we had visitors.

We had a wonderful time with Alissa and Jonathan last week! They made the perfect first vistors setting the standard for all of you who hope to follow in their footsteps. It was so good to see them and spend time together exploring Cambridge and chatting / catching up. They came through England as the GRAND FINALE (in our opinion) to their two week European adventure to Italy and Paris.

Some highlights from their visit include:

::PUNTING!::
We finally experienced the famed Cambridge past-time of punting on the River Cam. Punts are low flat-bottomed wooden boats which are operated using a long pole in shallow water (like the gondolas in Venice). We ended up self-hiring a punt instead of going on a guided tour because it was much much cheaper. We were really worried that punting would be harder than it seemed especially since we've seen many people from the shore that look to be frustratedly struggling to get the punt to do what they want it to (and more than one resulting collision). After a two minute verbal instruction, Brandon made the first attempt. He actually turned out to be really good! (do I sound too surprised?) We punted about half an hour down the Cam to the Bridge of Sighs where we switched so Jonathan could give it a try and bring us back within our one hour time limit. He had a bit of difficulty getting the hang of it, which resulted in our going in many circles and hitting the walls on each side of the river before we started heading in the right direction. Within about 5 minutes he had also re-engineered the current method of operating the punt by turning himself around instead of the boat. It made for a hilarious and memorable experience! He quickly mastered it, however, and had us back just minutes over an hour.



::EVENSONG::
We went to Evensong (evening mass) at King's College Chapel and heard the famous King's College Choir. It is chillingly amazing to hear their voices echo in the vastness of the majestic architecture. On saturdays they have a boys choir which is even better, but this was a wednesday so it was men, and it was still awesome. I had to borrow this photo because to my great dismay and torture I am not allowed to take pictures in the Chapel. The seats you see in the picture are where the congregation sits with the choir next to them in another section. (pic from woklife.com)



::HIDDEN TREASURE and SUPERPOWERS::
Alissa and I had so much fun shopping together at the market, looking for a birthday present for my mom whose birthday was the 8th (HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM) and going around to the second-hand (charity) shops looking for hidden treasures! We finally found some adorable tea cups, so now I can properly observe the 4 o'clock British tea time.

We also discovered that Alissa possesses the superpower of "FINDING OWL TRIVETS!" She found two owl trivets in two hours! Who knew that superpower even existed?!




::BRAVING the GREAT OUTDOORS::
When Alissa and Jonathan arrived we decided to hoof it back from the rail station (over 2 miles) tugging their suitcases over narrow cobblestone passages. It turned out to be really fun (and really easy as they packed SHOCKINGLY light. Seriously it was impressive). We decided that, despite the drizzle, we would do the same thing when it was time for them to leave town. As we stepped out into the spitting rain we were all proudly proclaiming our bravery, and just as Jonathan was muttering something about our having a "stiff upper lip" it started to DOWNPOUR. We all froze, looked at eachother and RAN back inside yelling and laughing. We promptly and humbly called a cab. This actually turned out to be nearly as brave a venture as the windshield was almost completely fogged over but the cab driver still sped through the dark rainy streets on the WRONG side of the road (well it seemed wrong to us). It was a bit scary, but also fun. We had to say our goodbyes quickly as they dropped me off on a corner near our friend's house (where I was headed for dinner), and it was better that way because I didn't have a chance to get really emotional. It was still very sad to see them go, but I am so thankful for the wonderful memories we made!

Miss you guys already!

If you want to see thousands more pictures from their visit click here.