Friday field trip: Cambridge

Yesterday we went on a school field trip to Cambridge. We left Faraday House at 9 am, and took the back roads into the city so we could see the beautiful country side and many traditional English houses. It was a scary ride at times! Our rather wide tour bus was speeding down these narrow country roads, with tons of blind turns. We all thanked our lucky stars after each bend that there was not a car coming from the other direction. We finally made it in one piece. After getting off the bus and walking down the street, we started seeing all of these Cambridge University banners on the light poles that took pride in the school's 800+ year history. This was one of the first ones we saw. I loved the place right away!


Our guide, one of our professors, quickly took us off the main roads and down some of the quiet side streets. This little lane ran along the side of one of many small churchyards. Flowering trees lined one side, and there were cute row houses on the other side. In the picture above Jackie, one of our chaperons, pauses to look at the beautiful garden on the other side of the wall.


We made our way into the center of town and into the heart of the academic area. Above is King's College, with the chapel on the right and more of the complex on the left. It is important to note that the 31 colleges of Cambridge University assume very independent identities. Students apply to the individual colleges, not to the University, and take pride in their college rather than the whole University. You know that anyone wearing a "Cambridge University" shirt is tourist because students would be wearing something with the name of their college. King's College is one of the more elite colleges, and was founded in 1441 by King Henry VI.


While the exact date of the founding of Cambridge University is not known, it was early in the 13th century. There is a historic dispute between Oxford and Cambridge over which institution is older, but it is generally accepted now that Oxford is slightly older. Oxford tends to specialize in the arts and humanities, while Cambridge specializes in science. There are major research centers here that specialize in DNA and the human genome.


We are told that it is fairly common for students to try to jump this gap between these two buildings. They look closer together in this photo than they really are. Not something that I would want to try!


The classical facade on some of these University buildings make them look younger than they really are. The wall on the far left of the photo is much newer than the part that has the windows. This original part was built in the 13th century when the University would have been in its first 100 years. This is the same building that is pictured in the two photos above. Looking at the first one really shows the full effect of the facade...hard to believe what is behind it!


This is looking through a piazza that surrounds a courtyard at one of the colleges. I'm not sure which one this is, but access was restricted.


The landscape around the colleges is breathtaking. This picture was taken from approximately the same spot as the picture above looking the other way. It gives you an idea of how close this is to the academic area.


"Punting" is a common sight along the canals in Cambridge. A punt is a small boat that is propelled by a pole pushing against the bottom of a canal or river. They were originally built for fishing, but now are almost exclusively used for recreation and competition in Cambridge and Oxford.


This is another view of a college courtyard. I'm not sure which college this was.


Here is the entrance to one of the colleges. While once again I don't know which one, I do know a story about the statue of one of the kings over the main doors. In the statue, the king is holding the ceremonial orb and sceptre. Apparently it has become a common end of the year prank for students to climb up there at night and replace the sceptre with a wooden chair leg.


We stopped at The Eagle for lunch, a popular pub in town. The pub has a rich history and has often been a place for celebratory drinks after major scientific research breakthroughs in the University labs. It was also a popular stop for British and American airmen in WWII. It was a tradition for these airmen to burn their names and squadron numbers into the wooden ceiling with their lighters. While we didn't see that part of the pub, that ceiling has been preserved as a tribute to their service.

Our guide mentioned during the bus ride there that this area had many airfields during WWII, including many American fields for the B-17 "Flying Fortress". Designed by Boeing, this was America's premier bomber in WWII. Over 12,000 were built. Today, only about 40 are still intact, and only about 12 are fully operational and capable of flight. One of these is the Memphis Belle - probably the most famous B-17 after it starred in the movie of the same name. While now undergoing extensive restoration in the United States, it was based during the war in Bassingbourn - just outside of Cambridge.


The bartender expertly pours my extra-cold drought (draft) Guinness.


...And, my pub food lunch. I ordered some sort of beef pie (I don't remember the exact name of it, but it was good!).


Across the street from The Eagle is a Norman-era church (the Normans invaded England in 1066, the last time the England was successfully invaded).


There is a beautiful little churchyard with several tombstones. Many of them are so old that they can barely be read, if at all. I don't believe the graves are as old as the church though, but I'm not sure.


After leaving the church, we walked down the street while just kind of looking around. We came across this house with a fish for a door-knocker. We thought that was strange, but then noticed that a sign proclaiming that it was the "Fisher House." That's all I know about it, but I liked the picture so here it is.


A little bit further down the street was an open square with a market in the middle. It wasn't huge, but had a good variety of food and things like jewelry and books. The nice weather seemed to attract a lot of people out to the street and the many little shops in the center of the city.


I split off at the market and went off on my own to do some exploring. I walked down some of the side streets leading away from the center of town where all of the shops are. I came across this old church and couldn't resist stopping in. I was the only one inside, and it was really peaceful and calming. It was hard to capture the softness of the natural light pouring in from the windows along this one side. This picture gives you an idea, but doesn't do it full justice. I found a display that described the history of the church:

"All Saints was designed by George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907), one of the most distinguished and influential Victorian church architects and a close friend of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. The east window has glass by Edward Burne-Jones, Ford Madox Brown, and William Morris and the influence of Morris can be seen throughout the church."

"All Saints replaced a medieval church opposite the main gate of St. John's College. Consecrated in 1864, its congregation was moving elsewhere only a century later. In 1981, after a dramatic campaign for its preservation, it was vested in what is now the Churches Conservation Trust."

"Damp and neglect had led to the state of disrepair illustrated here. Gradually, over the intervening twenty five years, the Trust has brought the church back into good condition. There is still work to be done and we hope now to concentrate on conserving the fabrics and organ."


As alluded to above, this is St. John's College across the street from All Saints Church. It was founded in 1511, and has fixes assets in excess of 550 million pounds - the highest per-student endowment of any of the Cambridge colleges. Among its graduates are 9 Nobel Prize winners, 6 Prime Ministers, 3 archbishops, at least 2 princes, and 1 Saint. The College focuses on education, religion, learning, and research. It also known for the quality of its choir.


Here is one of the side streets that took me away from the central shopping area. I saw many young people coming and going, so I assume that this street is primarily student housing, and that this is typical of student accommodations in Cambridge.


Just in case you haven't noticed, bicycles are everywhere! It is by far the most popular method of transportation. This is probably due to a combination of the high student population and the fact that there aren't very many detinations immediately around Cambridge. In addtion, the narrow streets and many vehicle restricted areas make travel by bike easier and faster. There were rows of usually at least 30 bikes on almost every block. I've never seen anything like it!


Back in the middle of town, more punts awaited tourists and others looking for a relaxing ride down the canal


With all of the courtyards and pristine lawns, there were many examples of finely crafted wrought iron fences and gates to keep people out! I came across this one after stopping at an ice cream stand (double vanilla, just how the Bense family likes it!). Can you imagine how long it must take to make something like this, and how tedious it must be? It certainly looks great though.


On the way to Cambridge, we passed many English cottage style homes, some even had thatched roofs. Our guide told us that they were more authentic than the tudor buildings you normally see. For one, the stucco walls were not traditionally white. The natural color of the material was a yellow or cream color. If not left the natural color, varying amounts of pig's blood was added to the mixture as it was applied to create different tints of pink. Many of these houses would have had a pattern stamped into the stucco as well. The photo above, taken in Cambridge, is a good example of these stamped patterns.


This is a small road between two college buildings. We are told that Prince Charles, when he studied here, lived in one of the rooms in that row of chimneys.


St. Mary the Great Church stands in the center of town right across the street from King's College. It serves as the University Church, hosting school sermons and housing the University organ and clock. The current building was built between 1478 and 1519, with the tower being finished later in 1608.


This is another view of the King's College Chapel seen in earlier pictures. It was built in three stages between 1446 and 1531. It is used for worship, concerts, and other school events. The world-famous Chapel choir, made up of all male students, sings here for services and for special concerts. The BBC broadcasts the choir's annual Christmas Eve concert over the radio to listeners all over the country. The Chapel serves as a popular symbol for Cambridge, and is used as the logo for the city council.


Corpus Christi College has the smallest enrollment of the Cambridge colleges. It is unique in that it's the only college founded by the local townspeople, which happened in 1352. It is home to the Parker Library that houses one of the best collections of medieval manuscripts in the world. It contains over 600 manuscripts, and some of the oldest bound books in existence.


This is a view of the ceiling in the entry way leading to the courtyard of Corpus Christi College.


One more bicycle picture before heading back to the bus - this one all alone!


It's like a secret garden in the middle of blooming trees! It's actually the same churchyard next to that little lane that appears in the second picture of this blog entry. I love this angle though...I almost walked right by it.


Taken on the way back to the bus...the Mathematical Bridge - the common name for this bridge crossing the River Cam. It was originally built in the 18th century and has since been rebuilt twice keeping the same design - most recently in 1905.