A personal tour of Cambridge

Entering King's Chapel
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The "others", namely Elaine and Marco arrived the previous evening in London and being that Nia's home of Windsor was closer to where the planes tended to land, thus "big W" was chosen as the site for convening before they drove to Cambridge to get a tour suited to their very needs and tastes by yours truly... and why me? because ive lived here for 4 years and apparently know every nook and cranny of the place.  there is however a lot to be said for not knowing everything as i in fact attempt to spend time studying here.

Everyone Wince!
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now, the tour that i was to give was already trialed for the first time the previous year, so now was the real thing under the scornful eyes of my much-travelled peers!

i had to prize them away from the two ducks walking outside my house to see some of the real attractions of Cambridge

and it was the same people who decided to drive right up to King's college (one of the places i wanted to build up in anticipation) by getting lost and with a frantic phonecall where i just kept saying roundabouts, it somehow got them towards my lodgings.

Punting
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...and it was the same people i had to prize away from the two ducks walking outside my house to see some of the real attractions of Cambridge. or did i have a misconception of what they wanted to see?

After the obligatory hugs and how are you's as well as a fast tour of my house, we were off in search of a car park as being in the centre of town means there is no parking except for the type where you get tickets... though by the end of the day when we fed 14 pound coins into the machine, maybe getting a fine in the leisurely position outside my house would have been better. anyhow, after some fast car-park driving reminiscent of Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift from Nia in her Ford Ka that was making a weird revving sound the whole town, we dove in towards the earth core for a while before finally finding a space.

The famous "backs"
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free at last, we were strolling at ground level at downing street, which is where i work and it was actually a pleasant sunny day as was the start of April and a rather pleasant day to not be at work :)  As would any biology geek do, i took them through the famous cavendish lab in one of the back streets, to make sure they walked the path that Watson and Crick did when they discovered the double helix structure of our friend DNA! After checking out where the electron was discovered we walked past the famous Eagle pub frequented by the said DNA boffins and we were quickly back on to King's Parade where Nia was seen earlier doing manouvres!!

Mathematical Bridge
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And why "King's" Parade? prob because of the omniprescient and impressive sight of King's college, its gates and the iconic King's chapel...which was our first main stop.  Luckily, by showing my student card, i could within a flash take in 2 guests for free - we entered after walking around the big white building that is the senate house where i graduated and into the chapel by a side entrance.

After a little wander, history and some camera clicks inside, we were out in the cool courtyard where you cannot walk on the grass, and after a few more obligatory pictures, we were out on to the backs of the college and on crossing the bridge there, we stopped to peek at the punting that was going on.   And at this point, Elaine was getting these strange flashbacks that she was on some bridge in cambridge, but couldnt for the life of her remember anything about it, hmmm, i had my work cut out here...

'I saw a fish this big!' M.Garbers
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So we departed the back of king's college with the task of finding said unknown bridge, and low and behold, after a short walk past Queen's college on some red gravel tracks, we were on a road bridge near the Anchor pub, and it was "probably this bridge" she said, or was she just stimulated by the sight of a riverside pub? Turning around we saw the mathematical bridge designed by Newton and other anecdotes were shared later.

Time for a bite to eat and i chose Dojos which was close and is one of my favourite places to get a quick, but tasty and filling meal, and not too pricey too... The sun was out so we decided to sit outside in the courtyard and ordered beers and way too much food, though my tempura vegetables and the satay chicken were popular. just the mains that were way too much.

i do it good.
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Next we waddled with full stomachs to Trinity college, which is pretty famous for its elegant courtyards and magnificent scenery, and again we got in for free which was nice...wandering around aimlessly is just great to do sometimes and before long we were out at the back seeing more punting and entering St.johns college from the rear to avoid paying to get in...after a huge walk through this massive campus we were out by the round church and already getting touted for punting tours and after a little persuasion we got a "discount" coupon of 10 pounds a person for a guided tour in brand new boats. wow i said. First though, we had to get Elaine to some toilet facilities as she hopped around uncomfortably before offloading the lunchtime beers in the Baron of Beef pub...

Outside King's Chapel
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all better. got to the busy restauranty area of Bridge street and couldnt really find where these luxury punts were, but luckily i've lived in this area before so took a gamble and walked along the wooden walkway towards Jesus green and after parting with a tenner each, we were on our way in our own punt except a mum and daughter in the other side.

Typical of cambridge, the punt guy had rosy cheeks, long floppy hair, strippy shirt, kakhi shorts and flip flops and was holding a bottle of cider.  After a few funny safety checks, we were off and gliding along the Cam.  Went through many bridges and pointed out the colleges many which we had seen and even i learnt a few things i hadnt known before...

Posers!
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the most exciting part of the tour was when our hero Marco was allowed to take control of the punt.  After steering us in circles to start with, Marco was soon in "control" as we zigzagged our way past various boats with loud japanese tourists who were taking photos of us taking photos!!  when marco looked up at one moment, he said "bridge" and panicked at which time our tour leader regained the reigns and the marine excitment was all over. at least until Windsor, but more about that later.

Bridge of Sighs
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After quite a lot of walking, our tired feet required comfortable seats and our minds required a shot of caffeine and as we ventured back into town via sidney sussex college we entered as the only customers into Ta bouche cafe for a delicious cappucino though going by the racket made by the adolescent staff they really needed practice in catching whatever they were throwing around the place.

as we left the cafe, it was time to leave cambridge for the drive back including me to Windsor and after parting with half the holiday budget for the car park fee we were at the house.  As i locked my door with my backpack on, every looked at me with the question : "how long do you think you are gone for". it was only 2 nights...

as we hummed our way out of cambridge to the M11, the 2hr journey was the start of some wisdom absorbance, and one of the first of the must-learn lessons reared its head very soon into the ride...