Garry and May's Adventures: Cambridge

Sunday (3 Jun 07) - We took Ba and Mum to Cambridge. On the whole, Cambridge is a much quieter and more secluded place than Oxford, and a lot more compact. There are 31 university colleges in Cambridge, each an independent, self-governing body.

This is Trinity College, on Trinity Street. It is the largest of the Cambridge colleges and also has the largest courtyard.

Trinity Courtyard

St Mary's Tower. You can climb up the really narrow stairway inside to get to the top of the Tower.

What really sets Cambridge from its scholarly rival (Oxford) is "the Backs" - the green sward of land that straddles the River Cam, providing great views over the backs of the old colleges. This picture was taken from the back of King's College, the most famous college in Cambridge.

I'm a big fan of these English geese. I thought they were ducks at first and some Brazilian tourists walked past and told us that they were geese and not ducks.

King's College on our right and King's Parade on our left.

Outside of King's College

King's College Chapel - people queuing up to attend the boys' choral evensong service at the Chapel. Just as well we attended the evensong, gave us an opportunity to see the inside of the Chapel and to walk around King's College, which was actually closed to visitors on that Sunday as it was exam period.

Punting is the quintessential Cambridge activity, though it's a good deal harder than it looks. A few of the punts almost capsized. Ba and Mum were not too keen on the punting. We'll have to go another time. Will have to drag Galv along so he can take turns punting with Garry and serenading the girls along the way. Should also remember to bring a change of clothes in case we fall in.

King's College Chapel

We attended the Boy's Choral Evensong Service. I don't think we were allowed to take pictures inside, Garry must have secretly taken this pic. The King's College Boys' Choir was definitely an experience, though I had to nudge Garry several times to stop him from dozing off. There were some really young boys singing in the Choir (sometimes in Latin) and even a little one was brave enough to sing a solo.