Our first day of rain...

Our first lecture of the day was on nuclear bombs and the threat of attack from Iran and North Korea. I was sleepy during that one (I thought I had gotten over jet lag). Joy will be providing additional notes to me, as I would literally fall asleep writing a sentence in my notebook. So after a double espresso, an oatmeal bar and 1/2 bar of chocolate I sped through the second lecture which was on Virtual Organizations. It touched on the philosophy of virtual organizations and where we are going in the future. I believe our lecturer was much too intelligent for his own good, the lecture was very eclectic.

Then we trotted off to the train station to Ely. We bought a pasty (mine was vege and it was good!) and ate it on our 15 minute ride. The whole point of Ely is the cathedral, which was first built in 673 AD. A very entrepreneurial and feminist nun started a monastery for both men and women, and the rest is history. You go girl!! Here is the website: http://www.cathedral.ely.anglican.org/history/the_story_cathedral.html

We paid for the deluxe tour and went on a trip up to the top of the dome. It was VERY high up and we had to squeeze our way through narrow stairs. I couldn't help but think that the pasty I just ate contributed to the tightness.

We saw the back side of the beams, they were in a weblike pattern to support the structure. Our guide, who wrote a book on the dome, told us it was the only one of its kind built for several hundred years.

We strolled around looking at sculptures of dead people and also visited the stain glass museum. That was very interesting as well, to see how the styles and methodology had changed over time. Then we sat in the pew and listened to choir practice. It was raining fairly hard by then, so we walked back to the train station and went back to Cambridge.

For dinner we walked all over Cambridge for a Thai restaurant and had a wonderful meal. Joy ate duck (Daffy killer) and I had the vege pad thai with fried tofu. It was delish.
So after our bottle of wine, we stumbled back to our favorite neighborhood pub for one last 1/2 pint of Guinness and then went to bed at 10:30. Perfect evening, albeit wet.

Today is very sunny and we are going punting after lectures. Since I haven't had enough of church :), I am taking a few folks to the 5:30 choral service at Kings College to hear the choir. I have decided while being a nun would be very delightful, esp. to hear all the singing. I wouldn't be able to eat enough pasties or chocolate in my life of poverty. I also don't think the wimple would do much for my profile, so perhaps I will just sit and listen :)