Cambridge is rightly named after the first bridge that was placed across the River Cam, the Cam Bridge. It was originally made of wood. Each night after it was built, a plank of wood would go mysteriously missing. This continues until it was unsafe to walk across. Now, no one blamed the River Man, but let's just say that his business was used very frequently!
We hopped on an early train out to Cambridge. When we arrived, our first stop was Starbucks! With caffeine and sugar pulsing through our veins we made our way to drop off our bags to our Air B&B (If you are ever in Cambridge, let me know and I'll tell you where to stay). We explored the town. Parks galore, trees stretching out their leafy fingers trying to grasp at the sun-hiding clouds, beautiful buildings surrounding us with meticulously detailed sculptures on every surface, just waiting to tell us their history!
Right by the river edge, we were visited by a family of swans. They hate me, they can sense the fear! The mother was hissing at me while she was looking deeply into my eyes! We made a quick round-a-bout to see the whole town then found a nice spot on the grounds of Trinity University. This is where Steven Hawking got his PhD. and Isaac Newton studied. Perfectly manicured grounds guarded by men in suits and bowler hats. We were right by everyone Punting. Lots of tourists who started out confident to guide themselves, now sprawled out sideways blocking everyone else.
We had a late picnic lunch in a cute little park. There were strawberries, teens yelling strange things, bees, sun rays and sweet beats! After some more walking, we ran into a free music festival. The vibes weren't quite hitting the spot so we moved on.
The sun was fading away as was our energy. We stood in the bridge and watched the punters punt their way through the water highway. We ended our first day with chips on the river side, entertained by a chorus of hippies singing Kum By Ya and the like.
Day two seemed to be sunny side up! With a nice breakfast with our host and a German family, we started off on our cultural learning. I had found a map on the ground that had a Cambridge Historical walk. We went through all the universities that we didn't need to pay for. We went to the university where the youngest UK Prime Minister studied when he was 16, we went where George Washington's grandad studied (The American flag is based on their family shield). We went past Magdalene college, which was the last Uni to let women attend. It was in the '80s and they lowered the flag to half mast on that day. Seriously!
Lunch was an ostrich burger from the market with a side of rain. Thanks to the M&S shop for sheltering us! The sun quickly pushed aside the precipitation to allow us our turn for punting. We decided to go for the historical guide over self guided. We were able to ask lots of questions and the Punter shared all his knowledge. Kings college is a magnificent piece of architecture. Next door is queens college which is not so detailed. Because they spent all the money on the Kings college. The Bridge of Sighs is based on the bridge in Venice. Thought to be named because in Venice, prisoners walk across that bridge on their way to eternal imprisonment or execution. The last view of the world that they got was on this bridge, so they would let out a great big sigh. Who knows if it's true, but sounds good to me!
Labels: UK 2016
