Act XIII-Gene and Tim Visit Part I

This past weekend saw our second round of overseas visitors- my lovely sister, Gena (who may be referred to as Gene at other points in this post) and her lovely husband, Tim. The weather was once again spectacular and it seemed our guests had as much fun as we did.

The night before Gene and Tim arrived however the boys got a little taste of Halloween here in the land where the holiday originated. Their school held what was dubbed the "Halloween Disco", a fun little dance party with costumes, candy, hot dogs, and "unlimited squash". Squash I have come to find out refers to juice concentrate that is watered down for consumption at large gatherings. When I asked the boys for a review they said "Yeah it was great." I think that was also their review of the larger event which they seemed to think was fun but that the music was too loud (they are definitely my children). Fulfilling my vision for their time here in England, they opted to dress as Hogwarts students complete with Gryffindor robes and wands. The ride home after the party through the swirling fog of the Coldham Common pastures was like something out of a children's Halloween special. It didn't help that the cows who usually inhabit these fields had been rounded up that very morning and taken away. The boys speculated that the fog was the ghosts of our cow friends. I am holding out hope that the cows just went to their winter quarters in a cozy barn in Duxford.

  Gene and Tim arrived amid bright sunlight and clear blue skies around noon on Friday. We all had a quick lunch near the train station and then Kurt took them on a town/college tour while I picked up the kids from school. We met up again at Bedouin a North African restaurant with fabulous decor that we had been planning to try for a while now. Not only is the restaurant covered in beautiful tile-work but it is hung with colorful fabric in a way that makes it feel as though you are in a plush tent belonging to some generous nomads in the Sahara. Also the food was amazing. But even though I had seen the sign upon the numerous occasions that I have passed by the place, we forgot that it was cash only and so, having planned to pay for our guests, we ended up having to borrow money from them. Epic hosting fail. 
  Thanks to the afternoon college tour, we found out about a choral concert by the Sixteen

Christophers going on at St. Johns College that evening. Kurt graciously sent me (though his ears are no doubt more trained to appreciate such things) and our guests while he stayed home with the kids. The tickets ranged in price depending on where you wanted to sit in the nave of St. John's Chapel. Being thrifty we opted for seats in the narthex but right before the concert started one of the organizers invited us to move up to any of the open seats in the rear nave. Although it probably would not have mattered where we sat for the concert was absolutely beautiful with its swirl of perfect voices and the lofty and softly lit setting. The theme of the program was "Sacred and Profane" and included a mix of both religious and secular English Choral works. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I am determined to seek out similar events when we get home. 
 

On Saturday we all hopped on our bicycles and peddled our guests to one of out favorite spots, the Orchard Tea Garden in Grantchester (for those counting this is our 4th time there) When Gene and Tim first began to plan their trip Tim requested a few Pink Floyd-related sights here in Cambridgeshire owing to the fact that several of the band's founding members grew up here. The bike to the tea garden took us through Grantchester Meadows which happens to be the name of a Pink Floyd song off one of their more obscure albums, UmmaGumma. Not only did we get to check-mark this on our list but, as always, the tea and scones were delicious. Also the kids got to help with the apple cider demonstration that was going on. With the help of the cider guy they gathered apples from the orchard, milled them, and pressed them into the best apple cider that I have ever tasted. We bought the half liter and have been enjoying it since.
  On the way home the Grantchester cows gave us a chuckle as they blockaded the path in only the second cow-related traffic jam I have ever been a part of.

 

Back in Cambridge, we were able to double check-mark our Pink Floyd mission by grabbing a pint at The Anchor, a pub where the group played their first show. The pub is tucked cozily and conveniently beside the river and the punt rental place and so we enjoyed our drinks while waiting our turn for the returning punts. We could not quite figure out where Floyd would have been set up to play in the place but it was fun to speculate all the same

  When we finally got on the river it was crowded owing to the beautiful weather and the graduation weekend (we never figured out why graduations were being held now when it is mid-term)but we were still able to have a lovely punt down the Cam, being hit by only three other inexperienced punters while we enjoyed our cans of Pimms. Tim even took a turn at the rudder, doing a fabulous job and earning the tell-tale soaked sleeves of a successful punter. The ending got a little rushed as the smaller bladders on the boat apparently reached capacity rather suddenly but I think everyone still had a good time.

That evening we grabbed dinner at our local, the Cambridge Blue, allowing Gene and Tim to experience its charming cemetery entrance and fabulous savory pies. After that we rushed to a party that was being thrown by one of the grad students that Kurt works with, Diana. When the invitation came for this even we tried to turn it down knowing that our guests would be here but Diana would not hear of it and extended the invitation to Gene and Tim as well. The kids and I did not stay long as the party was pretty late into the evening. The boys get a little squirrely at that time of night and after Diana gave Leif a huge glass of cherry juice and sent him out over the light colored carpet of the living room I could not quite relax. 

  In the morning we went back to Pembroke College to allow this round of guests to experience their beautiful campus and tasty brunch. I meant to have the kids wear their Hogwarts robes but we forgot.
 

After brunch we peddled to the Cambridge Botanical Gardens for the Apple Festival that fortuitously happened to be going on when my garden-loving sister and plant biologist in-law were in town. We got distracted early on by a kids tree hunt which was fun but meant that by the time we made it to the apple tasting tent the slow moving line was stretched across the length of the main lawn. So we skipped the apple tasting to tour the greenhouses and gardens. Luckily Gene and Tim did not seem too disappointed.

On Monday our guests took off on some of their own adventures but we will be meeting up with them later in the week up on Conwy, North Wales. Check back to see how Round Two of our Tim and Gena adventure goes.