Cambridge with the Appel's

Last weekend we traveled to Cambridge to visit Nikki and Eric Appel. It was a 2 hour bus ride and Brad slept for most of the trip! Look at how cute that face is! When we got there we ate lunch at the Appel's insanely cute flat and then they took us on a walk through the colleges of Cambridge. Eric is a student there so we had special access to some of the inner courtyards. We went to the Wren Library at Trinity College which houses medieval manuscripts, the Capell collection of early Shakespeare editions, many books from Sir Isaac Newton's own library,

and the first Bible ever printed in English.

As we finished gawking at old books and appreciating how cool it is to live in a place with such incredible history, we walked out onto this stunning tree in front of the Cambridge River. We walked through a market, had Lunch at a cool pub, and then went to an Evensong at Kings College Chapel. This was a powerful experience and helped us to better understand what it would have been to be a church goer 500 years ago. We ended our evening with dinner at Giraffe and then good conversation back at the Appel's place.

Sunday Morning we woke up slowly and then decided to go on a walk to Grantchester. The whole walk is like a scene out of Pride and Prejudice... 5 miles and worth every step!
Nikki failed to adequately break in her new shoes and got a blister as we walked... when we got to our destination we traded shoes... which just meant she was wearing a different pair of her own shoes as I'd had to borrow some due to poor packing on my part.

Our destination was a place called The Orchard which served traditional British tea and scones with clotted cream and jam!
We tried to roll our trousers up and take the muddy, but more scenic route home... in the end we decided to go back to the trail as none of us were properly adorned.
We caught the 3:30 bus home but not without a bit of a hiccup... I left my coat at the Appel's and Eric had 4 minutes to run back for it while the rest of us went to the bus. He made it, thank goodness, do you know how cold it is here?
We had a great time and are so thankful to have had some friends to hang out with! It was a little bittersweet though... great to be in fellowship but a hard reminder of just how lonely we are sometimes in Big London.