Cambridge

I finally went to London. My life is complete. J/k, so for the last weekend in January I decided I wanted to go somewhere, so I planned a little 3 day trip to London. First I stayed with my old roommate, from Freshmen year at BYU. Christa is living in Cambridge for the year while her husband is attending the University. They were very nice to let me come stay with them in their cute little apt. above the boat house. I arrived late Thursday night and Friday they gave me the full Cambridge tour complete with facts and figures, free of charge. I even got into King's College free because they are residents. The following pictures are from around Cambridge. The above picture is a famous clock. They(Christa and Rob) didn't know why it was famous, but people always are taking pictures of it. Can you tell the time? I could, it was 11:06. The picture is kind of unclear, don't feel bad.

The picture above is called "Newton's bridge". There is a legend about it that no one thinks is true. The legend is that Newton built it himself without using any nails, nuts or bolts. Later people took it down and couldn't figure out how to replicate his work, so they used the necessary tools.
This is the courtyard of one of the college's I don't recall which, I think Queen's. And here is some brief background on Cambridge University: The University is composed of several different colleges, some new, some old. In every college people are studying a variety of subjects, they are not connected by any similarity. Each College has a Library, Cafeteria, and a Church to meet the intellectual, physical and spiritual needs of the students. So in the following pictures you will see courtyards, buildings and the churches of various colleges. In certain colleges, certain special people can walk on the grass, such as fellows and their guests.

Below is the interior of a church. I believe they all have regular services and most have boy's choirs perform in the evenings.















Above is an incredibly old church. Anglo Saxon built in 1025. Probably the oldest thing I have even seen, ever.




Above, see that small gap between the buildings. Students used to jump between! I don't know if you can tell at all from the picture, but it is really high, probably the 5 story. So in later years they installed a bar to help(pictured below). Not because they approved at all, but people did it anyway, so you might as well prevent them from dieing!







Below is the first of many pictures of the interior of King's College Chapel. Beautiful stained glass. Huge building! About 2o windows just like this one. They are all Bible stories, most windows are partly depicting a story from the Old Testament and then partly from a similar story in the New Testament.


The ceiling was amazing! Fan style. Amazing, amazing. So much detail.





The lighting was poor, and I couldn't use flash, but at the end of King's Chapel is a Rembrandt painting! A Rembrandt. I love Rembrandt. He is known for his ability to paint light, which sadly you cannot see well here, but you should see his paintings. Amazing. Hopefully I will see many more in museums in Paris and such.



The windows had so much detail, so much color. Above I tried to capture how you can see the hairs on the dog. You can't see it great in the picture, but yeah.








The college Newton attended.
And Tennyson.
And Bacon, (the scientific method if you forgot)


Above is where Isaac Newton lived. Below is a tree taken from his families apple orchard nearby. The tree doesn't produce apples anymore, so in the fall students hang some from the branches.






Friday evening we went to "The Eagle", it was a nice, cozy pub. It is right across the street from that church built in 1025, and it is famous for being the location of the first announcement of the discovery of DNA. Below is a plaque showing the very location of the event. We by chance happened to sit there. Pretty cool. I had fish and chips, it was quite good. I was excited to see salt and pepper shakers on the table. I haven't seen that ever in France or Switzerland, and I have dinned with many families.


The end. Cambridge was great. Cute small city with people riding their bikes everywhere, but at the same time it had the beneficial aspects of a large city with the biggest shopping centers I have seen since coming to Europe. Loved it!