Short Trips --- Cambridge

Once again our students are busy with their own weekend travel and events (this is a good thing!) so Mark & Mary struck out on our own for a day trip to Cambridge. The city is a treasure of Medieval charm, richly sprinkled with Georgian and Victorian architecture, and of course, a lively university life.

Unlike many other tourist towns we've visited, Cambridge does a really good job of handling cars and parking. There are several "park and ride" lots around the city where one may park for free. A shuttle then transports visitors to the city centre and back again for a reasonable fee. This is much better than the exorbitant parking fees we've encountered elsewhere.

Once in the city, as in most Medieval towns, everything is very compact and easy to navigate on foot. Bicycles, however, are everywhere, and often moving very fast among the pedestrians.

Cambridge street scene, with bikes

The unique feature of Cambridge, of course, is the university. "Town and gown" are completely intermingled. Everything is either in the business of education, or in the business of catering to a high-class student population.

We noticed immediately, from the expensive shops, the high-fashion clothing worn by students, and the prices on restaurant menus, that we were among "the beautiful people" here. As we watched students gathered in the local pub, we couldn't help but wonder which ones might be the offspring of some duke or earl!

Punting through the Backs on the River Cam

Cambridge received its name in Roman times as the place where a bridge had been built over the River Cam. It thus became the intersection of the Ermine Street -- the road the Romans built from Lundinium (London) to Eboracum (York) -- and the Ickneild Way -- the road from Venta Igenorum (Norwich) to Aquae Sulis (Bath). The shallow river is still important, forming the "Backs" of many of the colleges, and traditionally navigated by "punts," which we would call a john boat propelled by a person pushing off from the bottom with a pole. They are for tourists now, but used to serve as the delivery trucks supplying the colleges.

Mary not stepping on the grass, the quad at Clare College

On our walking tour we learned that there are 31 Colleges in Cambridge. Each College is an independent institution with its own property and income. The Colleges appoint their own staff and are responsible for selecting students, who live and receive "tuition" (that is, are tutored individually or in small groups) in their own college. [It's interesting that in the U.S. the word "tuition" refers to the fees students pay, while in the UK the same word refers to what students receive in return for their fees.]

The university is a cooperative among the colleges. Common requirements are agreed upon for admission and graduation. Classes taught in a college are open to students of any of the colleges (assuming the proper prerequisites, of course), and degrees are conferred by the university as a whole.

President's Lodge on the Queen's College quad dates from the 1500s.

Because of their origin in the cloisters of the old monasteries, the colleges are almost all built in a square, or "quad," with a green courtyard in the middle, just like the old abbeys. By tradition, no one walks on the grass except the president of the college (and of course, ironically, the groundskeeper who mows the lawn!).

King's College and its chapel viewed from the cow pasture across the Backs.

King's College is one of the most famous, and is known for its huge chapel (completed by Henry VIII) and boys' choir. The Christmas Eve service of lessons and carols is broadcast around the world from here each year. We (and at least 300 other tourists) attended Evensong here before heading home.