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My dear friend Nicki and her finace Ben arrived in England in early July and travelled around for four weeks. They spent the first two weeks in Cambridge, followed by a quick trip to visit relies up north and then to Paris, before staying with us for a week and a half. We also joined them for one of their weekends in Cambridge and while they were with us we all headed down to Easbourne for a very relaxing weekend.
 Cambridge Early on a Saturday morning we set out from Richmond to meet Nicki and Ben in Cambridge and spend the weekend there with them. We were both a bit too sure of our navigating around England without maps. But after about an hour and a half of driving we realised that we were lost as all the signs to Cambridge had disappeared. After consulting the map we found that we were not quite heading in the opposite direction, only about 70 degrees out. But we were wrong in assuming that correcting that wouldn't take too long. We had to take a small backroad to get back on track. It seemed everyone in England was on the road and there was a terrible traffic jam. Had we not taken the wrong turn earlier we could've gotten to Cambridge on the motorways which would've been a lot quicker. We finally arrived about an hour late and went for a walk around Cambridge. Nicki and Ben were staying in student accomodation in a really nice area and right next to all the colleges. We loved how the grounds of the colleges were so well kept. A pity though that the lawns were just to look at. You got told off if you tried to walk or sit on them. We found the apple tree under which Newton sat when an apple fell on his head and hence the gravity theory (or so the story goes) and some very small doorways (just perfect for Gosia!). The apple tree actually looked very young, so perhaps it was the son or grandson of the original apple tree! After the brief walk we decided it was high time for lunch. We decided to have a picnic in their huge back yard. It was quite a gourmet meal for a picnic! Next we headed into Cambridge for some serious site seeing. We hired a bike and rode around with Nicki and Ben as our guides (since they had been in Cambridge for more than a week already). There was a fair in the centre of town that we went to have a look at. Surprisingly Jon was the one who ended up buying something, and not me for a change. It was a blue blow up alien that has since been christened Eric by Nicki and Ben. He has fitted well into our house and seems to enjoy riding the elephant on the top shelf in our lounge. Once we returned the bikes to the hire shop we went back to our separate accomodations and rested before meeting up for dinner at Nicki and Ben's. Nicki cooked up a beatiful pasta dish and we brought a dessert. Added to the great company was a bottle or two of wine and we had a very pleasant meal. The next day we did the really touristy thing you do when you're in Cambridge - we went punting on the Cam. It was good fun, although I must admit admit it requires a lot more skill than I expected! Brighton On Friday evening we drove down to Eastbourne on the south coast of England. Gosia's Aunt has an apartment and all four of us spent the weekend there. It was a really nice summer weekend with temperatures around 30 degrees and also very sunny. We caught the bus to Brighton to go to the famous beach. However we were shocked to find only pebbles rather than a real beach. This did not seem to deter anyone since the beach and the pier were both packed. After having enough of the sun we looked around the old cobbled streets of Brighton before returning to Eastbourne. We all decided that seeing Brighton once was probably enough. On Sunday we toured the smaller Eastbourne which seemed very similar to Brighton, but a lot cleaner and with buildings in a better state of repair. We all had an absolutely superb weekend. For Gosia and I it was very relaxing to get away from London and have a bit of room to move for a change, and also not have to think about organising holidays, but instead just enjoy staying at someone else's place. For Nicki and Ben it sounded like it was a breather from all the hectic sightseeing that they have been doing.
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