Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

I spent last Monday in Cambridge with Cara, home to the King’s College that everyone thinks we go to. Which is fine, really, considering that it looks like a lost Hogwarts set, especially when students stride fearlessly across the keep-off-the-grass quadrangle with their black robes billowing behind them.

Trinity College, built in Tudor times, was also impressive to look at. The chapel was littered with monuments to Tennyson, Newton, Wordsworth, Francis Bacon, etc, and had the shiniest floor I have ever seen. There was a maintenance man polishing door hinges while we were there, and I can only assume he pulled out the Pippi Longstocking roller-skate sponges as soon as the coast was clear.

Cambridge is as lovely as everyone says it is. We spent a fair chunk of time wandering through the market, along the river, and being harassed by punters. We couldn’t get into the vast majority of colleges – closed for exams, poor excuse – so we walked around behind the colleges instead. A lot of it looked just like Christchurch (but the Kiwi punters were nicer).

After lunch, we dropped into the Round Church (it was round) and learned many interesting things about Cambridge’s history. Nothing compared to what Oxford taught me about professors who quite literally ate anything, but we did learn that Nazism was caused by Europe’s departure from Christ, so that’s modern history sorted.

We then climbed Great St Mary’s church tower and got a great view into the colleges.

Afterwards, we walked to a park inexplicably called ‘Christ’s Pieces’ and got a bit lost, but we still made it back to the King’s College Chapel in time for Evensong.

Once the service had finished, we walked back along the riverbank and watched some guy play the ukulele from the top of his houseboat. After, we had just enough time to grab dinner at Cambridge’s prime potato-themed café – Tatties – before making our way back to the bus.

Cambridge < Oxford. There, I said it. The river and surrounding area are beautiful, but the architecture is simply not as startling. Still, it was a great day trip out of London and I’m totally coming back for one of these: