Pretty Nice For A School That Doesn't Have A REAL Football Team

Well, G-Father and I went to Cambridge the other day. I had never been. Chizz went in his bachelorhood days before the kids and I came over. So we hopped the train (as soon as we determined it was going in the right direction) and off we went. Cambridge is a cute little town with loads of charm once you get to the town centre. It seems primarily built out of that old gray church stone or brick. It is home to the famous Cambridge University, which I discovered is really a collective of different colleges within the Cambridge system. It is all too complicated to wrap my tiny brain around, and if you can completely understand it - perhaps you should apply there.

So you can walk into the different colleges(the biggest ones charge a fee, of course). The colleges are not always open to visitors and several we tried to visit were closed. The first college we went to was, Kings College. Kings College was
founded in 1441 by Henry VI. It was supposed to be mainly a college for boys who graduated from Eton (a very elite private school - both Prince Harry & Prince William went there). It stayed that way for over 400 years when it finally allowed its first non-Etonian (hey that is what they call 'em, I can't make up this stuff!). I think the highlight of Kings college was definitely the chapel.
It had the most impressive fan-vault ceiling. All of the stain glass windows, except one, had been installed in the 1500s. The one "newbie" window was put up in the late 1800s. Rookie. This wooden screen in the middle of the chapel was installed by Henry VIII. If you look very closely, you can see the initials of Henry & Anne Boleyn engraved. I tried to get a picture (Hey! They were allowed!) but it was too dark to focus properly. It is pretty amazing when something installed in 1500 something still looks pretty impressive, and new after all that time.

After being wowed by this chapel, we moved on to some of the other colleges. Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII. There is a statute of Henry VIII over the Great Gate entrance to the college. If you look very closely you can see that the sceptre in his hand has actually been replaced by a table leg, the result of a college prank in the 1800s. Oh those crazy Victorian college boys!


We spent a bit of time in the Chapel here, but truthfully, while nice - it wasn't as spectacular as Kings College. Here is a look (remember photos allowed!!).


After the Chapel, we wanted to head over to the Christopher Wren library which we had understood was something to see. You had to walk through a building to get to the library building on the other side. I went inside and G-father was lagging behind, looking at a map. When I got inside, I was waiting for him and a girl came out of a room, somehow surmised I was a tourist (she was probably a soothsayer of some kind and the camera, map, and confused look I was carrying were no clue to her at all). She says to me, you should get a quick look in there and pointed to the door of the room she just came out of. So I did and I found out it was the dining hall. It was pretty interesting. To me it looks just like something out of Harry Potter or something. Notice the big picture of Henry VIII looking over the tables. Very appropriate. I took a quick photo and then G-father and I went to find the library. We found out that the library was closed for refurbishment (darn old things that need to be up kept at inconvenient times for me). So as we were wandering back through the building, I showed G-unit the dining hall. We looked at it for a minute and then we started walking back out the door. Right behind us came a porter or waiter from the dining hall and says in this very sarcastic voice, "well, I guess you got your photo after all" like I wasn't supposed to take pictures of the room. It wasn't marked that you couldn't take a photo and this was clearly a way that tourists, who paid 4 pounds each thank you very much, would be passing by. I merely glanced back at him and kept walking. Like I can take pictures in your chapel (which had signs saying specifically pictures were allowed) but for some reason I can't take pictures of the students eating tuna surprise. Really? Really???

The next college we went into was Magdalene College. Frankly not because we had heard of it before or had some burning desire to see something there, but because it was free! This was the last of the colleges to admit woman, in 1988! We learned that their most famous alum was Samuel Pepys. The library there was named for him and had some interesting historical documents.
Or so they say. Library closed at the time we were there. Some kind of conspiracy I am sure. Oh yeah, and here is a picture of their dining hall. Not because it is particularly noteworthy, although it is nice. But because after my experience at the Trinity Dining Hall, I decided if I came across any other dining halls, I would take photos. Just because I can. That's how I roll. (Sorry, Kiki.)



Behind all the colleges, it is pretty picturesque as well. You can walk
along this area called the backs, where the river runs by. People rent punts, which is a flat bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. (Thank you online dictionary.) The fall color was beautiful, the air crisp, and it really was a pleasant walk. You could almost imagine yourself back in college again (of course, without all the tests, alcohol binging, being poor, studying stuff).

By this time, we were interested in some food. The G-man had made friends with one of the guards at Kings Chapel, and received a recommendation for the Eagle Pub. Not necessarily for the food but for the atmosphere. The pub has been there since about 1525. 1525. The building is the type of old pub I like, low ceilings, mismatched furniture, rooms added on as sort of an afterthought, lots of nooks and crannies. The food is definitely not the calling card of this pub.
One of the interesting things about it, is that during WWII both the RAF and the American Air Force guys would hang out here. On the ceilings of several rooms they inscribed their names, their squadron names or other identifying marks with lipsticks, lighters, candlestick. It is really something to see. Also this pub is where the duo Watson/Crick announced they had discovered the molecular structure of DNA. It has been called the most important biological discovery of the 20th century for which they won the Nobel Prize in 1962. Infamously, Crick declared "We have discovered the secret of life". Apparently while doing their work at Cambridge in 1952/53, they ate dinner and/or drank at the Eagle about 6 nights a week. There is a plaque there declaring that they "discovered" DNA. When I mentioned that at dinner, Kiki (and Snake too) pointed out that they didn't discover (insert sneer-like tone here) DNA. "They discovered the double helix structure of DNA." Oh. Alright Mr. & Ms. Smartypants, perhaps you should go to college here and learn some respect!! (Not really!)