Happy Christmas

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! We are lucky to have my parents and my brother Tom visiting us in Cambridge for Christmas. On Wednesday we had beautiful weather and spent the morning at the central market and the arts and crafts market. This is Tom’s first visit to Cambridge so we wandered around town to see some of the highlights with him.

We went to see a play called Horrible Christmas in the afternoon. It was a very silly retelling of the history of Christmas in England. The play was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. It’s a beautiful building that has been used for car shows, the London Symphony Orchestra, a giant tea party, boxing and wrestling, cleaning rifles during WWII, and an agricultural trading place. It’s now used for concerts and shows and is the most popular venue in Cambridge.

After the play, we stopped for a quick pint and some chips at the Eagle Pub, which has been around since 1667 and is where Watson and Crick announced their discovery of DNA in 1953.

We then celebrated Christmas with a wonderful Christmas dinner at the Galleria restaurant next to the River Cam. Matt and I ate here last January when we first visited Cambridge for his interview, and it was fun to return there with our family – and the food was delicious!

We ended the night with a stop at a nearby pub for some beer and mulled wine. It was a really fun day and we loved being with some of our family. Cambridge is pretty quiet at Christmas time with the students away and many of the shops closing early so it’s really nice we get to spend some relaxing time with each other.

We’re all heading down to London and then off to Stonehenge tomorrow. Check back for more on our Vroman Christmas day and adventures in London!

 

Beautiful morning at the market. We bought some fresh Kaki (persimmon) to eat – yum!

 

A local orchestra group was playing Christmas Carols at the market

 

Tom and I catching up outside the market

 

Some really lovely flowers in the bright morning sunshine. We haven’t seen this much sun in a while, so it was great to have this weather while our family was here!

 

Waiting for the play to start at the Corn Exchange

 

Enjoying a pint at The Eagle

 

Watson and Crick came here for lunch because it’s only a block away from where the old Cavendish Lab, where they worked. Matt works in the new Cavendish Lab, but it’s a couple of miles outside of town – too bad he’s not this close to a nice pub for lunch!

 

Anxiously awaiting our delicious Christmas dinner at Galleria

 

There are lights like this lining the streets throughout central Cambridge. It’s beautiful to walk around the city at night during Christmas time.

 

Stopping for a final drink at a nearby pub.