Marathon Man Monday

So, Monday was a bit of a slower day after the Athens extravaganza on Siunday...we chose to stay closer to home...this is the "Marathon Man" and it is a statue very near the Bible College that represents the 1/2 marathon mark--13.1 miles--from the city of Marathon to the stadium in Athens.  As the story goes, when 25,000 Persians arrived at the Bay of Marathon in 490 B.C., it seemed impossible that the 10,000 Greeks could defeat them.  Greek victory was won by enclosing the Persians on all sides and driving them out to see, where 6000 Persians died and only 192 Athenians.  The origins of the marathon run date from this Battle of Marathon.  News of the victory was relayed by a runner who covered the 26.2 miles back to Athens in full armour before dying of exhaustion.

Just across from the Marathon Man is the largest and best bakery I have ever been in IN MY LIFE!!  It went on and on and on...heavenly...they boys each chose an ENORMOUS donut covered in sugar, Victoria chose a pastry with Merenda (Greek-brand Nutella) within, and Brad and I went with the homade baklava...I think we've been back every day since! (The owners were so kind...when they realized we were Americans visiting the Greek Bible College, they insisted we try a couple other of their pastries as their gift to us.  Talk about an example of showing kindness to foreigners!) 

After our venture to Beneth, the bakery, we went to our neighborhood underground grocery store, where the first thing that greets you is octopus, straight from the Aegean Sea.  I do so enjoy going into grocery stores wherever we may be, from a country story in Tennessee, to the corner market in Greece, I always find the experience completely delightful.

Even daily activities here have a Greek flair, which we are so enjoying, like hanging out our clean laundry...on the roof!...

...and playing hide and seek in 2 foot tall clover!...

...and climbing unknown (olive?) trees...

The Greek Bible College has many amenities for the students, among them this basketball/volleyball court.  We had loads of fun here...

...and here as mom is whoopin' up on Daniel...WAY TO GO, MOM!!

Silly Saturday in Saffron Walden

I just love this picture of Daniel.  I have oodles of silly face pics from this good-humored boy of mine, and thought I'd share one of my favorites. :)  Many thanks to Jim Leonard, a friend here, who gave Daniel this very British hat...I mean cap...

So, one Saturday we decided to go to a typical village near Cambridge that was not really known for anything too extraordinary.  We found ourselves in Saffron Walden, so named (we learned once there) because it was the center of the saffron industry in England in the early 1500's, and "Walden" was the name of the Abbey here from 1190 onwards.

We love country churches.  I don't know what I thought we'd find in a place called Saffron Walden, but the largest parish church in the county of Essex dating from 1250 was not quite what I had in mind. 

Then, we went to this quaint museum which had a big sand pit with replicas of actual artifacts found in the area cemented to the bottom, and the children had to use paint brushes to carefully brush away the sand to discover the artifact...just like real archeologists!  I think we could have stayed here for HOURS...

These castle ruins also were a surprise in our supposed-to-be-NOT-extraordinary village.  Turns out they date back to around 1135.  Oh my.  (The young boy on the right is Daniel Robar, the delightful son of some friends of ours here, who we invited to come along for the day.)

 

Pastel-colored homes...thatched roofs...suspended street lamp...

And even not-supposed-to-be-extraordinary villages have bakeries...

It was a good day in Saffron Walden.  I just hope when Brits come to the States looking for typical small towns, they don't look for cathedrals, castle ruins, and thatched roofs! :)

Breaking News - Boy from America Handcuffed in Court Drama!

It's true.  There we were in a dramatic presentation of a court case reenactment set in the 18th century, and the "eye witness" Daniel Green, who was present simply to observe the trial, was, in the end, handcuffed by the bobby.  Outrageous!

