Cambridge University * Kings College * Trinity College * Wren Library * Punting on the Cam
It's a good thing we had an entire day in Cambridge, it made for a relaxing visit rather than a rushed visit. The highlight was probably punting on the Cam, a form of boating that is more difficult than it looks. We all gave it a go and even Sydney picked it up after a bit, she might have been better than me. The river was really crowded with boat and more than once it looked like a carnival ride of bumper boats. There were some "professional" punters on the river who I'm sure we're very annoyed with the novices. We enjoyed the beautiful backside of the Cambridge Colleges and the calm waters of the Cam.
We wandered around the traditional Cambridge campus and visited several places, the first was Kings College Chapel, one of the few Catholic Churches in England that survived Henry VIII. It also still has it's original stain glass windows. All the windows were removed during WWII for safe keeping and then reinstalled later. It has the longest unsupported Nave of any church. We also visited Trinity College and the Wren Library. At the Wren Library we viewed original manuscripts from A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh and one of Isaac Newtons text books that he had amended with changes as well as a notebook. This is still a working library and people were at their desks conducting research on very old books. There's something super cool about an old book.
We wandered around the old campus area and enjoyed the fun shops. Like any college town there were several books stores and we let ourselves get lost in one for a little bit (I took notes of several books (and board games) that might make good presents for upcoming birthday and Christmas). All of the kids wanted a Cambridge sweatshirt or T-shirt - I guess there's something cool about having a college sweatshirt from such an awesome school.
We returned to the hostel after our dinner out to hang with our "community", check our emails in the commons room and watch the Olympics.
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| King College |
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