Cambridge

Cambridge University the rival school to Oxford University (thank goodness I didn’t wear my “Oxford” sweatshirt here). In my own comparison, I found the schools to be verra similiar but each with their own charm. Everything in Oxford is walkable or easily accessed by bicycle. They basically close down the college to vehicles. Cambridge allows for more traffic and has a fair share of buses. Although, Cambridge has bikers and walkers also. Cambridge U is made up of several colleges and the schools are magnificent. Most allow you to tour them as long as you don’t interrupt studies, it is after all a school. Cambridge is the university where Charles Darwin was a scholar. Talk about Uberslacker, his father sent him to be a clergyman and he partied his arse off at school then became a world renowned scientist. :-P

Trinity College and Chapel are free to tour, but St. John’s College asks for a small fee. King’s College is beautiful and centrally located and near the street shops (aka. Lion Yard) along with Corpus Christi College and the Sedgwick Museum (also free). On the corner of Benet and King Street is a sight to see. A large clock, the Corpus Grasshopper clock, has a 24-carat gold dial with a beastly grasshopper on it. They call it the “Chronophage” or Time-eater. It’s unique in that it has no hands or digital readings. Instead there are LED lights cut into the face of the clock running rapidly along the clock to show the correct hour, min, sec. It is said to last for two centuries (if the world lives that long).

The lawns in Cambridge are nice big greens where kids gather to study, play, relax and teach their dogs to fetch, etc. There is a little round church before you reach the river in Cambridge and several other sights to see. The river adds to the effect of the many rumored “ghosts” of Cambridge by emitting a great fog in the early mornings. There are ghost tours of Cambridge for ye tourists, if ye are into that kind of stuff.

Kettle Yard I thought would be an interesting little side trip off the main street. It hosts an old church, and art studio. I like to think of myself as an artist or at least at one point in my life I had sketched and painted. The stuff they packed into Kettle Yard studio had me puzzled. The art collection was all about stripes and line contours. Meaning, all the paintings were of LINES….and I was supposed to see what was exciting about a bunch of works on the wall with stripes running vertically??? I just didn’t get it. It’s not even as though if you stare at them long enough something jumps out at you like in those mesmerizing puzzles called “can you see the picture?” For the record I’ve never really been good at those puzzles.

The colleges on their own are something to be seen with many years of fine architecture and history to be had. Let’s not forget of course, the food. If you starve in Cambridge or find yourself unhappy with the food, it’s your own fault. There are plenty of fine restaurants in which to eat here. I tried a place called The Regal. A cinema transformed into a pub. There are pictures inside that show the cinema in it’s prime in the 1930s. Great pub atmosphere with reasonable prices. Cambridge was a great little weekend adventure though, I don't see myself hurrying back to do any studying any time too soon.