In other news, this blue-coated family is winning converts, as evidenced by their South African friend Werner (red and gray ball cap), with his BLUE coat.  This is the Blue Coats 3rd rugby match, and, after helping to explain the Super Bowl to Werner, he obliged to explain a rugby match to them.  (You may recognize Will Kynes, of hair clipper and St. John's tower fame, next to Werner.  Then there's Will the Scribe, also an American and friend, who was WRITING ABOUT THE MATCH...FOR THE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER!  I was ON THE FLOOR!!!  He knew about as much about rugby as we did.  I saved the newspaper article from the next days paper---I could not believe that I had been at the game that he had described--it was written masterfully.  I guessed I had drastically underestimated his understanding of the game, until, that is, the next time I saw him, and he, with a twinkling in his eye said, "I have a good editor.") 

This picture makes me laugh for another reason, too.  Notice that three people are watching the game:  the one who understands it, and the two who want to play for their birthday party.  The others? Great smiles. :)

Shepreth Wildlife Park, Animal edition

Have you ever decided on an outing for the day, thinking, "This sounds like it might be fun."  And then it turn out to be more than you ever DREAMED it would be?  That describes our recent trip to SHEPRETH WILDLIFE PARK.  It was a cold, rainy Saturday, and it turned out to be the PERFECT day to visit:  few folks, countless critters (the aforementioned adjectives and nouns are dedicated to my son Daniel, who is learning about alliteration).

One of our first stops was to the "Bugs World" section.  Yes, that is yours truly holding a living, venom-intact tarantula!!  YIKES!!  One funny thing that happened as I was holding it was that it kicked off some of its leg hairs onto my hands.  The trainer said that it didn't like something about my hands--probably the scent left from hand lotion--and it was letting me know, and that I should wash my hands immediately or the leg hairs would irritate my skin and cause severe discomfort.  That little stinker!

Have you ever seen a blue lobster?  Blue is this species' natural color...dazzling bright blue...stunning!

Lots of good memories here...fruit bats dive-bombing Victoria in the bat house because she had fruit-scented shampoo...tigers hunting enormous chunks of raw meat hidden thruout their enclosure (you can just see some meat between the 2nd and 3rd tires in above photo), black swans (!), petting kangaroos, chasing  monkeys (they were free to roam!), and running from Billy Goat Gruff who wanted to see how my jacket tasted!  Brad and I both commented on how the children cherished our time there.  Perhaps because it had a familiar feel to it...at any rate, it was good for the children...and for us too...

Duxford Imperial War Museum

One of our favorite outings to date has been to the Duxford Imperial War Museum.  Duxford is a small village just south of Cambridge, and this museum is "Europe's Premier Aviation Museum," with seven acres of indoor exhibition space, and almost 200 aircraft.  It is truly remarkable!  Here are a few snapshots from our most memorable day...

Our day began at the bus stop.  This was the children's first time to ride a city bus, and the anticipation was high!  We actually got to change buses a time or two, and we all felt very European. :)

Some of the kids' favorite parts were the ride simulators.  There were "hands on" simulators for so many different aspects of flying--I think they were geared towards children, but, well, we ALL enjoyed them!  We went to this one hangar that was a type of hospital for broken airplanes, and in it was a wealth of treasures.  In many ways this one was a favorite because many of the planes had not been cleaned up yet--they may have been crashed in WWII, and still were as they were found.  So, we each chose our favorite plane in the plane hospital, and below are the winners.  Points to anyone who recognizes any of them...

Can you read the name on the plane that Victoria chose?  It says, "Memphis Belle".  Interesting...a taste of home...  The next plane was the boys absolute favorite of the entire museum.  It was the Blackbird, the fastest plane ever flown (2193 mph), and the boys were completely mesmerized by it.  In fact, we have about 15 pictures of it, at various angles, compliments of son number one.  He and Daniel will happily give anyone who asks a full explanation. :)  And then, you may recognize the F15 in front of which are two people demonstrating right angles with the positioning of their feet.  :)

This next one has a great story with it.  Do you see what Victoria is standing in front of?   There USED to be a hangar, built in 1919, which housed all sorts of planes.  An interesting fact about this place is that part of the movie, "The Battle of Britain" was filmed right here at the War Museum.  For those who have seen it, do you remember when the hangar blew up?  Yes, you guessed it.  There was a hangar here that they blew up in the movie, and the reason the explosion looked so real was that it actually blew up in real life, too.  The guide told us that the folks here were not happy about it.  So, he told us that even though the airfield here was active during WWII, it received more damage from the making of the movie than during wartime.  Funny.  Anyway, Victoria is standing in front of where the hangar used to be.  It is now a parking lot.

