Cambridge

A good friend of mine is studying for her PhD at Cambridge, so I headed up for the weekend. I took the train on Friday from King's Cross station in London and arrived around 5 pm. It was already dark out so there are no pictures from the first night, but there will be lots of pictures in this post, so bear with me...

The house.

We got to her house and made dinner - leek, tomato, cheese, and bacon quiche, with salad - then headed out to the pub. We started at the Pickerel, a pub near her house but moved on to her college pub and then to the Maypole before heading home for the party. The party was a small affair but it was okay. We went for a walk around midnight and then to bed at around one.

We (I) woke up late on Saturday, but we got moving as fast as we could so I could see some sights before it got dark (around 3:30/4). While Anna was getting ready I went for a quick stroll around her 'hood, which is right next to the Cam River. It's a beautiful area... but so is all of Cambridge.

On the Cam... people LIVE in these boats...

Beautiful trees on the Cam.

We started at a small round church on the main road (whose name I can't remember). It's really old and inside you can read a history of Cambridge (I'll have to do that another time... next time I go there I'll give you all a nice history!).

The round church.

Inside the round church.

We moved on to St John's College (Anna's college), which is one of something around 38 colleges at Cambridge. St John's is apparently one of the better colleges to be in. It was founded in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort, who was the mother of King Henry VII. It is the second largest college in the University and has had about 12,000 students in all of it's history.

The entrance to St John's college.

Me inside... don't walk on the grass!!!

Harry Potter-like walkway...

Inside the St John's Chapel.

We walked through the Arts and Crafts Market on our way to the regular market and stopped for a Cornish Pasty - my first ever - for lunch. Then we headed to King's College Chapel, which is incredible.

King's College was founded by King Henry VI in 1441 on the premise that only 70 students would be enrolled and they would come from a poor background (he also founded Eton on the same principle... my how times change...). The Chapel is the only part of the original planned college that was ever completed and took over 100 years to build.

King's College Chapel.

Inside the chapel - the stained glass is gorgeous all over Cambridge.

more inside... in the middle is the pipe organ.

the ceiling. wow.

The end of the chapel... more stained glass.

After King's College, we decided to stop in at the Eagle Pub, which is really old and rather special, but we'll have to get to that another time as this post is already WAY too long... so stay tuned for more on Cambridge and to learn all about my new job, starting tomorrow! Cheerio!