Cambridge

Cambridge is old.  Anyone who lives here will tell you how old it was.  Then they will tell you how old each building is, which colleges were built first, which monarchs were responsible for each chapel, and which scientific discoveries were announced at the pub that you are walking by.  The place has so much history that you would be forgiven for thinking that it is no longer an active university, but of course it is.  The students live and eat and work and sleep in rooms that are centuries old, but they are still university students and they do the things that all students do.  In the case of Cambridge this includes biking like madmen--they rival Stanford in this regard--and, oddly, punting along the river.

 

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

They also have a strange obsession with keeping people off the lawns.  Apparently only the Master of the College is allowed to walk on the lawn, and only in his College.

I commented that at my university we would be playing Frisbee on the lawns and was rewarded with a rather frosty "And which university would that be?"  When I said Stanford the response was "Oh, I suppose that is a rather good school."

Incidentally, every time I hear someone with a strong accent speaking I tack a little something special onto their sentences in my head: "Quite."

In my time in Cambridge I went to the Fitzwilliam Museum (art and history) and the Sedgwick Museum (natural history and stories about Darwin's travels).  I went to both museums twice because they were very enjoyable.  The Sedgwick Museum has skeletons of Irish Elk and Wooly Rhinoceroses, as well as a very comprehensive collection of rocks (okay, fossils) and a small exhibit, tucked away into the back, that explains some of the chemical and physical characteristics of gemstones, including why opals contain so many colors and why diamonds are so hard.

Science!

I spent a lot of the rest of my time in Cambridge in bookstores and libraries, including both the public library and the Wren Library.  The Wren has the first edition of Winnie The Pooh and a handwritten draft of it; unfortunately I was not allowed to take any photos or take books off the shelves.

Is there any other kind?

I also went to the King's College Chapel, once for a tour and once for Evensong.  Each college has a chapel, but the King's College one is beautiful both inside and out.  It also reminded me that I have not seen a single menorah while I've been in England, which is rather strange considering that there have to be at least a few Jews around here.  I'm hoping for better luck in Spain.

The King's College Chapel