Places to Visit in Cambridge

Travel notes

Cambridge, UK

As everyone knows, the first days somewhere new can be hard. In my experience, perhaps especially for a married woman setting up home :) You want to cook and find cleaning supplies, for example. You try to find familiar vegetables and pulses, and it is harder if there are no Turkish shops nearby. I hadn't found one in Cambridge yet. While we were still learning our way around, we ended up making pasta, sandwiches or frozen food; that was life for us at the time :) Read the labels carefully in the supermarket here. Yesterday, for example, we bought some solid cooking fat without reading it properly and discovered it was pork fat. It wasn't a religious objection—I don't make those distinctions—but I really disliked the smell. When I put it in the pan, it turned watery and smelled to me like rusty metal, so I threw it away. Perhaps that is simply down to habit, culture and the way we live. Opening a bank account was quite a process too. First you needed a home address; then you applied, received forms by post and took them back to the bank. It seemed a ridiculous system to me. That was HSBC, though; I think other banks had different requirements. These sorts of things could be difficult and time-consuming.

Cambridge, England

Try to do your errands during the day. In my experience then, most supermarkets, businesses, shopping centres, shops and cafés closed by 6 pm at the latest, some at 5. The other evening I couldn't believe how lifeless everything seemed at six. After that, restaurants and pubs stayed open—everyone seemed to head for the bars :) Their hours really were like office hours: nine to five! January weather was strange, harsh and very cold. One minute there was sunshine without a cloud; an hour later it was raining. Don't forget your scarf, gloves and umbrella when you go out!

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