Magdalen College Tower

For my birthday Scooter arranged a trip up Magdalen tower with his friend Mudassar. It was really lucky for us to be able to go to the top because students from other college aren't normally allowed. It is one of the largest colleges and has a beautiful site next to the river.They have extensive grounds and even have a deer park where the college deer are very well fed!
This really is the key you use to open the tower door.
The tower had the steepest stairs that I have ever used. Finally they builders gave up the stair idea and actually just made a ladder which was much easier.

Magdalen College from above
This is where you pick up the boats for punting.
High Street from above. I love the towers. It is fun to be able to pick out which one belongs to each college.

Here are some tennis and cricket courts that we really want to play on sometime.
There were lots of balls going on that night so there were people dressed formally walking around everywhere. We went to our ball a couple hours after climbing the tower.

Cambridge

Last weekend we went to visit our friend Dan who goes to Cambridge. Dan is one of the only people that knew Scooter and I separately before we knew each other. We loved Cambridge and he showed us a wonderful time.

We went to eat at The Eagle. This was the pub where Watson and Crick would eat together six days a week and discuss their theories about DNA. Being a HUGE fan of all DNA-related topics this was a great highlight for me.I just love seeing signs like this one above - "Serving Cambridge since 1525"

He showed around some of the college. My favorites were Kings, Trinity, and Pembroke (Dan's college). Kings college has an absolutely amazing college chapel. At Trinity College we also saw some amazing things in the library like Isaac Newton's original notebooks.

Kings College Quad

Kings College Chapel

Trinity College Quad

Pembroke College

Many of the colleges in Cambridge back up to the river so the area is called "The Backs." We walked along there and saw people punting.I just love this guy! Just a classic scene - trying to punt with one hand while drinking.

Cambridge was, in general, much more pastoral than Oxford is. It was beautiful.
We played lawn tennis. For Scooter and I it was our first time ever doing this individually or together. For two tennis players it was great to be able to experience it. I was surprised by how much the bounce of the ball was unaffected by the grass.
We then walked to the village of Grantchester and ate at The Orchard, which is place that serves tea (or in our case, hot chocolate) that you can take out into their orchard where there are tables scattered throughout. Many famous people like Virginia Woolf, Watson and Crick (yes, them again), Rutherford, Mallory, Stephen Hawking, and tons of others visited there. It was a beautiful walk and the orchard was a lovely setting. Dan then took us to formal hall (dinner) at his college. I had stupidly forgotten a dress and so I got to wear Dan's robes to cover up the fact that I had on jeans and a T-shirt. I felt like such an impostor! His college cook is officially the best school-associated cook I have ever encountered. Now all that is left is for Dan to make the journey to come visit us!

For My Mom

Last weekend we went to a ball. It was one of the highlights of our time here. My mom has been wanting a photo, so I thought I would quickly put one up for her.Sorry that I haven't posted in a while but we have been trying to take advantage of our ever dwindling time here in England. The days are flying by. It felt like yesterday that we were marking our three-months-left date, but this week it will be only two months left! Where does the time go?!

This weekend we are travelling to northern England and Wales. Hopefully I will eventually get around to posting some pictures...

Blenheim Palace

Last weekend we went with some friends to Blenheim Palace, a nearby estate, to watch a jousting tournament. Sir Winston Churchill was born there.

We all sat on blankets surrounding the jousting field. We thought it was going to be a little cheesy but it was actually pretty impressive. They really did break lances on each other.

Part of the fun was watching all of the little kids around us. They were so excited. It was a pretty fun spectacle.

The jousters went through these exercises to show their skill. They would ride at full speed and hit targets, put their lance through smaller and then smaller rings, etc.

They would even spear fairly small things from the ground. See the thing on the end of his spear?He just picked that up going full speed. I was impressed.

This was taken from the jousting grounds. It was a really cool setting.

They were dragging this girl around for awhile. I was so worried they were going to drag her into the fence.

These are our friends. We had a great time with them.

This is my friend Jill. She is amazing. She had this darling baby about a month ago. Doesn't she look great?

We did this maze in the hedges.

Look at the size of that house! The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough still live there. Pretty impressive.

Alarms

This morning while Scooter was attempting to make me breakfast the fire alarm went off and the whole building had to evacuate. Coincidence? Actually, it was, but it makes for a good story!

Did you know?

For those of you that don't know this about my husband I wanted to share one of his strange talents with you. The first time I saw him do it I was really alarmed. You really don't know him fully until you know this about him. He can do this with his ears...They are just extra soft and pliable. He tucks them all the time. Subconsciously he folds and tucks them. Studying? Fold and tuck. Walking? Fold and tuck. In church? Fold and tuck. In fact, when we were on our honeymoon in Brazil we were walking through this neighborhood of huts that were standing on stilts over a creek that served as a form of "natural plumbing" and a boy saw him through the window and started yelling and greeted Scooter with an ear tuck of his own. Scooter had taught him to do it a couple years before.Here is the neighborhood. As you can see the houses really did have "natural plumbing". It was swelteringly hot, by the way as evidenced by the lack of clothing on the boys below. This was typical attire in Manaus - as little as possible. This, unfortunately, meant that we saw MANY men wearing nothing but Speedos while walking down the streets...gross!

Punting

On May Day we went punting. A punt is a shallow bottomed boat that you propel along a river or canal by someone in the back of the boat using a long pole to push off the bottom of the canal. We had a great time and want to do it again soon. Next time we are going to pack a picnic. Anyone want to come?


Scooter's college owns a punt and this is where you go to pick it up. After a quick lesson we were off!

These are some of the grass tennis courts that we passed. We are definitely going to try and play on these ASAP. It will be the first time on grass for us both.

I was sitting in the front of the punt peacefully looking at the beautiful river when I heard a huge splash. I turned around to see Scooter floating next to punt looking very sheepish. The pole had gotten stuck in some deep mud on the riverbed. The punt kept going and because he was afraid of dropping the pole and losing it he held on as it pulled him in. I'm pretty sure that this doesn't happen very often. Before I could take a photo he had jumped back in the boat. His wallet and flash drive were soaked, but fine. You couldn't really tell that he had fallen in because he didn't go all the way under, but notice that his jeans are kinda sticking to his legs...

I had Scooter teach me as well. We passed a few boats of tourists from Spain while I was taking a turn. They were making all kinds of comments in Spanish about Scooter letting me push us along while he was sitting and relaxing. They were surprised when he explained in perfect Spanish that I had wanted a turn to practice. It is fun to speak other languages. I wish I could.

This was such a classic springtime scene. We rounded the bend and spotted two parent ducks standing sentinel over their little brood of fluffy chicks. Adorable!


Soaked, but still handsome.


Poor soaking Scooter had to walk all the way to the bus stop down the two busiest streets in Oxford. I don't think many people noticed... (I just love seeing that BYU hat walking down the streets of Oxford - it just stands out so much. People here don't wear "caps," as they call them)

Scooter's shoes were full of mud when we got home. I had to soak his shoes in bleach to get them back to normal (and yes, that is what our bathroom floor looks like - it also feels kinda rubbery and is made of a mystery substance).