Drive
The morning started for us around 7:30 AM. We arose, got dressed and ate a traditional English breakfast at the Castle Inn. A traditional English breakfast consists of eggs, toast, fried potatoes, tomatoes, baked beans, bacon (which looks more like fried ham), and “bangers” (sausage). I really like the eggs, bacon, toast, and baked beans. The sausage is an acquired taste, I don’t much care for.
After breakfast we packed up and drove through the Cotswolds to A4 (the highway) and drove to Cambridge. The drive took us about 2 1/2 hours. It probably would have taken us less time if I knew where we were going.
Cambridge – Shops & Restaurants
Cambridge is a very old city. As the travel guides appropriately state, its a university in the midst of a town. Apartments, dormitories, shops, and restaurants surround the University. The streets are the most picturesque cobble stone I’ve seen.
We spent a couple of hours walking through the various shops. We were intrigued by the “Cheese” Shop, so we stuck our heads in there. The smell was so bad we only lasted a minute or two. Probably the most disgusting smell I have experienced. Sorry cheese lovers :).
One of the most colorful shops is the Hardy’s Sweetshop. This two story shop had plenty of options to increase my waist line (not that it needs any help).
One thing I noticed was the selection of different food types. One area focused on French food, another Italian, one Chinese, and of course British cuisine.
We selected an Italian restaurant by the name of Wildwood, which had a European flair to it. We ordered the garlic flat bread with caramelized onions. I was a little skeptical about the onions, but they were great. Really flavorful. I had a traditional spaghetti, and Tiff had the Margarita Pizza. Both were fabulous. I would give the restaurant an A+ for food. The service, however, was not terrible, but not great. When we walked in the girl at the front just sneered at us when I asked if they were open. Our waitress, while pleasant, disappeared and only came to our table once after we made our initial order. Maybe they were trying to go for the stereotypical “French” restaurant, trying to “deal” with the “Americans.” In any case, the food was great, the service not so much.
Cambridge – The University
Founded in 1209, Cambridge University is listed as the fourth oldest surviving University in the world. Oxford is the only english speaking surviving University. The University actually is comprised of 31 separate colleges which are organized into 6 individual schools.
During our wanderings we stopped by three of the 31, St. John’s, Trinity, and King’s College. Each year, unbeknownst to us, the University conducts May and June Balls. We picked June 11th to visit, and of course there was a Ball today. As such both Trinity and King’s Colleges were closed to the public. Also, what I did not know, is only the chapels are available to the general public. Consequently, unless you are part of a special tour you cannot see any other areas of the colleges. Specifically, I wanted to visit the Wren Library and King’s College Eating Hall. Unfortunately we didn’t see either.
We were, however, able to tour St. John’s Chapel, and the college grounds. The buildings are quite impressive. You can see the blue tarps they were laying out as the base for the tents in preparation of tonight’s ball.
Inside the chapel, it contained much of the standard Gothic works and stain glass windows. One surprising statute is a memorial to William Wilberforce. I marvel at the accomplishments of Wilberforce, a member of Parliament, and William Pitt, English Prime Minister, and how they were able to abolish slavery without a civil war in Great Britain. Both Wilberforce and Pitt met at St. John’s College in 1776, and became fast friends.
Through their collective work, and Wilberforce’s drive, Parliament abolished slavery in 1833 (3 days after he died at age 70). He is buried in Westminster Abbey next to Pitt, but this replica statute is placed in St. John’s College Chapel in memorial to him. In abolishing slavery, England and Wilberforce did 30 years before, what costs American’s hundreds of thousands of lives 30 years later.
One of the traditions in Cambridge is to go “Punting.” Punting is where you use sticks to push yourself in a boat along the river. There are several “guides” who will offer you to go Punting. Only use the authorized ones. They have the best rates and will offer to push you, instead of having you push yourself. You can see a couple Punting behind Tiff in this picture.
Acorn Guest House B&B
Tonight we stay in the Acorn Guest House B&B. Its a pretty clean B&B. We were a little spoiled last night in Castle Comb, but this only cost us £ 70.00. It was a little hot in our room, and the noise from the street made it hard to leave the window open. The owners, however, are extremely nice, and very welcoming.
One side note, quite funny. We had to drive around the round about in front of the bed and breakfast five or six times until we figured out that we had to take a side street (which was really small and hard to see) to get to the guest house. At the time we were hungry and didn’t think it was very funny. Now reflecting on it we must have looked extremely silly.
After we checked in, I had the experience of finding a laundry and washing our clothes. It cost me about £ 4.00, £ 3.0 to wash, and £ 1.0 to dry. (The dryer took 20 pence per 2 minutes. It took me awhile to figure out there are 20 pence coins. (100 pence to a pound, similar to 100 pennies to a dollar). Anyway, the things you learn on the fly.
Well its almost 1 am again. Off to bed. Tomorrow we go to Nottingham, Sherwood Forest, Chatsworth House, and York.
Cheers!
Christiansen Travel 