Cambridge, Harry Potter, Peter Pan, and Oliver’s first hair cut

We made our final excursion out of the city last weekend – to Cambridge. It was a quick, one-day trip with my (Jason’s) students, but a very nice time. Cambridge was bustling, festive, and beautiful. Some highlights were the Fitzwilliam Museum (small by comparison with London museums, but a lot of great things to see, including impressive armor and ancient Egypt exhibits) and the King's College and Trinity College campuses and chapels. See below for some pics. We departed from and returned to the London King’s Cross train station, which Harry Potter fans will recognize as the departure point of Harry’s first trip to Hogwart’s. See below for what one finds at platform 9 ¾.

We also recently paid a visit to the famous Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, which is quite close to where we’re living. Shortly after getting to London, Erinn read the original (un-Disneyfied) version by J.M. Barrie to the kids and they all found it delightful.

Finally, Oliver got his first haircut today. See below for some before and after photos.

We hope that you, our dear friends and family, are doing well. We’re going to try to pack in several things in our remaining 12 days here and will try to report on them now and then. Tomorrow night we plan to see the musical Oliver. It’s still cold here. I think it’s been a good two to three weeks (maybe more) since we’ve hit 40 degrees. But it’s not as cold as it was last week; and all the snow has melted.


Enjoy the photos …

King's College, Cambridge, from across the River Cam (the name of the river predates and is the namesake of the city itself).

Punting on the Cam.

One of the magnificent stained glass panels in the King's chapel.

Another view from inside the chapel (check out the ceiling).

Inside Trinity College. (Philosophers: there are plaques and/or monuments honoring Wittgenstein, GE Moore, and Henry Sidgwick in the chapel.)

Lily caught fraternizing with the college girls. She thought she was SO cool hanging with the big girls.

Did you ever wonder what became of Harry's luggage cart once he passed through the wall?

The Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. J.M. Barrie (the author) had it commissioned and placed in the exact location inside the gardens in which he imagined Peter living and playing as he was writing the story.

Oliver on a cold winter afternoon on the Thames. This and the photo below were taken after an unsuccessful attempt to see the Kew Gardens and Palace (the latter is only open in the summer; the former were closing 15 minutes after we got  there!).

This is the "just-before-my-first-haircut" photo. (While the curls look cute from the front, there was an everpresent nest-like tangled mass of hair on the back of his head. Sorry grandmas etc.)

Just after. What a big boy!

Lest you think he looked cuter with all the curls.