WHEW!  What a day!! :)

Fun and Games

Before I jump into today's memories, I thought I'd just say a sincere word of thanks to those of you following along, and those of you posting sweet comments along the way...  I read (and appreciate) every one.  I've been following certain friend's blogs, not mentioning (Jen...) any names (...Howell) for many, many moons, and just laugh and laugh and enjoy them so much, but have never once left a comment... I had no idea how encouraging they can be...so thank you to all of you, and sorry to Jen (your blog inspires me).  I think one reason I keep thinking, "People are really reading this?!?" is because my only prior attempt at writing was in my 10th grade journalism class, which my mom would remember was the one in which I cried every night an assignment was given because I thought I was so crummy at it...so, thanks guys...

Anyway, on to the "Fun and Games" of today's edition...so, the kids and I were walking along the "Backs" one day (which is what they call all the green, grassy fields, parks, etc. surrounding the BACKS of the colleges) and we happened upon this park, which instantly made and has remained in the kids "Top 10 Things About Cambridge" list.  Let me just explain about a few of these quite potentially deadly "apparati."  Take for instance the one above.  Yes, the innocent-looking saucer with Victoria in the middle...that's the one.  This contraption can be pushed until it goes VERTICAL to the ground, up and back.  Think about this for a moment.  It wasn't so bad when her head was up and feet down, but when her head was down and feet up, Victoria squealed with delight and Dianne squealed with terror.  An interesting footnote to this photo...do you see the...er...tree-looking growth just behind Victoria?  Yes, 'tis pruning season in Cambridge, and few lucky trees seem spared...just today, in fact, I was walking down the lane at Churchill College (where we live), and the once beautiful tree-lined footpaths we have enjoyed to date are now lined with...um...tree bobs, shall we say.  Looks like the boys tree climbing days here are numbered!

If the first picture scores a "9" on the "Scare-Mom-To-Death-Ometer", this one would be a solid "10".  (I can just hear some of the boys' friends saying, "YEAH,  bring it on!" :))  This is a stand up see-saw.  Sounds innocent enough.  Until we realized the goal was to bump the other one off, just like you would bump a regular see saw, only this one sent the kids soaring off into any number of unpredictable directions (note the soft black padding all around!), much to their complete delight, I might add...Note all the trees in this photo...nice, plump, branches...they better watch out...their turn's coming!

On to the "GAMES" portion of our "Fun and Games" Memory...

So, we saw that Cambridge University's premiere rugby team, the Cambridge Blues (the school color is light blue), were playing at a theatre near us...uh, wrong motto...they were actually playing on a field near Tyndale House, where Brad is studying.  So, we decided to take the kids to their (and our) first ever rugby game.  Oh my.  If only we had known what was happening...we watched and tried to act normal, like cheering when others around us cheered and acting completely offended when it appeared we were supposed to be.  At one point I leaned over to Brad and said, "Any idea what's going on?"  I was glad I was not alone. :)  The kids REALLY enjoyed it, though, so much so, in fact, that they want to play RUGBY at their next birthday party!  I'll need to brush up a bit on the rules before then..actually,.I think our brother-in-law used to play.  If this is true, Tuckerman, please begin preparing your rugby tutorial .   :)

And look what is a VERY common sight on the "Backs" every Saturday morning--rugby practice!  It is a very interesting sport to see for the first time as an adult--kind of like football, soccer and cheerleading (they lift up their players high overhead for some reason every now and again during the game---Tori is convinced they are doing a type of cheer to encourage their team on...maybe...)

On to bed tonight...Brad's horizontal after a day in London (!), and we are getting up early tomorrow to go to the Duxford Imperial War Museum, Europe's premiere aviation museum.  So if history, tanks, artillery, or aviation (Curtis) is your thing, stay tuned, tomorrow's coming...