Act II- New Routines

 This week saw the Andresen/Buehrer clan slowly expanding our explored-territory bubble in Cambridge. This is still a little tricky considering that we don't have a bike for the kids and I, yet but that didn't stop us from setting out on Saturday for a three-mile trek to Grantchester, an adorable little town, featured in the BBC series of the same name. Other destinations have included the public library, the Sedgwick Museum, the beautiful St. John's College gardens, and the venerable King's College.

  First to Grantchester: For those of you who are not
PBS-sponsored-BBC-program junkies like Kurt and I, the show Grantchester features a rather handsome vicar ("dishy" as one reviewer described him) Sydney Chambers, who helps the local detective inspector solve crimes in the picturesque town of Grantchester. The show is actually filmed in the town and so when it landed that we were going to be living in Cambridge, Grantchester rose to the top our tourist destinations. Though I had my reservations about forcing the kids to hike so far (I was hoping we would buy a bakfiets that morning but alas no) everyone made it through with only a modicum of complaint thanks to the help of a strategically placed playground at Lammas Land park. This park has a fantastic variety of playground equipment and a modest paddling pool that looked quite popular with the recent high temperatures (side note- there is a heat wave in the UK right now with most areas in the mid-80s and not having seen any rain since May).
  From Lammas Land we strolled through Grantchester Meadows, a pleasant stretch of pasture butted up against the river Cam, where seemingly every young couple with a black dog goes on Saturday morning to play fetch, having the animal repeatedly launch itself into the river in pursuit of a tennis ball. Seriously we saw no less than three separate couples doing this.
  In Grantchester itself, feeling slightly dehydrated (the water in Cambridge tastes musty even straight out of the tap and so we haven't been drinking nearly enough) we headed straight for The Orchard Tea Garden, a tangible version of all my Anglo dreams. This pleasant space is descriptively named- it is an apple orchard littered with deck chairs and tables that can be rearranged as needed in search of better shade and company, serviced by a lovely tea house offering scones, sandwiches and, of course, tea. We ordered a smattering of each and several bottles of sparkling juice. The kids loved it, drinking way more tea than we expected and lounging like 1920s lethargic millionaires minus the cigarettes.
  Our thirst and hunger slatted, we walked a few paces to the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mary where many a scene from Grantchester was filmed. Considering this, I was expecting rather restricted access to the place to mitigate the damage from throngs of tourists. Apparently I have over-estimated the show's popularity as this was most certainly not a concern to the current parish staff. There was a quaint sign inviting visitors into the church with nary a word of prevention regarding the 12th century building or its grounds.

  On the way home from Grantchester we went back through Lammas Park where a smattering of bouncy castles had been erected in the interim to be enjoyed for a small fee. The boys bounced for the next couple hours while Kurt and I dozed under a nearby tree. Perfect!
 Saturday evening I accepted an invitation from Melanie (Professor Keyser's wife- refer to last blog post) to go see a garden performance of Taming of the Shrew, part of the Cambridge Shakespeare festival. Despite the play's problematic themes when viewed through our current cultural norms, I, of course, said yes. The festival, which runs several plays throughout the town, spans majority of the month of July. I had read about it in our tour book but figured we wouldn't be able to find a babysitter that quickly after arriving so I written it off as an impossibility. Thus I was thrilled when Melanie suggested it. The venue, St. John's Scholars Garden, was father into the city than I had yet ventured and, even though my ankles ached from the walk to Grantchester, I set out on foot with Google's navigational help. Unfortunately I did not realize how fast Google navigation would eat up my battery life and only halfway there I was forced to turn it off so that I would have enough power to display my e-ticket at the door. This worry on my mind I don't think I properly enjoyed the beauty of Cambridge on a mid-summer's night walk, instead trying to guess at which of my fellow pedestrians were heading to the same event. Following a group carrying camp chairs proved a fruitful supposition as was obeying a hastily scrawled "To the River" written in chalk on one of the intricate stone walls of some hallowed institution. At last arriving with 2% battery life I met up with Melanie and we enjoyed the show, watching among the other picnicking theatre-goers with cups of mulled wine. 
 

 Earlier in the week Kurt earned his Cambridge ID which allows him and a guest to tour the individual colleges for free during normal tour hours. The impressive King's College Chapel had caught our eye on a previous excursion and so we decided to invoke our privilege at its grounds first. The college itself consists of only a handful of buildings , two large lawns, and the 577-year- old chapel which dwarfs everything near it. This 289-foot-long structure was first funded by Henry VI and was continued by the Yorkist kings and later the Tudors. It sports enormous stained glass windows along its length and a beautiful fan-vaulted ceiling that looked so formidable it was hard to believe that its modest buttressing, could hold it up. Kurt pointed this out as we walked in and I must admit I was somewhat nervous the whole time we were in there. As impressive and enormous as the stained glass was on its own, even more so was the fact that they had all been removed and stored during WWII so as to keep them safe from the bombs of the Blitz. Well done, nameless British heroes! I guess you are probably named somewhere but not on anything that they pass out to the tourists.
 From the Chapel we walked the grounds a bit, watching the traffic jam of punts in the River Cam and promising the kids our own punting experience on a future weekend outside of tourist season.
  Other adventures of the week included a visit to the public library, the Sedgwick museum, and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. First the former- while the Cambridge Public Library Central Branch sports some impressive check-in/check-out technology and very friendly staff I was surprised at the state of the children's book section. I think Gettysburg sports a bigger selection and better organizational skills. Several of the shelves seemed rather randomly stocked with little adherence to the established last name of the author ordering system. Perhaps it is more the clientele's fault than the library's but it only made me more proud of G-Burg.

  The Sedgwick Museum houses and displays Cambridge's geologic collection. It is a fun walk into past museum design with thousands of artifacts arranged in wood and glass cabinets. There are a few interactive computer displays (including a test of your Darwinian knowledge which the boys and I scored pretty low on) but for the most part it is fossils, rocks, and gems with, often, handwritten display cards. It is free and small which is perfect for the short attention spans of my kids. As always the gems and gift shop was their favorite part. 

  Right across the courtyard from the Sedgwick and also free is the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. With a bit more of a modern display style than the Sedgwick this modestly sized museum has a great collection and beautiful setting. I especially enjoyed the ground floor exhibit which displays old artifacts found in and around Cambridge starting with the ancient Britons and heading through the Roman period to arrive at the early days of the university. Have you ever head of a bed burial? Apparently early Anglo Saxons would often bury high status women in open wooden beds rather than coffins. One was found near here in Trumpington (yes I know) in 2011 that held a 16-year-old girl with a few ornate grave goods including at beautiful gold and garnet broach.

 Tomorrow the boys and I are going to Uber out to another bike shop in hopes of buying a bakfiets. Wish us luck and tune in to hear about our adventure next week.