 seconds. (You might remember, they visited New Orleans back in May and the boys became fast friends.)

A real British mall! Looks….just like an America mall.

The streets of Cambridge all decked out for the holidays

Pretty!

We were going to be experiencing something extremely British that evening – a panto! Before showtime, we wandered a bit around Cambridge, getting a snack and seeing some of the sights.

And then we were off to the theater! I’m sorry, theatre. I had very little idea of what to expect, but it was hilarious! Very entertaining and lots of fun. This is the show we saw, so you can get some idea of what it was like.

After the show, we headed to Rachel’s house, where we got all settled in and ate some delicious shepherd’s pie. Yum! After dinner, we sat in front of the fire and chatted for a while. Somehow, my wine glass was just never empty. Funny how that happens.

The weather was forecast to be gorgeous on Thursday (it was actually beautiful for almost our entire trip – we got really lucky!) so Rachel had the idea of going punting on the River Cam. So we took the guided bus (a bus that runs partially on old railroad tracks, kind of) from their village into Cambridge. We wandered around a bit, and we were able to get into some of the colleges to look around. (Cambridge is very confusing, btw. The university, I mean.)

The boys’ hair got some stares.

Inside one of the college quads. (Christ’s College, I think?)

The boys. ❤

Just, you know, pretty.

We made our way to the river, and were given a very entertaining tour along the river, snuggled under blankets. It was one of those days where I just felt so lucky. Lucky that we could make this trip, that we could see this beautiful city, that we had friends to share it with. Happy.

You know, just a dorm or something. No biggie.

A nice bridge.

King’s College chapel

A nice bench.

Me and Miles and Ollie

Linus

Some other dorm or something. Just like the one I lived in at LSU.

After the punting, Rachel, Pat, and the boys went back home and I stayed behind to get some Christmas shopping done. The boys were going to be doing a spy mission, very important, saving the world and all that. (Later, Rachel and Pat told me that the boys were incandescent with joy upon leaving the spy mission place. I need to find something like that around here!)

I had a nice time wandering into the shops by myself, buying gifts for people. Then I walked to the train station to meet George, and we headed to a pub to have a drink and meet up with Mick, Rachel’s husband.

After he got there, I left them to play pub quiz with some of Mick’s friends, and I went and shopped a bit more. Rachel picked me up when I was done, and we headed back home where I ate my weight in cheese and we drank wine and chatted. Another really nice evening.

To be continued…