Magical has different meanings to different people.  For me, the most magical thing I have experienced was the three weeks I spent in Cambridge, England, in the summer of 1991, on a UCLA summer program.  I had read about it for years in ads in the New Yorker magazine, and I finally decided that I just had to do it.  I saved up my money, and went by myself.  That was its own adventure, but I managed to make it from Heathrow Airport, to the bus to Cambridge, and to the College where I was to stay.

Not everything was new to me, since my husband and I had visited in 1984, and it was just as beautiful as  I had remembered it.  I studied Medieval English Society with a professor from Gonville & Caius College.  We stayed in Trinity Hall College, which was organized in the 14th Century.  Some parts of the College dated from that period.  Here are some of the features of the College.

Window at Trinity Hall. Emblems are various groups of Canon Law students through the years.

Rear entrance, Trinity Hall.

If you walked to the back of the College, there was a wall.  And on the opposite side of that wall, was the River Cam.  I spent many happy moments sitting on that wall, watching traffic on the river.

A punter on the River Cam, which forms the back boundary of Trinity Hall.

A peaceful River Cam bridge, behind Trinity Hall.

Perhaps the most magical place in the College was the Dining Hall.  Never had I seen such a majestic building, and it felt like being in a castle at every meal.

Being in that room just made you feel special-you sat up a bit straighter, were more polite, and smiled more than you ordinarily might at meals.  It didn’t hurt that the College had its own bar, and you could carry your before-dinner drink in to dinner, which I did most days.

We really didn’t want to depart at the end of the three weeks!

Our State of Washington is well-supplied with coastlines, all of which can have their magical elements if you get there at the right moment.  I do like foggy days, and fog is plentiful at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

Those trees seen through the fog on the path down to the Spit were positively eerie, and the constant lapping of the waves on the shore was muffled by the fog.  I was there in the morning when there were few others around, and it was quite peaceful.

The Christmas holidays are always magical, with their lights, trees, and decorations.  A local mall always does it very elaborately, and we make a point of going there at least once during December.

Looking up, looking down, everywhere was the magic of Christmas.

And who can resist the magical pull of little kittens?

Here’s the Link to this week’s Original Post.  And Tina’s too!