CAMBRIDGE

We spent the day in Cambridge today. Another spectacular place in the world and another spectacular day to take it all in! The sun was shining and, though when the wind picked up it was a bit chilly, it was a perfect day to experience Cambridge in the winter.

Before we left home Maggy warned me that after visiting Cambridge I’d want to study there, and she wasn’t wrong at all. The University of Cambridge was very different to how I imagined and upon arriving at the city center I was immediately reminded of Fremantle (Western Australia). And it seems that comparison is warranted because, just as Notre Dame University in Fremantle is spread all over the city, the University of Cambridge is spread out into various colleges.

A second thing we noticed, that was typical for us, were the many shops. Graham immediately banned shopping in the daylight hours! Must do tourist stops first, and I’m so glad we did! The first stop was the gardens of Emmanuel College, stunning, as we would soon find out was a theme throughout all gardens. Walking around we found a statue of the young Charles Darwin (quite good looking really) and took a few photos!

We were lucky, quite a few college gardens were open and did not demand a fee for entry. Usually most gardens will have a porter at the gate and charge for entry to tourists. Walking around we came across the gardens of Kings College, Kings College Chapel and Trinity Hall Cambridge, all slightly different but equally beautiful. As were the buildings surrounding them, my favourite was Kings College Chapel, amazing!

We walked down the the river. Maggy explained that in the summer the river is full of punts, people falling in and the river sides are lined with people eating ice cream. Another reason to visit again in summer I think we’d enjoy all of that! As it was there was no on eon the river today, obviously way too cold, and the punt companies shut down during winter.

We had a late lunch at Prezzo an Italian restaurant. Delicious food again! We are yet to come across a restaurant we didn’t like (apart from Hungry Horse in Chelmsford, but that’s a different story) maybe they’re all brilliant, maybe we just like food too much. Either way we aren’t complaining and can’t wait to continue tasting new food.

After lunch we walked further along the river and then back into shop infested streets! Danger, camping store alert. I say this because almost every camping or outdoor adventure store we see, we go into. Graham relaxed the no shopping rule because it was almost dark and Mum explained how much we really needed to go in. So we found ourselves in Cotswold Outdoor, where I found “dry shower” a water free actibacterial cleanse. Hopefully it works when desperate times call for desperate measures!

Graham and Maggy then found themselves in Mountain Warehouse, who are having a huge sale by the way! Whenever I see what I call “tourist clothes” on sale I panic. Mum has been gathering and packing our cold weather outdoor gear ever since we decided to travel and while I’m very glad of this when it’s freezing cold and I’m toasty warm I do feel very touristy in them. So with me exclaiming “we don’t need any more tourist clothes” we settled on looking for things we did need.

Three microfibre towels, three waterproof overtrousers (that we tried on in the middle of the shop, Graham holding all our bags and us saying “I don’t know if they’re big enough!” And “they have to fit over our pants, I mean trousers!!”) a fleece throw and a couple of cards later we finished our shopping.

We finished Cambridge (for now) with a hot chocolate at John Lewis before stepping outside then straight onto the Park and Ride bus back to the car for the trip home. Cambridge another place we can’t wait to visit again in the Summer! Hopefully with Maggy and Graham again, as the day is made by the people you do it with!