Punting on the Cam

After an uneventful week, Apryll and I had to have some fun this weekend. On Friday we went to late night at the Victoria and Albert Museum, which contains artifacts from all around the world. I liked looking at the Samurai swords and trying out the learning activities for kids, including designing my own family crest. Then we ate at the most delicious crepe restaurant in South Kensington.

Today we used our rail pass to travel to Cambridge. Once there we took at cab to the Orchard Tea Room in the outskirts of town. We didn't think about the orchard being wintry, so there wasn't much to look at. But we enjoyed our English tea and lunch. We decided to walk back into town isntead of paying another 10-pound cab fare. We were following the road our cab took when we saw a sign for a footpath back to Cambridge. We weren't exactly sure where it led or if we were headed the right way, but we carried on regardless. Amazingly, we made it back to town quickly and found the boat company that we had booked a tour with.

The boats are called punts and resemble flat-bottomed gondolas -- they're even propelled by guides in the back who use poles. The weather was nasty and no one else had booked a tour so we had a boat to ourselves. Luckily it was stocked with cushions, blankets and umbrellas for our comfort. Our guide, Giles, was a high-school aged kid who kept us entertained during the ride. He told us about the colleges and we answered his questions about Oklahoma. I asked him if he'd ever dropped his pole in the river or if he'd ever fallen in. He said yes to both.

It was still cold and rainy after our boat ride so we had tea and scones at a nearby cafe. Then we walked around town and shopped for souvenirs before heading back to London.