Punting to Shakespeare in the Park

On Thursday evening, Mark, Maggie and I attended a performance of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" presented on the River Cam by a young troupe of English performers.  The first part of this adventure required us to be punted to the site:

When we arrived, we put down our blankets, brought out our picnic fare (salads and sandwiches purchased at M&S as well as wine and shortbread cookies).

Our front row seats on the lawn.

Across the River Cam from where we sat on the grass was this stage.

Soon, the performers came out -- they were so good and pretty funny!  We got to watch the performance across the River Cam -- one shore had all of us in the audience, and the other shore had the performers, but the punts were chained across the river so that the actors could run across the river during parts of the play and interact somewhat with the audience.

 

 

By the end of the evening, I believe we heard a few lines in the play that were not in Shakespeare's original.  It was a treat watching British actors perform Shakespeare -- I think some of them may have been students because a bunch of them seemed pretty young - and everyone looked like they were having a fun time.
 

I will end this post with a little poem that Mark made up . . . . very likely inspired as he struggled to get up off the lawn at the end of the play!

Shakespeare in the park

in the dark

on the grass

and on your ass.

Yes, England has been quite inspirational for Mark . . . .

Cambridge's Copyright Library

I mentioned in an earlier posting that I was looking forward to exploring the copyright library behind Clare College. 

I got my library card!

Inside, there were lots of mini-rooms, alcoves, and collections going back hundreds of years relating to books and music.

They also have separate gardens and a tea room!

In this particular room, they had annotated the names of famous English and Irish people with their writings, edicts, works of art or print, etc.

So, Maggie and I looked up a couple of names:

 

 The one that had a few pages was Nick's name!

 

We will have to go back -- there are sub-ground floors of books to explore -- with 2 miles every year of new shelving and books added each year, a person could spend a long time here . . . .

 

Gardeners and Botanists Query

Last year, on our way to our dorm rooms we had to pass through this particular alcove, which always smelled like fresh brewed roasted coffee -- we figured it had to be someone nearby making coffee in their dorm room, but the coffee smell only stayed in the alcove. 

That's our dorm building in the background.  Flanking both sides of the alcove entry is the plant in question. This year, it happened again, so we figured it had to be the plants -- and yes, it turns out that this particular bush puts out a roasted coffee scent! 

 

 

I need help:  What is it?  Could it survive in Davis?  How can I find it?  Does anyone recognize this plant?  It looks like it could be a succulent, but I am not sure . . . . I'd like to try and grow it in my garden if I can figure out what it is.

Class Photos - 2 weeks to go!

On Friday, after the ARM people finally left Cambridge, the class was finally allowed to have tea and lunch in the Great Hall in Old Court --

Tea Time!

Lunch time!

Today, Monday, the students posed in front of the double helix sculpture on the lawn of Memorial Court for a class photo --

After their photos, we all walked into town to Harriett's Tea House for "Special High Tea" -- It was quite a happy treat for everyone!  We had trimmed salmon, cucumber, and turkey sandwiches with cream cheese or butter, along with scones, pastries, tartlets, and clotted cream and strawberry jam, along with teas and coffees:

And, now it's back to work!