BLOOM: July 23

Some of you may have heard of a little school called Cambridge. It’s only been around for 800 years so I’d understand if you didn’t. Don’t worry if you don’t because I went there today and will use it as the main topic of my blogage!

We got up early and met up at the tube. After a short ride we made it to the train station and took an hour long train ride to Cambridge. We walked a couple of miles to get into the 'heart' of this college town. The school never wanted a train station in Cambridge so once they finally agreed, it was placed as far away as possible.

(a pretty B )

Today, I really didn’t know what to expect. What were we doing at Cambridge? How would we spend a whole day here? As soon as we made our way into the main square I looked around and couldn’t be more confused. Where was this college? Although Cambridge is worlds apart from Utah State they are similar in the fact that they are both made up of different colleges. Except Cambridge has like thirty! The campus is spread throughout the town and each college is located in a separate building.

We had some time to explore before we met up with our tour guide so we wandered around the outdoor market and of course stopped into H&M.

Our group split in half and one group went with a she and the other went with a he. It appears I can’t remember their names but I do remember that I went with the he. We stopped into the courtyard of the Westcott house. This is an Anglican theological college that prepares men and women for parish ministry.

(Westcott House)

I got a bit carried away with my camera. We didn’t make it through half the day and my memory card was full! Cambridge is absolutely charming, relaxing, and filled with higher learning air! Every street, corner, and shop is picture worthy. I honored that fact!

(love bikes!)

(a typical door in Cambridge)

We visited a couple of churches. King’s College chapel should be mentioned. This gothic style chapel was something else. It took over a century to build and was completed in 1547. The fan vault ceiling made my eyes move directly upward and although I’m not a huge stain glass fan, I have to say it was pretty remarkable!

(random church)

(King's College chapel)

(inside)

At this point we all looked out of it! You can definitely tell when we have early mornings! The pictures don’t lie. We had time to eat and explore on our own.

Our tour ended at The Fitzwilliam Museum. This museum houses paintings from the fourteenth century to the present day, drawings, prints, sculpture, furniture, armor, pottery, oriental art, coins and medals. Our eyes were kept quite busy.

I say our tour ended but that isn’t entirely true. As we were leaving the museum it started to rain. Of course. We seem to take it with us wherever we go. Our tour actually ended with a Punt ride along the Cam River. I had no idea what that meant. Punting? It’s a flat-bottomed boat similar to a gondola that is pushed along the river by someone who stands on the back of the boat with a pole. The ‘Punt Chauffer’ uses this pole to push off the bottom of the river. Orlando, our ‘Punt Chauffeur’ was quick to point out that we were the punters and he was the ‘punt chauffer’.

Luckily just as we pushed off the dock the rain started to disappeared. The river runs right through Cambridge so we were able to see a lot of the campus and our 'chauffeur' was able to educate us along the way. Ironically he attends Oxford but is from Cambridge! This was by far the most relaxing part of the day! Floating tours are a nice break from walking ones. I’m happy to now say that I’ve punted! I hope to do it again! And I think it was just as cool as our gondola ride in Venice!