Cambridge

We have a list of places in the UK that we want to visit before we leave, and the good news is that it is getting shorter and shorter. Some places we have come to the realization that we wont be making it to, such as another trip to the parts of Cornwall that we missed and the Lakes and Peaks districts up north, simply as we are trying to work as much as we can, and these places require at least 4 days and a car. That said, we did Oxford recently and this weekend we made a day trip to Cambridge.

Saturday morning we were up early and out the door before breakfast was even served. We had train tickets from Liverpool St. After the hour and a bit journey we strolled from the train station toward the centre of town. Along the way we had a brief stop in a nice old church and at Downing College, which is one of the smaller colleges.
Our next stop was at Christs College. This is another nice old college, bit bigger. All of the colleges have nice buildings and gardens. This one had a Charles Darwin garden, as he studied at the college, which Christine enjoyed.

The next hour or so we strolled around the town. There were a number of art stores that Christine had a look in, we found some markets bought some Spanish Meats for dinner. The art shops we were half looking to buy an art work as we have been in the UK for so long. It was also just an excuse to warm up as it was pretty cold. We discovered some nice pieces but they are all so expensive when you are in a tourist town. We stopped in a nice café for lunch.
After lunch we headed out along the river and ‘The Backs’, which is a series of gardens and parks. These were nice, although it was a bit chilly. It would be very nice in the warmer months. We saw lots of bridges, and punts on the river. We decided it was a bit cold to give this a shot.

Christine’s favorite part of our time in Cambridge was Kettle’s Yard house and gallery. This is the house that Jim and Helen Ede lived in during the 1920s and 30s. Jim had been a curator at the Tate Gallery in London and collected lots of art from many of the artists he met there and became friends with. The house has been left as if they were still living in it and people are welcome to explore or sit and enjoy the many rooms. It was full of interesting furniture, ceramics and glass ware not to mention the paintings and sculptures. Some of the most famous artist represented were Miro and Henry Moore.
Partially so we could go to a nice Cathedral and partially so we could go to Kings College, for free, we went to Kings College for the Evensong. This is a Church service with a full choir in the evening. The cathedral is very big, old and very nice. The service was lovely.
With the colleges, galleries and cathedral out of the way, we headed to the pub to finish our day. We spent some time and ate in the Eagle which is an old pub with 5 or 6 cozy rooms. During WWII it was a popular hangout for the air force, and they have preserved graffiti and signatures on the walls and roof from the soldiers. On the way back to the train station we stopped for another beer at the Bear, a really small and a bit dingy pub.