Coffee with Stephen Hawking

Today I had the coolest "Cambridge Moment" ever! I was walking in the center of town, and there, sitting at one of Starbucks' outside tables was Stephen Hawking! The table next to him was empty amazingly enough, and so I immediately sat down and pretended to read my book. I was really just marveling at what it was like to be that physically close to genius - someone who is probably one of the most important thinkers in history.

I was also very interested in watching to see how many people walking by recognized who he was. He is paralyzed and quite physically contorted, so he does attract the attention of people walking by. I would say that about 90% of people stared at him because he was physically odd and had no idea who he was. Then, every once in a while, someone would walk by and whisper to their friend, obviously aware of who he was.

I sat there next to him and his aide for about an hour, really just enjoying the beautiful day and the chance of a lifetime to sit next to Stephen Hawking. When they left I walked toward my bike (which was coincidentally in the same direction that they had gone, I swear I wasn't stalking Stephen Hawking!) and I watched as Hawking and his aide walked past the Cambridge University Press Bookstore. There, in the window, was a display of Hawking's newest book, and I watched as they stopped to look at his books in the window. How cool is that - to see Stephen Hawking stop and admire his newest book in the window of Cambridge University Press?