Cambridge Day Trip

This past weekend, we decided to get out of the city and start exploring some of our new country.  We decided to take a train to Cambridge, a quick 45 minute ride on the National Rail.  We arrived in Cambridge, walked up to the city center and explored the town.  As it turns out, the University of Cambridge is actually made up of 31 independent colleges.  Each student applies to and attends a specific college where they live and take all their classes and there is actually quite a bit of rivalry among the schools.  The first college we saw was King's College:

We then strolled down to Trinity, which many consider the best of the 31 Cambridge colleges:

Trinity was one of the few colleges where we were able to enter the inner courtyard and walk around the grounds (most of them are blocked off by guards.)  We were even able to enter the chapel at Trinity, which was beautiful:

As we were snapping photos outside Kings College, looking like the obvious tourists, we were approached by one of the many "punting" tour operators and were talked into a punting tour down the river cam.  A punt is a flat bottomed boat with a square bow propelled by pushing against the river bed with a pole.  It is a popular pastime in Cambridge and there were many punts on the river during our tour, despite the chilly temps.  It is a great way to see more of the colleges that line the river since access is restricted at most of  them.  We went by Clare college:

Queen's college:

the mathematical bridge:

A popular myth says this bridge was designed by Isaac Newton without the use of nuts or bolts but Newton in fact died 22 years before the bridge was even constructed.  We then turned around and headed back north by Trinity:

And Trinity's biggest rival, St. John's:

Under the bridge of sighs, named and designed after the Venice bridge and so named here because it is the bridge the students cross going from their dorms to the classroom buildings to take their finals:

It was a great tour and was nice to be able to get some history and fun facts about the city.  A couple of interesting factoids:
-In Cambridge, if you have the highest grades in your class at King's college, you are legally allowed to challenge any other student to a duel on the bridge and fight to the death.
-Sir Isaac Newton attended Trinity and has often claimed that he discovered gravity when an apple fell on his head out of tree as he sat by the river cam.  As apple trees have never grown anywhere along the river, and Isaac Newton was not well liked by his peers, it is thought it much more likely that someone threw an apple at his head;)
-Students do not live on campus until their 3rd year and are then given rooms based on their grades, with those with better grades getting the best rooms, ie-those that look out onto the river.

We then walked across the river:

And finished our day with a pint at "The Pickerel Inn" across from Magdalene college:

Great day trip and nice to get out of the city:-)

Hamstead Heath

A couple weeks ago, Dan and I decided to pack a picnic lunch and take the tube up to Hamstead Heath, a huge park just north of central London.  From our flat, it was a quick ride (Henry's second time on the tube:) and we arrived at Hamstead just after noon.  The tube lets you off onto Hamstead high street, which is lovely.  The whole area is hilly and quaint and really makes you feel as if you have left the city.

The neat thing about Hamstead is that it is a largely wooded park, as opposed to the maintained royal parks like Hyde and Regent's.  Henry had a great time hiking through the forest and running around with the many other dogs visiting the heath.  Although it was actually raining when we left our flat, it turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day, if a bit chilly.

We plopped down in one of the clearings for a picnic...

And then continued on towards the many ponds scattered throughout the park, many of which allow swimming in the summer.

We then climbed up Parliament Hill for great views of the city skyline.  It was a great way to spend a day and we will certainly be back, especially when it warms up!

Malta x2

Well...I made a second trip to Malta since at the moment, that is the only way I get to spend time with Dan.  Since I did most of the sightseeing and touristy activities there are to do on the island last time, I spent most of this trip enjoying the amenities of the Hilton. However, I wanted to add a couple more pics to the blog because I did have a chance this time to take the bus into Valletta, Malta's capital city, and walk around.

Republic Street; Valletta's main shopping area:

All dressed up for Christmas...

I walked around the entire city (only took about 20 minutes) and explored many cute streets and LOTS of hills...

St. Paul's Cathedral:

Barracca Gardens:

On my final day, I watched a sailing race from my room:

Overall, I had gorgeous weather and although it has been tough having Dan away, there are definitely worse places he could be.  

Malta

Dan ended up having to go to Malta his SECOND day of work and has been working out there every week since we arrived in London; which has put a lot of responsibility on me in terms of getting things settled here and exploring London on my own but on the bright side, I figured I might as well get a vacation out of it! I went to Malta for 5 days and got a little Mediterranean sunshine. The first two days, while Dan was working, I spent sightseeing by myself. The first day I took a "hop-on hop-off" bus, a great way to see a big part of the island in a short amount of time. The whole tour is 3 hours if you don't get off but you can jump off anywhere you want and get back on the next bus; they come every 30 minutes. You are given headphones and there is a running commentary of what you are passing as you ride along. Plus the bus is open topped so you can get great views and take pictures without even getting off. I stayed on the bus the whole time except for jumping off at Mdina, the ancient capitol of Malta. Mdina was the capitol until the 16th century, when it was moved to Valletta. It is one of the best preserved ancient walled cities in Europe. The medieval name is "Citta Nobile" meaning "the noble city." It is simply adorable with narrow streets and little chapels and you can walk around the whole thing in 20 minutes. The tour continued up the north side of the island through vineyards and farmland in the center of the island, to the sandy beaches along the north coast.

Hilton Malta:

St. Julian's Harbour; right next to hotel:

Mdina; the main gate:

St. Paul Cathedral; supposedly on the spot where St. Paul converted the Roman governor, Publius, to Christianity:

Mdina:

The following day, I took a Harbour cruise of the two main harbours; Marsamxetto Harbour and Grand Harbour. We got great views of the capitol, Valletta, and the "three cities;" Senglea, Vittoriosa, and Kalkara.

Valletta, the capitol:

traditional Maltese boats:

The many steps of Valletta; sometimes cars drive up and down the steps and park on them:

Dan was able to get some time off Sunday and we went sailing with one of the Ernst & Young partners (Anthony) on his boat. It was amazing; sparkling turquoise water and bright sunshine. Anthony gave us his version of the Harbour cruise and then we sailed up to the north end of the island, anchored in the bay next to Bugibba, a tourist city on the north end of the island, and went for a swim in the Mediterranean sea:) The water was a little chilly but the clearest I have ever been in. Dan and I ended the day with a delicious anniversary dinner an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant, Al Molo, on the St. Julian's Harbour (which is where the Hilton Malta is located that has been Dan's home these past few weeks.)

Swimming in the beautiful Mediterranean:

sunset over Valletta:

Monday, my last day in Malta, I spent lounging by the pools at the beautiful Hilton Malta. It's been sad to have Dan gone but it was great to get in a cheap Mediterranean vacation:) Sahha! (Maltese for Good-Bye)

Our new flat!

After what was probably one of the most frustrating experiences ever, we have found a perfect flat.  It has a fairly large kitchen by London standards, a large reception room and a bedroom in the back.  It is definitely small and when we first had all our stuff delivered, I didn't know how we were going to make it work.  But I've worked hard at organizing all week and I've found a place for everything.  We are in a great location, close to pubs, restaurants, grocery stores, everything we could need.  I have already scouted out some great parks nearby for Henry and I can't wait to get him here.  It has been a frustrating few weeks trying to get utilities set up, get debit cards, etc, etc.  Everything takes 4x as long as you would expect here and seems to be done backwards.  But we're finally getting settled in and we're ready to start enjoying our new city:)  Here are some pics of the flat and the neighborhood:

 Our back patio area:

 Our flat from the outside - 2nd floor; the 2 windows with window boxes are ours:

 Islington Green (off Upper Street, main street in our borough):

 Our neighborhood pub: