Cambridge
August 17th, 2005
Sorry for the belated Cambridge post, I have only just found my damn USB cable. Want to know where it was? In Cambridge. Heh, I didn’t take it with me, my brother had it in his laptop case. He’s a radiography student living there, who comes home to stay quite frequently.
Day One
There’s me enjoying a punt boat to the right (where you have a stick instead of oars) with my croud of admirers trying to catch a glimpse of me from the bridge. The punts were a bit of a tourist trap; we mingled with numerous French, German, American, and Japanese holidaymakers while waiting for ours.
Even though you could choose to self-punt as it were, the tours were definitely a lot more interesting as you got to hear about the various stories of what the students got up to (for those who don’t know Cambridge is famous for its collection of colleges that make up the university) and various bits of history about the bridges that we passed under. Though I do think that the stories may have been exaggerated somewhat, playing to the tourist interest, it wouldn’t surprise me if a lot of the bizarre stories involving the students were true: common sense being inversely proportional to intellectualism certainly being the trend.
A particular amusing story was that of a student who was keen on rock climbing. He decided in the dead of night to climb one of the spires of a building (a college I think) and plant a traffic cone on the top of it. The authorities decided that the safest way to remove it was to build scaffolding, they were three quarters of the way up when their plan was foiled. The student climbed up, removed the cone, then put it on a different spire out of reach of their efforts.
Along with traffic cones, Minis (a type of car) also proved to be a common theme. A Mini was suspended over the river (they punted it underneath a bridge, then attached cables to it) and a Mini was seen on the top of a building (they dismantled it to bring it up the stairs, then reassembled it on the roof).
My favourite bridge was the “Bridge of Sighs” (above) modelled on the Italian bridge of the same name. So called because the view from the bridge was the last thing prisoners would see before being taken down into their cells. The windows look so ornate and special for just a bridge, a bit different from the usual modern triangular steel.
We drifted past a building (sorry can’t remember it’s name) with an eagle standing proud on a podium outside it. The tour person said that Adolf Hitler’s plan on the successful invasion of Britain was to make it his holiday home (it didn’t happen).
There was also an interesting story of an estranged architect who tore a chunk out of one of the decorative spheres on his bridge when the people who commissioned it wouldn’t pay him the full amount of money he was due, when they decided it wasn’t a proper job, as the arches were off-centre. Admittedly there was a chunk missing out of one of them, and the bridge was off-centre. Although I did get an unsettling feeling as it dawned on me that as we were being punted along, we were in effect punters. When the tour guide said the word “kudos” in normal conversation an American remarked something in the effect of:
Oh, we have that word in America too!
As if they thought that people in England still spoke in Canterbury Tales middle English style. Not a dig at Americans though, but it didn’t further my confidence–going back to the punters bit.
Day Two
Land based activities for day two. Namely looking around the shops, some of which were very expensive. There was a tailored casual white cotton jacket that looked very appealing, though the £250 price tag wasn’t so. I ate a quick-to-melt rum and raisin ice cream that we bought from one of the numerous mobile fridge/bicycle things, you can see one in the image to the right at the bottom (being by far the most interesting thing).
We went around the King’s College Chapel. Unfortunately (though understandably) there was no photography allowed, but it would certainly have been nice to get a photo of the amazing fanned ceiling. The chapel is particularly famous for its choir that sing carols there every Christmas. It’s televised, so I’ll have to look out for it when the season comes around, I think I can vaguely remember them singing in latin…
We walked around the grounds of King’s College, which was a bit odd since it’s a fully working college. You can just imagine the eyes judging us as “the commoners” from within the dark rooms. You’re also not allowed to walk on the grass, they actually have people in bowler hats that shout at you if you do. Though I did notice something written on a sign in small print:
Please be aware that professors, college staff, and their guests, are allowed to walk on the grass.
Not being one to tempt fate, I kept to the path to avoid retribution. It would be pretty sweet to drive one of the lawn mowers though.
August 17th, 2005 at 9:59 pm
Well, I’m off to Lanzarote tomorrow.
I get back the day I get my GCSE results through.
Which is Thursday.
August 18th, 2005 at 8:01 am
You really enjoy traveling, eh? I wish I had the time and money. In fact I was thinking just recently, aKademy is scheduled for the 26th August to 4th of September! Since I am European getting back and staying for an indefinite amount of time would not be a hassle, but the money is the problem, as is school. It’s being held in Málaga/Spain - and I so want to attend.
linky - http://conference2005.kde.org/
And right afterwards, guess what! GUADEC is on in Stuttgart, Germany! Quite annoying - being German and having to sit here, down under, in the basking glow of the sun, sweating away at 36+ degrees C while GUADEC is being held within 100 km of where I was born and lived my first 7 years…
linky - http://2005.guadec.org/
Ah well, maybe in a few years. Might visit you at the same time, how about it?
Best wishes,
Pascal
August 26th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
In a few years, why not!
Meet you at the London 2012 Olympics,
I’d love to go to a convention, it would definitely be a more hands-on learning experience.
Unfortunate about GUADEC, but I wouldn’t mind having hot weather like that in England. This summer’s weather has quite frankly been crap.
August 28th, 2005 at 6:01 am
“Meet you at the London 2012 Olympics, ;)”
That might in fact be possible. Remind me in a few years time. :o)
August 28th, 2005 at 6:03 am
Aww. Stupid smiley converting script.