When I last posted I told you about our three day tour around the London area. Now I'm going to tell you about our one day tour to Cambridge. The day after Thanksgiving Monday (yesterday) we woke up early and caught the train to Ipswich and then transfered to a train heading for Cambridge. Once arriving in Cambridge we wasted no time and headed straight to the River Cam. On our way to the river we noticed very many bikes. That is because no student that goes to Cambridge University can own a car in Cambridge because everything is in either walking or biking distance. At the River Cam we went on a punting tour. Now if you don't know what punting is (I thought it was what you did on a third or fourth down in football) I will explain it to you. Punting is like taking a gondola ride but a punt is wider than a gondola and holds more people. Anyway, we took a punting tour down the river and saw many of the old colleges at Cambridge, such as Queens' College and King's College (I know what your thinking, if you noticed, that when I said Queens' College the apostrophe is after the "s" that is because there were two queens that founded the college). Interesting fact about colleges at Cambridge, they are separate colleges but they all go to Cambridge University. The colleges themselves are what your accepted into and serve more as residences for students. So, every morning you get up and leave your college to go to university.
After the punting tour we took a two hour walking tour of Cambridge. I learned many new things like how Cambridge got it's name. There is a main bridge going over the River Cam. So, it's the Cam bridge(get it?). Anyway, during the tour we passed by the Eagle Pub where the scientists that discovered DNA, James Watson and Francis Crick, made there first announcement that they discovered DNA. Next we walked past a few labs and faculty buildings and arrived at Queens' College. I thought we were just going to walk past it but then realized we actually got to go in and tour the grounds, which was pretty amazing. The highlight for me was the Mathematical Bridge. From what I understood the bridge gets stronger the more weight you put on it, cool eh? After touring Queens' College we headed for King's College where we also got to tour the grounds and visit the King's College Chapel. The best part of the King's College tour for me was the chapel which started being built in 1446 by Henry VI and took over a century to finish. The Chapel is where the Christmas Eve service, A Festival of Nine Lessons, is held. The service is broadcast to millions around the world each year.
We concluded our tour by leaving the King's College grounds and went for supper at Pizza Hut(felt like having a taste of home). We then walked back to the National Railway Station and caught the train back to Ipswich and then onto Melton. By the way, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are doing well.
Till next time,
Rocky
No comments:
Post a Comment