Cambridge England (Nov 3)

On Wednesday, November 3, 2010, I took the day off from work to go to Cambridge with Di Yin. (This is why I worked the previous Sunday. We were originally going to go to Cambridge the previous Sunday but it turned out part of the train track to Cambridge was closed for maintenance, so we would have had to take a bus part of the way. Rather than do that, we simply postponed our trip.)

Unsurprisingly, Cambridge is much like Oxford (which I previously visited). They're both small and pretty. (Actually, I think they're rather different sizes, but the center of town around the colleges where the students and tourists go feels the same size.) They're both dominated by dozens of individual, attractive, medieval, walled-off colleges, each with its patch of perfect grass in its quad, many with same names as those in Oxford (Saint John's, King's, Trinity, Magdalen, ...). They both have pedestrian-friendly town centers with a diverse array of buildings and shops with personality. Indeed, there are many other similarities both in names and architecture: they both have a similar-looking Bridge of Sighs; both have buildings designed by Christopher Wren; they both have a church in the center of town with a high tower that provides impressive views of the colleges, the town, and the countryside. Also, in Cambridge, like similarly flat Oxford, there are many bikes and bike-riders. Finally, like Oxford, Cambridge has lots of churches, though some in Cambridge appeared standalone whereas most I saw in Oxford were obviously attached to particular colleges.

There are two main features I'll remember that distinguish Cambridge from Oxford. One, in Cambridge many colleges back right onto the canal ("River Cam"). This makes it more convenient (than in Oxford) to get to and see the water and also leads to prettier pictures of the colleges themselves. In contrast, the canals in Oxford are a bit further from the edges of town, and only a few colleges are near them. Two, Cambridge has a top-notch art museum, the Fitzwilliam. (More on it later.) Nevertheless, despite these two features that sound like they're in favor of Cambridge, I'm left with a tad better impression of Oxford than Cambridge. I can't put a finger on why. Perhaps it's simply as mundane that I visited Oxford on a sunny day and visited Cambridge on an overcast day. Or maybe it's that Oxford has marginally more spires.

As in Oxford, there are a number of sites I missed seeing. In Cambridge these include some notable colleges (e.g., Trinity), the inside of King's College Chapel, some museums (e.g., Fitzwilliam, Kettle's Yard), and a walk (to Grantchester). Nevertheless, I feel I got a good sense of Cambridge from wandering around and seeing the good number of colleges that I did. And by the way, as in Oxford, I again didn't have time to go punting. Sorry.

Neat fact: Cambridge students officially aren't allowed to work during the school term.

The Day
I took many pictures. This post covers some topics the pictures don't, and the pictures cover some sites this post doesn't.

Di Yin took even more. The link goes to her first picture from this trip (picture #72 in an album that covers other trips as well). If you're in slideshow mode and see a picture of us eating Indian food, you've cycled back to the beginning of the album and are seeing pictures I already linked to.

We got a fairly early start, stopped by our local fancy bakery to pick up pastries for breakfast, and took a London overground train to Euston / King's Cross to catch our long-distance train to Cambridge. Euston and King's Cross had crazy crowds because tube workers were on strike--everyone had to take the overground trains to get around--and this is one of London's largest overground stations.

Our express train to Cambridge was fairly fast--my ears popped a few times. The train passed decent scenery (not as nice as Scotland): green fields, yellow-leaved trees. We also went through some tunnels, which I didn't expect.

Once in Cambridge, we began by walking down High Street toward the center of town. On the way, we stopped in The Cooperative Grocery store. It makes its own breads and sandwiches, and has its own branded milk, meats, and deli counter.

About this time I turned on my GPS device to record my route. I'd leave it on until lunchtime.

We walked to downtown, meandering through various colleges (Peterhouse, King's, Clare) and over the River Cam multiple times on the way. Downtown, we stopped by Great Saint Mary's because I insisted on climbing to the top to take pictures (just as I did with the church in the center of Oxford; Great Saint Mary's is considered the town centre). I'm glad we stopped; the view was spectacular. (See the pictures.) Near Saint Mary's, we discovered an outdoor market that had a bit of everything, including locally grown vegetables.

Eventually, we sat down for lunch, ending up at a respectable U.K. chain restaurant named Strada.

Because my phone was almost out of batteries, I turned off the GPS recording. Later, after I got home, I recorded by hand our walking route from lunch until when we left Cambridge. It was misting on and off all afternoon as we walked.

Soon after lunch we found an amazing candy shop, Mr Simms, and hilarious t-shirt shop, Talking T's. Then, around this time, Di Yin found a store she wanted to spend a chunk of time in, so I wandered off to explore St John's College. Going through the college and out into the Backs turned out to be a longer walk than I expected.

Once we rejoined, we headed out of downtown. On the way, I made us to stop at Fitzbillies, an historic and well-respected bakery, in order to pick up one of its famous Chelsea buns.

We also stopped by the Fitzwilliam Museum. It turns out to be a high-quality museum of art and antiquities, on par with museums in London, and includes famous names such Seurat, Cezanne, Monet, and Canaletto. (Di Yin, who is normally picky about museums, said it has a "fantastic collection.") We didn't have much time to see the museum before it closed; it deserves a return visit and more attention in general. Incidentally, the museum has an impressive, opulent lobby; I could stare at it for a while. Also, I saw a remarkable painting, A Village Festival, With a Theatrical Performance and a Procession in Honour of St Hubert and St Anthony by Pieter Brueghel the younger. The detailed scene, in addition to the festival, shows someone getting bullied, a passed-out drunk, a traveling theatre troop, someone giving directions, and more.

Anyway, after the museum we headed straight to the train, and, once in London, straight home, stopping only at one more place in London on the way. (See the pictures.)