Day Seven: Cambridge Drive

Last day trip from London scheduled today - a trip to the other famous University town Cambridge! It was another early start, leaving St Monica's at 6am to get to Liverpool Station for the train. Of course this trip has involved an awful lot of walking and my socks are starting to experience the issue - I have four socks with holes forcing me to wear odd socks today.

 

I hadn't organised any breakfast from Tesco's the night before, but fortunately, Liverpool Station had plenty of options for breakfast to choose from. The train trip itself was uneventful, although the school children that got on the train were incredibly loud (probably how I was when I was in high school). Not conducive to a cheeky nap on the train, but I'll live.

Liverpool Station, just your average station in London

I arrived at Cambridge at 9am, although I didn't have anything booked in advance until 1pm. The first things that hit me was how far away the Cambridge train station was from the University and everything touristy. Normally, I wouldn't have an issue with the distance, but after so many days of stairs and long distance walks, I am starting to feel the pain. Still, I remain too tight to pay for the bus (plus figuring out buses in another country is always nerve wracking because if you're wrong you hold up the entire bus), so the hike into town commenced.

With nothing booked until after lunch it was a matter of checking boxes. First stop was the Great St Mary's University Church to do my usual - climb the tower. I went via the Corpus Clock on my way, but it was undergoing maintenance so other than looking incredibly sculptural there wasn't anything of note going on. The other interesting sculpture that I nearly tripped over on my way to St Mary's was a model of the university, which sits right outside the church. 

For something so impressive, it's somewhat inconspicuously hidden on a corner. I wouldn't have noticed it except a little kid was drawing their father's attention to it.

 

You are here

 

Reaching the Great St Mary's University Church I had a lovely chat with the man who was selling tickets about access to the tower - due to the space up the top they had to radio when people were on the stairs and make sure they didn't overfill the viewing platform. Today, when my legs and back are sore, is really not the day for climbing - nor to be teased about it. The tower, of course, tested me. 126 stairs to reach the top and all of them were numbered so you knew how far from a break you were.The view from the top of the tower was quite interesting though, and well worth the climb.You could see into the grounds of Kings College, although the chapel itself was blocked by a tree.

Damn tree ruining the view, but you do get an appreciation for the scale of the building

Having descended the tower and taken a moment to appreciate the beauty of the church, it was morning tea time. Tourists had begun to descend upon Cambridge and it was an awful lot busier than it had been before I went inside the church. On my walk through town I noticed there were groups of students wearing sports uniforms, what looked like a soccer team with a trophy and some formally dressed people carrying rowing oars. It turns out, I had arrived in Cambridge on the day of the May Bumps (which for some reason take place in June), a prestigious inter-college rowing race. I would have loved to have seen the races, but they were 40 minutes via bus, it just seemed sadly a bridge too far for tired me.

 

Instead, I made my way to Fitzbillies to try their famous Chelsea bun. There's three locations for Fitzbillies, but I made my way to the original location. At this store, there's two sides - a sit-down cafe and a walk-in bakery. Wanting to keep moving to make the most of my time (and probably a little to keep the legs turning over) and to avoid the queues, I went into the bakery and sourced my bun without a wait or fuss. For the legendary status of the Chelsea bun from Fitzbillies (and maybe I'm blaspheming here) it was underwhelming. A plain bread with sultanas (maybe raisins?) covered in an sticky sugar syrup, it wasn't anything to write home about.

 

Meh

The next stop was the Fitzwilliam Museum. This place is massive. It's hard to capture the vastness of their collection in writing but they had renaissance art (including a special display on Botticelli) from Italy, Spain and Belgium, artifacts from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, pottery and porcelain from around the world, art and sculpture from East Asia, this list goes on. There was no way I was going to see all of it in one visit and unfortunately, I only found the Ancient Egypt section (downstairs from their incredible original foyer) just before I had to leave for my next tour. I also discovered I had come a month too early to see a special exhibition called Paris 1924:Sport, Art and the Body, which sounded amazing - can't time everything perfectly can we.

 

I learnt when I went to Italy that renaissance artists used teenage boys as models for women and fruit to stand in for their breasts - and you can really tell

Monet really loved his waterlilies - at least he gives that impression (ba-dum tish)

 

My favourite display was that of an artwork by Nicolas Poussin, a french baroque artist. He was so particular about getting the lighting in his artwork "The Final Anointing" correct that he created a small model of the scene and projected the light. Fitzwilliam Museum had both the artwork and the model on display so you could appreciate the accuracy, and also the small scale he had operated at to build his replica scene.

 

The scale model with lighting

The final painting

 

My only pre-booked tour of the day, a self-guided exploration of King's College grounds and chapel, was next on the agenda. I was actually slightly early but they weren't too strict on the entry time. The public access was predominately the chapel and the back gardens and like most tourists I really only had eyes for the chapel. A beautiful example of Tudor gothic architecture, the building is simply stunning featuring the world's largest fan vault on the ceiling. It features little nods to Henry VIII wives, specifically the wooden screen that supports the organ is in recognition of Henry's love for his second wife Anne Boleyn. The Chapel itself was largely untouched in the reformation, so the stunning stained glass remains intact.

 

The organ and the ceiling vaulting of the King's College Chapel

 

More vaulting and the East Window

Leaving the chapel, I crossed through the back lawn and reached the road, passing over the King's College Bridge. Following the road back around behind and then alongside Queen's College allowed me to check another tourist item off the list - the Mathematical Bridge. Queen's College was not open to outside visitors, so unfortunately, this bridge could only be viewed from afar today. Continuing to cross things off my list, I then hiked all the way back past King's College down to Trinity College (also closed to public access today) to see Newton's Apple Tree (although it's just a claimed clone). With weather coming in and my stomach rumbling, it was time for some (late) lunch followed by a gelato from Jack's Gelato which I accidentally picked a lunch spot right next to.

 

The western window from across the back lawn

 

Keeping with the theme of my trip - King's College Cattle

Whilst I couldn't cross it, I still got a good view

Potentially a clone of the tree that founded my degree (Newtonian Mechanics)

I did try and see the Round Church but it was unfortunately closed so to fill in time before Evensong at King's College Chapel, I went back to Fitzwilliam Museum to have a good look at their Egyptian exhibit I had only discovered on my way out the door. Multiple rooms full of sarcophagi, artifacts, death masks and history. Really an incredible display. Sadly, there was just simply not enough time to appreciate everything that was there (and I was feeling pretty worn out too from all my walking over the past week), so after having a bit of a rest, it was off to line up for Evensong at the chapel.

It's important to get there early, lining up around the back gate. The crowd slowly built as we huddled under our umbrellas, dodging students trying to get to their accommodation. Once we were allowed into the grounds we were sorted into groups based on whether were were tourists or had a connection to the college and Chapel. By being there early, I was able to get a seat in the Stalls and Choir area, rather than in the Ante-chapel. Evensong was fantastic, it is easy to see why the choir has such a reputation and the acoustics were incredible. My only complaint was there was a lot of standing, but that was a personal issue to do with how sore and tired I was, not an actual issue with the service. 

I did cut it a little fine with finishing Evensong and making the train, so it was a very brisk walk back to the station and then an uneventful ride back to London. Cambridge was very different to Oxford - felt much more a town than a university - but so full of history and stunning architecture. Tonight I have to pack my bags because I leave London tomorrow. Bittersweet to be moving on, there is still so much left to see, but the excitement of Edinburgh awaits.

Oh, and I have another hole in a sock.