Cambridge American Cemetery

Yesterday Chuck and I visited the Cambridge American Cemetery.  We have passed it several times on our way to Cambridge and it was a stop on the Cambridge City Tour we took last week.  The day started out a bit cool and cloudy and the cemetery was still filled with the flowers for the memorial that had taken place the day before, Memorial Day at home.  It was the 75th Anniversary of the Friendly Invasion. The Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial is the only World War II American military in the UK.  The land for the cemetery was donated by the University of Cambridge and declared a permanent burial ground by the British government.  The grounds are breathtaking with gorgeous flowers and a reflecting pool.  We spent quite a while just wandering through the walkways among the white crosses and Stars of David looking at the names and home states of the fallen service members. This is an excerpt from  www.visitcambridge.org

The cemetery was first opened on 7th December 1943 as one of three temporary American cemeteries in the United Kingdom. After the war, on land donated by the University of Cambridge, it was chosen as the only permanent World War II American cemetery in Britain. It is the final resting place of 3,812 men and women who gave their lives in the Battle of the Atlantic, the strategic bombing campaign over Europe, those who died in the invasion of Europe and who were killed in training exercises on British soil. The lives of another 5,127 men and women whose bodies were never recovered are commemorated on a Wall of the Missing.

After we left the cemetery, we made our way to Tesco.  We bought more groceries (especially my favorite, McVities Digestive Biscuits.  For those of you who don't know, biscuits are cookies in the UK.  I wonder if I can get these when we get home? I'll have to check Amazon.)

I can't end the blog until I post more photos of Tillie and Gracie.

Tomorrow we go to the Royal Mail Post Office to pay the taxes on Frankie, our little gray Renault Clio.  We also plan to do some sightseeing in Cambridge and maybe lunch or dinner at a nice pub or pizza on the rooftop at the restaurant we saw last week on the city tour.

A Tour of Cambridge

We've had a busy week walking the dogs, shopping at Tesco (my new favorite store) and visiting Marilyn and Joe and their sweet German Shepherds Willow and Willis.  We will staying with Willow and Willis in a few months.  Marilyn and Joe were kind enough to invite us for lunch yesterday.  We really enjoyed seeing their home and getting to them as well as Willow and Willis.  Marilyn and Joe live in a beautiful area called Mill Valley close to Peterborough.  

Thursday Chuck and I drove to the Park 'n Ride on Madingley Road near Cambridge.  From there, we boarded an open-air doubledecker tour bus for Cambridge.  Our bus driver was a very talented young man. He could maneuver that huge bus through the traffic and narrow streets through Cambridge with ease.  The tour was very informative and a lot of fun.  There were 18 stops where we could get off and explore, the get on again and explore some more. Cambridge is a very old city with a plethora of universities and colleges all under the umbrella of Cambridge University. The architecture is breathtaking. We decided to ride the bus and not get off.  We will save that trip for one day next week.  Another place we want to visit is the American Cemetery.  It's dedicated to all the military who gave their lives while fighting with Great Britain during World War II.

We spent a lovely evening with Andrew (Janet's and Michael's son), Sharon, his wife, and Sammi, their daughter at a pub called The Golden Ball.  Dani, their other daughter, works there and was our server.  We had a great time talking and getting to know each other.  Andrew and his family are leaving for a week's holiday in Cyprus.  I can't wait to hear about their trip. Cyprus is on our bucket list. 😃

We have a car now. It's a little Renault Clio and it will hold all our luggage!

These are some photos of my new favorite store, Tesco.  The selection is great, the aisles are wide and I think the prices are comparable to those at Kroger or Publix in Fayetteville.

Surprisingly, the weather here is very similar to the weather in Fayetteville.  It was 80 degrees F yesterday.  It feels hot and humid compared to rainy, cold weather we had earlier.  I'm not sure how long this will last, apparently this is very unusual for this time of year.

We are so enjoying Tillie and Gracie.  They sweet, smart dogs.  It's hard to believe that we are almost halfway through our first pet/housesit.😢

We Have Arrived!

Leaving the NCL Jade was bittersweet.  It had been our home for the last 14 days. However, it was good to pack all 4 of our suitcases and the 2 backpacks and head for our first pet/housesitting assignment.  After disembarkation (which was not quick and easy), Chuck walked over to the Enterprise Rental facility to get our car. We managed to get all our luggage in the car and then set off for Highfields CaldecoteOf course, it had a right had drive and manual transmission; however, Chuck adapted quickly to driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Using my phone with Google maps, we were on our way.  After leaving Southampton and driving around London, we stopped at a Service Area to stretch our legs.  As soon as we walked in this we saw a Krispy Kreme Doughnut kiosk.  Who knew that we would Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in the UK?

We traveled on.  We had already communicated with our housesitting family by email and were going to call as soon as we left Southampton, but I couldn’t figure out which numbers to enter (UK phone numbers are extremely long).  We kept going and found the address easily, but our family wasn’t home.  We decided to explore a bit and drove to Cambridge.  Cambridge is an old, busy, university town with lots of traffic. We will definitely explore Cambridge before we move to our next pet/housesit.

We were finally able to connect with our pet/housesit family.  They were so welcoming and easy to get to know.  We were able to spend 2 days with them before they for their holiday.  They drove us around to see where we could buy food, gas/diesel, and local attractions.  And our charges, Tillie and Gracie!  They are sweet, sweet dogs who love long walks and logs of hugs!