I believe in God the Father,
Who created Heav’n and earth;
Made the stars to shine so brightly,
Gave each living thing its birth.
I believe in God the Father,
And in Jesus Christ His Son,
Who was crucified on Calv’ry
For the sins that all have done.
I believe He died, was buried,
Rose again, no more to die;
And ascending to His Father,
Took His seat with Him on high.
I believe in God the Spirit,
Sent to us from Heav’n above,
And the Church our blessèd Savior
Hath redeemed by His great love.
I believe in His forgiveness,
And His wondrous power to save;
In a glorious resurrection,
And a life beyond the grave.
I believe in God the Father,
I believe in God the Son,
And in God the Holy Spirit,
Everlasting Three in One.
Today is my seventy fifth birthday. God has been so good to me. We will be traveling all the live long day today. From Cambridge to London to Seattle to Spokane and then home again, home again, jiggity jig!
It will be good to be home again and to get our bearings.
Here are some birthday photos from the past.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Cambridge is a town that affords you many great architectural treats. On our way to the Wren Library which is part of Trinity College we enjoyed many. This day was still Monday March 9th and our first full day in Cambridge.
There is a lot of history in this library and many important documents. If you are interested you can read more here.
A detailed description of the window can be found here.
A.A. Milne attended Trinity college and some original manuscripts from Winnie the Pooh are featured in the Wren Library. Some interesting reading here.
This was a beautiful day in Cambridge and we enjoyed some views at the back of Trinity and other colleges, too.
A view of the Wren from the Backs.
A view of St. John’s college.
They have a claim to fame of C.S. Lewis visiting here during his time in Cambridge.
They also claim to be the oldest pub.
We had our last meal of the day at the Mitre.
Love the signs of spring we are seeing…
So this was Monday and we had 4 more full days in Cambridge. It will take lots of posts to cover everything we have seen and experienced. Today, Thursday the 12th of March, was a very blustery day. The kind of wind that moved you along. We still had sunshine break through. Our weather here has been fabulous with no rain so far. Time will tell if we get rained upon. Thank you, friends, for following along with us.
Frances Crick’s brag in the Eagle. The pub where we habitually ate lunch, that we had indeed discovered that ‘Secret of life, struck me as somewhat immodest, especially in England, where understatement is the way of life. ~James Watson
The Eagle, Cambridge ~ Discovery of DNA~
On this spot on February 23, 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson made the first public announcement of the discovery of DNA with the words “We have discovered the secret of life.” Throughout their early partnership Watson and Crick dined in this room on six days every week.
Greg and I dined in this room on Monday March 9th, 2026.
The other history that is special here is the ceiling covered in graffiti of British and American WWII pilots who burned their names and squadron numbers here using cigarette lighters, candles and lipstick.
Cottage pie and duck hash were our choices for our meal.
From The Eagle we decided to trek over to the Wren Library in Trinity College. It has limited visiting hours and this was a good day to fit it in. That will be another post!
We are walking our feet off here in Cambridge. Thanks for following along on our travels and discoveries.
After 8 days and nights of being waited on hand and foot we are on our own in the college town of Cambridge. We are staying at The Wilde Aparthotel which is positioned well in the central part of the city. We have a one bedroom small apartment in a very large building with over 400 rooms/apartments.
The lobby is a gathering space with lots of comfy furniture and spaces for people to gather. It was quite lively when we checked in.
Our apartment has a Nespresso machine but we wanted a fresh brew so on Monday morning we went on a quest to get a good cup of coffee. The earliest time that a shop opened was at 6:30 a.m. so we set out before then and enjoyed the quiet of the city without students racing about on bicycles.
We walked along Bridge Street and spotted the Round Church.
Once we go inside, I’ll share more about this ancient church.
We found the coffee shop and enjoyed a strong cup of coffee and shared a delicious almond croissant. Appropriately fueled we journeyed on to see what we could see.
We found our way to King’s Parade.
Part of our Tuesday Tour will cover King’s College and I’ll have lots to share about it. I’m anticipating the chapel at King’s College the most.
We also plan to do our own Reformation Walking Tour from a book I purchased showing some key areas and things to look for.
The window designs at the Copper Kettle were so charming. We might need to eat a meal here.
We came across the Corpus Clock and enjoyed watching the big grasshopper biting away at time! This clock is fascinating and it draws a lot of attention. I took a video to share it with our Grands.
Here’s a You-Tube video about the clock.
The Latin inscription translates, “The World and it’s desires pass away”
Walking down from the Clock we saw The Eagle.
We made a plan to return here for our midday meal.
What a joy to see this beautiful blossoming tree! Spring is coming…thank you, LORD!
Before our lunch at The Eagle we did some shopping acquiring a small French Press and ground coffee so we can make our own coffee in the morning. TK Maxx to the rescue to find a very affordable coffee press and we bought coffee at Sainsbury.
I’ll keep our time at The Eagle for a separate post along with our visit to the Wren Library.
The weather was a bit brighter than Sunday and made walking about pleasant. Cheers!
On Monday March 2nd, we docked and visited Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia situated on the Danube by the border of Austria and Hungary. It has a pedestrian only old town center.
On Tuesday March 3rd, we passed the little village we were going to visit and docked further on. We had a short bus ride back to the village of Durnstein.
We also visited the Melk Abbey on this same day.
On Wednesday March 4th, we chose to travel by bus from the boat to the Czech Republic to visit the picturesque town of Český Krumlov.
Here is a sneak peek of the town surrounded by water.
Thursday March 5th and Friday March 6th we were in Vienna.
Carriage rides and Apple Strudel and a whole lot more.
Saturday we cruised back to Budapest.
Throughout our River cruise we were blessed with very decent weather. That was not a guarantee for this time of the year. Looking forward to putting my thoughts together for each stop of our cruise and to post all my photos. That will have to wait for when we get home. Thanks for traveling along with us!
On Sunday March 8th we disembarked from the AmaMagna and were bused to the airport. We flew to London boarded a bus to Cambridge and checked into our apart/hotel for 6 nights in the college town.
Once checked into our hotel we found a pub close to the apart/hotel for some comfort food before we turned in for the night.
We sailed away from Budapest Sunday evening of March 1st. Last Sunday. I am finally able to upload my photos from the past week!
We arrived in Cambridge on Sunday the 8th and my internet connections are good so I’ll add a postcard from each village/town we visited on our days on the Danube soon. We are going to take it easy on this Monday after a long day of traveling yesterday. We flew from Budapest to London and boarded a bus to Cambridge. After being dropped off at the bus stop we walked to our Apart/Hotel and checked in. We had a meal at the Baron of Beef and will now hopefully have a good nights sleep.
The original recipe posted can be found here. This recipe is perfect for salads we serve with our Persian influenced meals that include lamb and rice. As I posted in the original recipe my parents lived many of their formative years in Persia after escaping out of Russia in 1932. They lived in Iran (Persia) near Tehran from 1932-1947. This is a perfect dressing for salads that include tomatoes and cucumbers.
Ingredients:
1/3 C. Olive Oil
3 T. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 clove garlic pressed or minced
Method:
Whisk all ingredients together until incorporated.
Serve over salad greens with tomatoes, cucumber, and onion.
This makes enough dressing for a large salad that serves 8-12 people.
It has been difficult to upload all my great photos while we are cruising along the Danube. The internet is slower than mud and stuck in the mud. We will be docked in Vienna later this week and I’m going to make a prediction that the internet might be working better for us there. If not, when we get to Cambridge next week, I’ll try to catch up. Until then…
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 