From London to Cambridge - August 19, 2016

First, a note from me to you: Mike and I have been in London since Thursday, August 11, yet there have been no blogs. I'm pretty sad about this, as we have had a most wonderful time, and I hope to be able to go back and talk about some of our experiences. We'll see.

Meanwhile, I write this sitting in our room in a student residence hall just across a narrow street from the gates for which we now have a key and through which we access this very beautiful institution - Corpus Christi College of Cambridge University.

Upon arrival (in the sprinkling rain, the first of our trip), we stowed our bags and headed out for an orientation and lunch. We were met at our bus by Paul, the charming graduate student from Australia who will be one of our companions on this visit. Paul gave us the quick tour. All the colleges of Cambridge are organized around "courts," which are simply squarish green spaces surrounding by buildings. We walked through Old Court, through an arch into New Court. We went through an arch marked Q and one marked D. We are assured that we will soon be running around this college like old hands - and we surely hope so!

Soon after that we were joined by Nick, who is head of summer programs here at Corpus Christi and who is the mastermind of our experience. Paul and Nick led us to the very cozy room that will be our classroom, where Nick handed out welcome packets and explained a bit about what is to come. We then enjoyed a wonderful luncheon buffet, then headed back out into the chilly rain for our library orientation. We are allowed to use the college library while we are here. Our library guide showed us how the cataloging system works, where the study desks are located, and where we might find books on 20th century English history (for those of us who are taking the Churchill class next week) and the architecture section (for those who are taking the architecture class.) I was transported to my college days in the '60s, when I spent many a day (and night) in the stacks of the university library. Yes, there are still actual books on actual shelves, and students have free rein pretty much any time of the day or night. One big difference:  there's free WiFi.

Then back to claim our luggage and into our room. An OLLI favorite, this residence hall is accessed through an alleyway which runs right next to The Eagle, Corpus Christi's college-owned pub. I suspect we'll spend some time there.,

As soon as we settled in a bit, back out into the chilly air (rain temporarily stopped) to meet the Dean of the Chapel of Corpus Christi, an Anglican priest, for a bit of history. What a treat! We learned about the two really important periods in the history of Corpus Christi - the late 14th century, when it was established, and the early 19th century, when a great deal of the present construction was added. We visited the chapel, which is one of the 19th century additions. Not surprisingly, the college itself had been unable to provide much in the way of a chapel for financial reasons, and finally a pretty impressive structure was built.

Across the Old Court and into the main hall - we visited our classroom again, peeked into a room that was once the set (apartment) of a college master (teacher), then proceeded into a beautiful room which is used for a variety of activities, one of which will be our gathering for drinks shortly. Then through into the actual hall, which is truly a Harry Potter experience. There we will dine tonight, the ladies in dresses and the gentlemen in coats and ties. More about that later!

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And it's now later - back to our room after an absolutely lovely evening.

Here at Corpus Christi, there is tradition, actually tradition around every corner. This evening, the OLLI group was graced with the opportunity to attend a Formal Hall, which takes place in the, well, formal hall. We were invited for drinks in the Outer Room (champagne, of course) and then invited into the Hall for dinner. We entered and stood behind our seats at a lovely long refectory table, laid formally, with a printed menu card placed at regular intervals. Just a peek at the menu: grilled sardines, pork loin, grilled cabbage, glazed carrot, desserts to die for, coffee and port. Plus our choice of red or white wine.

Then a gong sounded and the Fellows entered, stood at the head table for the saying of grace  (in Latin) and all were seated. Yes, grilled sardines are delicious. (I know, I had my doubts, too.) And seated to my left was Paul, across the table was Nick, and on my right was Mike. What wonderful dinner companions - and great conversation.

After the dessert, a gong sounded, we all rose from our seats, the benediction was offered from the head table (Latin again), the Fellows departed, and the rest of us had coffee and port and more good conversation. This was truly an occasion that was tough to bring to an end. Then again, we must meet our tour guide (Paul) tomorrow at 8:30 for a trip to Blenheim Castle and Oxford. (Don't forget, FSU folks - Cambridge people regard Oxford pretty much in the same light as we regard UF. But we don't care. All of us are really looking forward to this. After all, we love "Inspector Morse," "Inspector Lewis," and "Endeavor"!)

So to bed, my dears. There will be more tomorrow - and I'm still dying to tell you all about London ...