Today Kristen and I went to Cambridge to visit my good friend Chip and his girlfriend Charlotte. We took the 8:40 train to Leicester and arrived in Cambridge at about 11am..not too bad, right? NOTHING like Oxford last weekend, geez! As I wrote about earlier, last weekend I went to Oxford..nothing like two fine cities to weekends in a row. Cheers to that. Anyway, Oxford and Cambridge are like the Ivy's of England, and are HUGE rivals. I would have loved to see the Oxford Cambridge regatta that happened just a couple of weekends ago..turn out would have been massive I imagine! Anyway, Cambridge is quite different than Oxford, but just as impressive (minus the expansive river that Oxford has!). Chip had to work until about half 12, so we did not meet up with them until about 2pm. Kristen and I walked around a good bit, and even got some shopping done (good deals which we just COULDNT pass up!), We were casually strolling by one of the Cambridge colleges when we saw someone pop out from behind a little tinsy door hidden by a bush. Naturally, I followed the person and in through the door we went. I think at this point Kristen thought I was crazy. Anyway, that's the only way to see the best places, so she had to follow. After taking some random paths and sneaking in some pictures along the way, we ended up in a beautiful court yard that was being set up for a wedding later that afternoon. Well, the food was coming from the mess hall in the college, so we again casually followed the caterer into the college..and well, before you know it we had taken some more turns and ended up in a dormitory common room. And you think that Cambridge would have these nice rooms for their very clever students, but honestly the rooms were crap. Maybe it was one of the "neglected" colleges of Cambridge, but the dorms at Georgia Tech were at least 10x better! (Maybe b/c they were built to house the '96 Olympic athletes??).
We stopped by the market on the main street and got fresh peaches for lunch (yummmm). Then we strolled around for a bit more before meeting up with Chip and Charlotte.
Ohh and it was a glorious day out so when we met up with Chip, Charlotte, and their two friends, we decided to go punting! Punting is a very English thing to do, and is very popular in Oxford and Cambridge. Basically, it is the Venice gondola experience of England. It HAS to be done. It is best to bring a picnic and some drinks, but we did not think ahead and therefore did not bring anything. Here are some pictures from punting!! The river was VERY crowded and because we did not hire a guy to punt for us (expensive!!)..we did it ourselves..which resulted in more than few collisions with the other boats :)
We also went to a museum (I forget the name), but it was your typical art/ statue museum. I LOVE museums..there is just SO much to learn you could NEVER get bored! After we went to the park to a pub and just sat and talked and watched a cricket match on TV (hehe..cricket). Oh, and did you know that the Queen of England owns nearly all the swans in England and it illegal to catch/eat/kill one unless you have special permission?? Well, apparently some colleges in Oxoford and Cambridge have this special permission. Pshhh. I think I like towns like Lufbra though..wear what you want and act how you want to act without anyone passing judgement ( well, unless you're a complete idiot..which, in some cases, people are) :)
Unfortunately no ineresting epic stories about my vast and exapnsive journey back to Lufbra. Everything was how it was worked to be. Ohh wait. My sandal did break and I had to walk around with the thong strap being held in place with a hair tie for the latter portion of the day. I guess you call that eventful. I suppose that's what I get for buying 1 pound ($1.50) sanals from Primark probably made through child labor. Eeek. I'll give myself the benefit of the doubt and say they were made by well paid factory workers..or even in England..no, who am I kidding.
But! Loved Oxford. Loved Cambridge. If I had to compare, I would say that Oxford offered more of a variety in terms of people, scenery, and things to do...but Cambridge was the perfect mix of quaint and touristy yet still managed to retain the coffee house/sit on a bench all day and read type of feel, and I loved that :)
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