Up this morning about 5 to another rather grey and overcast day – and it’s June 1st! Incredible! However, we pulled ourselves together, had breakfast and were out and heading to the Milton Park and Ride to meet Philippa and the boys a bit after 9 am. Robert has been able to get quite a bit of Caltech work done, and things seem to be progressing rather well on the scheduling front, but I’m not sure how much sleep he has been getting. Seems to me, not very much, but he is napping now, so that’s good!
Phil and the boys, Leo and Hugh, were a bit behind us on the road – slow lorry as well as road works on their way from their home in Watlington – about an hour’s drive northeast of where we are now. We were fortunate to get seats on a regular (not double decker, darn it!) bus – very crowded, actually! – into Cambridge, which whisked us away fairly quickly into the town center. The last time we were together was pre-Covid – six years ago, as a matter of fact – and the boys have grown up so much!! I’m so bad at ages, but I think Leo is about 13 now, and Hugh about 11 – at least I know that Hugh has now been able to watch all of the Harry Pottermovies, which I believe had some age restrictions on some of the later movies. They are both very much into sports, Legos and science and are both truly delightful young gentlemen!
Our first destination was the FitzWilliam Museum, the major museum of the University of Cambridge. As Leo had been there four times already – I think twice with school, once with an uncle, and once with someone else, he was designated as the leader, and he was excellent in following the map on his cell phone and guiding us directly there! Once inside, Robert and I wandered in our usual direction – prehistory through Near Eastern/Egypt/Greece/Rome, etc. and Philippa and the boys went on a special “Leo-guided” tour. We all met sometime later in the shop/cafeteria.
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| Leo, Hugh, Philippa and me in front of Museum! |
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| Stunningly presented panel! |
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| Some of the most beautiful Egyptian textiles we've ever seen! |
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| Ramses III Sarcophagus lid |
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| Incredibly handsome face! |
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| Loved the jackel and the goose! |
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| Incredible display of porcelain! |
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| Loved the Lions and the poppies out the window! |
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| One of the many Cambridge colleges |
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| R's chorizo starter |
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| Delicious salad! |
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| My minute steak and chips with salad |
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| Cute guys enjoying lunch! |
I have to admit that the museum collection had some truly superb pieces in it. It’s not a huge museum, but especially in the areas that were of most interest to us – they had some Ashurbanipal (r. 669-631 B.C.) pieces from Nimrud, which were displayed in the most beautiful ways we’ve ever seen – the lighting was incredible, the mountings amazing – really world class, I have to say! Very, very impressive! Additionally, their Egyptian collection was also excellent. All in all, so glad that we have added the FitzWilliam to our list of museums we have visited!
From the museum, seeing as it was lunchtime, we decided to head to the center of town to see what could be done about lunch. We found The Senate restaurant, and in we went. Fortunately, it was just about noon time, and we five could be accommodated without reservations. Robert had a starter of grilled chorizo with bread, which he absolutely loved. The rest of us only had main courses. Robert and Philippa both had warm aubergine, feta cheese, arugula, couscous and pomegranate salads (excellent, because I tasted R’s!). I had a minute steak with salad with mustard vinaigrette and chips. Hugh had fish and chips, and Leo had the vegan cheeseburger with chips. Everything seemed to vanish with the exception of all of Hugh’s fish, which was huge, so I don’t blame him a bit!
Phil had purchased two card games for the boys at the museum – one about pirates and the other about chemicals, and we played both while we were waiting for our lunches. Hugh won the pirate game very quickly indeed, and the chemical game – which was very interesting – was never finished, as luncheon got in the way instead. At any rate, a very good lunch, (at least mine was!) indeed!
From lunch, Phil wanted us to go to Heffer’s a HUGE bookstore in Cambridge … she had warned me about mailing things prior to going there, and of course she was right. I could, seriously, have filled multiple mailing boxes with books, cards, etc… but somehow I controlled myself … although I do have the names and authors of several books I plan on ordering as soon as we get back home! (Why are archaeology books so flipping HEAVY!?? That’s what I want to know!)
After Heffer’s, we decided that we would head back to the bus station and hence back to Milton. It had been a longish and busy day – at least for we “older” folks – although truthfully, the boys (and Phil too!) were more than ready for at least one more museum that we passed along the way!
We got to walk through the central part of town that we had missed yesterday, and I’m hoping that we can go back on Sunday afternoon and spend a bit more time there! We’ll see what the day brings! Tomorrow, we’re off to Dan and Phil’s to spend a day together at their place, probably just hanging out and catching up! Robert has been invited to bring along the laptop so that he can get some work done, as Dan will also be working from home. Back to Milton about 4-ish, and to the apartment about 4:30. R now napping on the couch and I’m on to the blog! We both had so much lunch, I’m thinking that the left-over noodles from yesterday may still be leftover for tomorrow! Oh well! One of these days, I’m sure!! So, until tomorrow, lots and lots of love!
m
xxx
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