On Saturday, Ian and I cycled to Grantchester, a town a couple miles outside of Cambridge, to attend the Green Man Pub Beer Festival.  To get there, we cycled through Grantchester Meadows, a famously scenic walking/cycling path along the river.  Even though it was cold and gross out and we had to dodge many, many cow pies, it was a beautiful journey and I saw my first English robin:

Other people's pretty pictures of the Meadows

The Thing to Do in Cambridge in nice weather is to walk to the Grantchester Tea Room and have a full cream tea.  I’m rapidly developing a taste for scones and I’m looking forward to it.

We arrived at the Green Man Pub and settled in with a sausage roll and a drink each.  I enjoyed the festival because I kicked it off with an 8% alcohol cider; Ian was disappointed with the beer but that’s par for the course in the UK; and we sat for three hours listening to jazz (two groups – one played “The Pink Panther” and classics from the 60s; one played “Wabash Blues” and 1920s-era classics). I’ve rediscovered the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack lately, and the second group was a welcome tangent, but both groups were way better than what I would’ve expected to find at a beer festival in a tiny town outside Cambridge.

Over the course of the afternoon, while drinking beer and listening to music, Ian and I slowly worked our way through the ENTIRE snack menu.  We ate sausage rolls and Scotch eggs (a hard boiled egg, wrapped in meat, breaded, fried, and traditionally eaten cold.  Its the big fried ball in the collage above) I’d never had one before and had spent an entire year in this country blissfully unaware of their existence.  It was as disgusting as it sounds.  We also ate chips/fries, onion rings, and finally a steak sandwich before finally calling it a day and cycling home in the darkness to watch “Frozen Planet.” Saturday well spent.