Hogwarts... or the next best thing

The last few days have been pretty packed, so I will attempt to recollect the highlights.

Wednesday- Cambridge
- took the train from King's Cross Station to Hogwarts... ok, fine, just Cambridge
- snuck into the grounds of Pembroke College and tried to fit in
- went to the Wren library and saw some cool stuff
- punted on the cam, pretty much the coolest thing ever, you get in a little flat-bottomed boat and use a pole thingy to push it, we struggled a bit at the end and got laughed at by the workers. A lot. Punting is a common activity in Cambridge, so we were practically locals.
- Brother and Sister Tanner were there (THE Sister Tanner) and they hung out with us, ok well not me specifically, but they were with our group.
- we visited a really cool chapel deal, but i don't remember the name (as one of my roommates would say, "Another flippin' Cathedral)

Thursday&Friday- Globe Theatre
- went and saw As You Like It at the Globe. Seriously one of THE coolest things of my life. I absolutely loved it.
- returned the next day to do a tour and saw rehearsals for Much Ado About Nothing, which we purchased tickets for! Woot Woot (also, the butler, Jeffrey, from Fresh Prince is in the play!)
- realized that teaching Shakespeare will never be the same for me after seeing it done at the Globe. For real though.
- did two of our walks for class
- visited the bookstores on Charing Cross Road
- Had some Gino's Gelato (the best gelato place EVER) and danced to the music at Trafalgar Square (the best hangout place EVER)
- missed our tube stop by a few stops because we were laughing and got distracted

*I would just like to say that on Friday I spent half of my day on the tube. It was ridiculous but pretty funny, we looked at the tube map at the end of the day and we had ridden almost every line and we rode the entire circle line. Ridiculous.

Saturday- Oxford
- we had a little lecture from Dean Hughes, the author of The Children of the Promise series and many others, he is visiting to research for a new book
- went to Oxford and loved it
- ate at The Eagle and Child Pub where JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis had little meetings about their books they were writing, called themselves "the Inklings" (and naturally we all discussed what we would write about)
- Went to a library that I don't remember how to spell it, but they filmed some Harry Potter stuff there
- climbed to the top of a chapel and saw an awesome view. It was pretty treacherous, but I didn't die.
- sprinted to see the Great Hall and we were a minute late and they wouldn't let us in, but I think the guy realized we were a little distraught so he gave us the encouraging news that it wasn't actually filmed there, just used for inspiration, and he gave us little brochures.
- Fell asleep on the train home and my leg was sort of out in the aisle accidentally and I woke up to a guy with a cart bumping his cart into my foot repeatedly trying to get by. Oopsie.

* You all might be wondering about the Cambridge versus Oxford, which is better debate... I must say I preferred Oxford. Just my opinion!

Now a bunch of us Centre girls are crowded in the classroom watching North and South. Perfect end to the week, but I do still need to plan a Sunday School lesson...

I feel that I should include a randomly funny encounters segment, cuz I had a few this week:
1. Heard man humming "In the Jungle" while walking across the Tower Bridge and so, naturally, sang along- then I was afraid the man would start following us
2. After Les Miserables there was a guy playing some drums and it was pretty catchy, so I started dancing and a bunch of Middle Eastern men all followed me onto the dance floor (don't worry Mother, I was in a group and perfectly safe and smart and stuff)
3. At the Globe there was a rather dashing young man leaning up against the stage and pretty much all of the girls in our section noticed him, so I got elected to go and try to talk to him, I was pretty dang sneaky, pretended I wanted a picture of the stage (one of my better moments) and then when he didn't have an accent, I had the perfect opportunity to ask where he was from. The girls in the group recorded from afar.
4. Some guy at The Eagle and Child was at the table next to us and had me record him giving a little spiel about the pub. Interesting. We later saw him at the train station.
5. I think I might be missing one, but it eludes me at the moment.