The last three weekends have been jammed with touring and each location had its own unique qualities that reminded me why I truly love travelling throughout this country.
We drove just outside of Cambridge and on the advice of one of Rick's coworkers did the park and ride into the centre of town. Travel and parking would be tricky and taking the bus gave us a chance to both see the town without stressing about where to park and how the heck to get back out of the town once we were heading back home. The British signage is poor at best and if you don't live here you don't deserve to know where you are going is what Rick and I chant whenever we get twisted around and the signs are sorely lacking to guide us along the way.
So in Cambridge there are a lot of people that bike and it reminded me quite a bit of Amsterdam in that regard. You certainly had to watch where you were going when you were crossing the street as bikers zoom pass you and they are not always easy to spot or hear so it would be simple to get blindsided. The shops were mostly upscale and the streets narrow and cobble stone laden (Rick has to watch he doesn’t twist an ankle) and we did some Christmas shopping in a market.
Of course, Cambridge is known for its university and when we stopped for lunch, I struck up a conversation with a young lad sitting at the table next to us. When he went to the loo and left his plate of onion rings, I told Rick it would be so much fun to take them and when he returned start eating them and see how he would react. It turned out that he was from Brazil and taking his PhD in physics at the uni. What a bright and engaging boy he was. He actually offered to share his onion rings with us after I confessed what we joked about doing with them.
The best fun we had in a while was getting together for a weekend at the end of November in Sheffield with our good friends Susanne and Steve Holland and Jill and Arthur Armstrong. These are the folks we met in Morocco and we all hit it off so well that we have kept in touch since December 2010 and had a previous reunion in Nottingham in February 2011.
Sheffield didn’t disappoint as we left our hotel room and had a night out on the town, despite the fact that it was pouring rain and quite cold. We hopped on a tram (actually crammed onto one), and when the trolley jolted at each stop we wobbled and fell into each other and giggled like a bunch of school kids. We asked a fellow passenger where the best place was to eat and he recommended a Chinese food all you can eat restaurant and we thanked him and King Arthur and Ricky lead the way along the wet streets.
Well, we didn’t find the “all you can eat” place but we did find another fabulous Chinese restaurant that appeared to be popular with the local Chinese community. And feast we did. The food was more than all six of us could handle and it was incredibly fresh and delightful.
The next morning we did a tour of downtown Sheffield which I would describe as historically modern (now that’s an oxymoron) and we came across a market that Rick claimed took months for him to plan. And what to our wondering eyes did appear but a section of tents with vendors selling their wares..... from Morocco! I was so pumped to find a cosmetic and spice stall so I could buy my favourite beauty item of argan oil.
We stopped for a latte in the Sleigh Bar (with a shot of Bailey’s, of course) to warm up our fingers and toes and I just had to sit in Santa’s sack to get my picture taken. With our bellies warmer, we carried on and did some window shopping and just generally enjoyed each other’s company and conversation.
We are already planning our next adventure together and options that were discussed, after too much Chinese food and fizzy drinks, were Benidorm (Rick and I so enjoyed our trip there in April 2011 and having a group go would be that much more memorable) or a Riad in Morocco (no five star hotel outside of Marrekech we want to be in the heart of the action next time). I know, however, that where ever this crew goes, that laughter, good food, and great stories will be high on the agenda.
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