The forecast predicted rain for the day. Boo. It wasn't raining when we set off for church. When we were in the planning stages for this trip, we looked on Google Earth for a map of the church and even saw the street view. We knew exactly which way to turn once alighting (another English word we loved) from the bus at the McDonald's on the corner. Almost as if we had been there before. Chris said as we walked, "And there's the police station...." We knew the church building immediately when we spotted it down the street.
The meeting house was a pretty simple multi-purpose building. The chapel was set up with stacking chairs, and we arrived just in time to find a spot. There were very many African members and their hair was amazing with its braiding. Chris and I both commented on it as we left the building. A young man named Tanzer gave his mission farewell. He was leaving for the the Cape Coast, the same country that the Stake President was from.
Because we were on a time crunch, we had to leave directly after Sacrament Meeting in order to catch our bus back to the hotel. The rain had started while we were in church and persisted for the rest of the day. We had to kick the cleaning ladies out of our room, much to their frustration, so that we could change and catch the train from the Liverpool Station to Cambridge. Thanks to the handy iPad, we made it to the train station with minutes to spare. We quickly purchased tickets, found a spot on the train, and settled in for an hour-long ride. The country side was beautiful and reminded me of Oregon.
We arrived in Cambridge with our umbrellas in tow. We could have taken a taxi but chose instead to walk in to town. Just idyllic for my picture-taking brain. I brought my smaller camera to Cambridge figuring it would be easier to manage while also holding an umbrella while also trying to shield the camera from the rain.
We found a nicer restaurant than we had probably intended, but had an enjoyable lunch of the famed "fish and chips" followed with a chocolate cheesecake. Indulgent? Yes. We walked toward the King's College Chapel and found the visitor entrance.
After leaving the chapel, we walked toward the River Cam wishing all the while that it would stop raining so that we could take a punt tour on the river. No such luck.
Instead, we walked along The Backs and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.
If it hadn't been raining so much all day long, we probably would have stayed in Cambridge later and explored some more. My pants were soaked at least a foot up my leg. We decided to head back to the train station and return to London.
We ended our day with dinner at the hotel restaurant. So much easier than trying to find a place close by. We noticed in our various dining experiences that service comes at a much slower pace. At first, we were frustrated that our server seemed to be ignoring us. We finally clued in that she wasn't avoiding us but rather giving us time to enjoy our meal. Londoners take more time over their meals.
We got back to the room and chatted with our girls. We learned that Jonah W. had appendicitis, had been taken to the ER, and then transferred to The Children's Hospital in Denver for surgery. We felt bad for adding to the stress of their weekend with three extra kids.