After last week’s classes, I went to Cambridge over the weekend to visit a friend of a friend of my roommates (whew). Cambridge is breathtaking, and so different from London.

On my first National Rail train to Cambridge!

The university that we stayed in, St. John’s, predates the United States by around 500 years. Over Shabbat, our host walked us around the town and gave us a mini-tour. The streets are paved with cobblestone and buildings are adorned with medieval decoration and sculpture. Well-dressed college students zipped past us in giant packs of bicycles. Furthermore, though the weather was cold and rainy, crocuses in vibrant yellow and purple peeked shyly out of the ground, and groups of laughing people punted down the river in little wooden boats. Everything was so OLD. It was amazing. We peeked into one of the high-ceilinged dining halls, which was lined with long tables and paneled in dark wood. On the tables, antique lamps burnt a warm yellow and a grand portrait of King Henry hung on the wall. We were told by our host that to dine in this hall, you had to dress in your formal robes, and there was waiter service. We passed Sir Issac Norton’s former dorm room (which is now awarded to the top student in maths and phsyics), and we heard many tales about rivalries between the separate schools.

I woke up a little bit early, and decided to go to synagogue before the others. The synagogue was just around the corner, but somehow, I got lost. Hmm…I thought…was it on Jesus Lane? Christ Road? Church Street? Ha! So I went to the guard (the “porter” as they call them) at my friend’s college and asked him if he knew where the Cambridge Jewish Center was. He said, “The Cambridge What?”

Eventually, I found it! The Jewish community was really warm. As it turns out, I knew a number of people there from various parts of my life. It was a wonderful Shabbat with an abundance of vegetarian food :).

The next day, on Sunday, I went to Camden Market. Okay. The complete opposite of Cambridge. And though, to be honest, Cambridge kinda made my heart melt in an amazing way, I was excited to be back in the colorful city. Camden Market was PACKED. As you walked, you were pretty much shoulder to shoulder with the person next to you. Dozens upon dozens of stalls caught my eye as I walked through the aisles, and they sold everything from jewelry, to art, to clothing, and to those crazy pedicures where fish gnaw away at your dead skin. (see photo below). The smells were fantastic; Indian food, Mexican Food, Thai! But I have one thing to say: If you want to save money in London, keep kosher and stay sober. It’s definitely working for my wallet. Hey, more fish pedicures for me.

Fish Pedi

I do have one weakness though, and that is for cappuccinos. At Camden Market, I stood online for a while watching the one barista make the coffees in a really artful way, and though it was taking a while, I was enjoying watching his craft. When it was my turn, the conversation went something like this:

Me: Busy day, huh?

Him (in some European accent, Lithuanian I later learned): Yeah, my friend has a hangover and he left me here alone! Which is crazy, because it gets so busy on the weekends. Sorry about the wait.

Me: No, it’s fine-I only wish I could help! Want a hand?

Him: Haha, no thanks!

Me: What’s your name?

Him: Rrrrrrrrene (rolls “r” dramatically)

Me: Thanks for the coffee! And good luck!

In addition to delicious coffee, I spotted some donut stops, which I carefully noted for my sister’s donut-related blog, glazed and enthused (glazedandethused.tumblr.com). See images below!

Donut Queen.

Anyhow, to tie this together, last Friday, I went to the Tate Modern with a friend. The Tate Modern is an incredible art museum with a glorious collection of works. He and I stopped and pondered different pieces of art, and we came upon this one, titled The Busy Life, by John DeBuffet:

It clearly portrayed some sort of city existence. My friend first noted that it looked like war and violence. One man seemed to be holding a gun, and there were limbs kind of strewn about. Additionally, the angry strokes of color on the canvas represented chaos and destruction.

Then, we saw an alternative view. That the city life, or the busy life, as its called, is where people live everyday lives. They do not live in a vacuum, however. In the city, they are surrounded by excitement- fast bursts of color and energy. And tonight there was urban beauty. The air was fresh, the city lights were sparkling, and the sky over the River Thames was a beautiful blend of cotton-candy blues and pinks.

But though cities can be exciting cultural hubs and beautiful places where communities develop and humans connect with one another in unexpected ways, they can also be ugly. They can be gritty. Most of all, they can reflect injustice. And it made me furious and sad to come all the way from New York and D.C. to see the same thing- more people sleeping on the street in the cold tonight just like back home.