“It was a dark and stormy night…”

Gray, cold, and old, with an overall sense of gloom:

This is pretty much how I feel every year at this time, after we switch the clocks back an hour, and the daylight hours get eaten up so quickly.

This picture was taken in Autumn in London a few years back. I like the timeless look of the photo. Even the modern icon of the The London Eye looks eerily like it’s been a part of the scene forever.  I love the way a black and white photo can capture the moodiness of a place so well.

Back to my Edgar Allen Poe reading…

Kristen

I write this blog today, as London and the rest of the UK is being beseiged by snow!  My sister was supposed to fly into Poole today, but after 8 hours at the airport, had to drive back home in a blizzard and try again for tomorrow. We here in Seattle can appreciate how “not snow ready” a place can be! I only wish I was there in London to take photographs in the snow!

Anyways, I thought I’d post this photograph of The “London Eye”, London’s most paid-for tourist destination, attracting over 3.5 million visitors a year. Each caspule can weighs ten tons! I did not take the ride…prefered to photograph from below!

In honor of the anniversary, I thought I’d share some photos that I took from a fairly recent trip there (2006), and also point out some interesting facts.

Established in 1209 A.D., Cambridge is the 2nd oldest university in the English-speaking world (after Oxford). Affiliates of Cambridge have won a total of 83 Noble laureate prizes, a record. Notable alums include everyone from Lord Mountbatton to Sacha Baron-Cohen (Ali G), Jane Goodall to Nick Hornby, and Desiderius Erasmus to Hugh Laurie.

It was where Charles Darwin developed his theory of natural selection, where they discovered DNA, and developed in vitro fertilization (IVF).

What I loved about the university was how everyone there bikes to/from class, and how every public place (pubs, cafes, restaurants) is full of people studying and conversing. Another thing I learned is that in Cambridge, the punters (as seen in the picture below) push the flat boats from the back end, whereas their colleagues over at Oxford pull the boats from the front end. It is hotly debated which way is better!

On a different trip, I got to attend the famous Boat Race Day in London, which is a crew race between Oxford and Cambridge that’s held every spring. While I can’t actually remember who won (there was drinking starting very early in the day!), it was quite a spectacle on the Thames!

And, yes…my brain is full of useless and random information, which is why they probably didn’t accept me at Cambridge. Humph!

Adventure on,

Kristen