Our Cambridge Day Out

Last Saturday after the parkrun we hopped the train to Cambridge.  Our day there began with punting.

Mary brings the punt across the Cam.

Mary Freeman, daughter of Roger (EW's boss) grew up in Cambridge and worked one summer on the Cam.  She is a master punter.  She so graciously agreed to take us for a ride.

Behind Eric is the Bridge of Sighs, the Queen's favorite, built in 1831.  Its namesake is in Venice.
EW is repin' for that other Cambridge...

In younger days, Mary and a friend, daughter of a vicar with a house along the Cam, would take a punt out in the evening. Armed with a lantern and a trusty dog, they would pole down to get pizza.    Nowadays champagne and salmon sandwiches, with crusts removed, completes the punt ride.  Our lunch courtesy of Hedi, Thank you Hedi!

Behind us is the Wooden Bridge.
According to myth it was originally constructed without bolts, earning the name Mathematical Bridge. 

Yes, bridges can be built without fasteners.  Fred has shown us this many times...

Norwich Castle, Nov. 2011.

...and he continues to test the laws of physics to this day.

Kings College and Chapel, from the Backs (photo EW)

Note all the punts sitting idling across the pond. On a sunny day the Cam is crammed. 

Mary dropped us off at the Mill Pond.  She told us later that she had a most relaxing but uncharacteristic punting trip back down the Cam: wearing headphones she punted whilst sitting, then lying down and hid under a bridge during a downpour. Thank you Mary for such a wonderful treat!

We walked through the Mill Pond park. Eric told us about being at the DoubleTree hotel nearby and taking a break from a morning Powerpoint meeting, stepping out on the terrace for a bit of air and coming face to face with a cow.

First stop was Fitzbillies, a Cambridge icon.

If you didn't click on the icon link above, I encourage you to read
the Guardian piece about Fitzbillies.

The Chelsea bun, as you now know, is Fitzbillies' secret weapon. We could not resist the marzipan frog.

We now understand completely the restorative power of tea.

Cambridge is full of landmarks.

Where Watson and Crick announced: we have discovered the secret of life...

Note that DNA is in quotes below

Alas, no Double Helix today.

Kings College is perhaps the most famous Cambridge icon.

Kings college gate with chapel behind.

A quiet calm reigns inside.  Through the arch, across the lawn, is the River Cam.

Walking on the grass is a privilege reserved for the very few.

The entire college is closed to visitors as of Monday for the month leading up to exams. I got the feeling we were seeing Cambridge MA in 300 years.

The chapel is quite beautiful.  Considered the "work of kings" it was designed by Henry VI.  He laid the first stone, at the tender age of 19, in 1441. Henry led a colorful life. The short version: he  inherited two great kingdoms, England and France, and then lost them both. He was murdered in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471.  Under the next king, Edward IV, who, by the way, is widely believed to have ordered the murder of his predecessor, little progress was made on the chapel.   Under the hunchback Richard III building resumed.

I do not know the relationship between being a hunchback and making progress on the chapel, but this fact is in the historical accounts so I am passing it along.   I am reading The Norman Conquest and the author Marc Morris* explains that we are rather desperate for information on the personalities and emotional states of historical figures so often seemingly unrelated facts are lumped together.  As in: perhaps the hunchback condition of Richard III made him cranky so to compensate he decided to be part of something great.  Or maybe he sympathized with other hunchbacks who were not kings but instead stonemasons. Whatever.

Richard III was killed by Henry VII in 1485 and, after spending 2 years consolidating his power and getting the country in order, he, in part persuaded by his mother who had who knows what agenda of her own, saw in the chapel the enduring symbol that his dynasty needed.  When Henry VII died, I believe of natural causes, Henry VIII finished the cathedral, and---  there you have it: the work of kings.

The fan vaulting on the ceiling is considered to be the most fantastic in all of Europe.
The windows are original 14th century.

The chapel is Gothic.  It took so long to complete that by the time a rood screen could be safely installed, the trend was towards Italian Renaissance.  Thus the chapel contains this remarkable contrast in styles.

The thingy in front is yet another gift.

Henry VIII made sure we all knew who installed this ornate screen.

One step up from medieval graffiti.

In the end however, Cambridge is really a university town -- with university town color...

Here the notices are affixed to the fence with tasteful plastic tie-wraps.

...university town problems...

No place to park.  Everyone rides a bicycle. 

...and university town characters. 

Yes, he is playing his guitar in the bin.
Yes we gave him money.

Onwards, to Roger and Hedi's house in Little Shelton. We thank them so much for our Cambridge Day Out.

*Excellent read. Not available in the USA.  I will get a copy for anyone who wants one.