We ventured out of the city today and into the beautiful UK countryside. We purchased a Family Rail discount card for £28 and the roundtrip tickets for the three of us to Cambridge cost £29.
The train ride was about 45 minutes and we arrived at 10 am to a chilly but, thankfully, sunny day in Cambridge. We decided to catch the “hop on, hop off” tour bus so we could get an overview of the town. Cambridge has long and interesting history and here’s what I know:
- Population ~ approximately 120K
- It’s on the Cam River
- The Romans came through and took over in 40AD
- The first college was Peterhouse, which was founded in 1284. There are now 31 colleges which make up the University of Cambridge
- The first Women’s colleges were founded in the late 1800’s but degrees weren’t awarded to women until 1948.
- There are still 3 all-female colleges, but no all-male colleges.
- Some famous alumnus: Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking, Crick & Watson who discovered the structure of DNA, Lord Byron, and so on. Ah, to be in the shadows of geniuses
- “Punting” refers to the flat-bottomed boats that are pushed along with a pole
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre (also known as the Round Church) was built in 1130 and is one of only 4 round churches still in existence in the UK.
The Cambridge American Cemetery is situated on 30.5 acres donated by the University of Cambridge. There are 3,812 remains of American service members from WWII who are buried in the cemetery.
Here are some photos from our bus tour:
We ended our day with a tour of Kings College Chapel which is AMAZING! Henry VI began the building of the Chapel in 1446 but it wasn’t finished until the time of Henry VIII. There are 26 gorgeous stained glass windows:
and the ceiling:
Here’s where an entrance way has been worn over the 400 + years:
Outside at Kings College:
And once again, we’ve gone somewhere with so much more to see and do. We’ll have to plan a return trip to Cambridge when the weather is warm and we can go punting!
Displaced Beachbums 
Looks lovely! I am worried you are already wearing jackets; we are going to freeze in November. By the way, when did L grow up? Seems like yesterday she was only 4!
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Heidi:
Cambridge such a pretty city, you’re going to like exploring it. About the jackets ~ they weren’t heavy enough for us, especially riding around on the open air bus. We should have had our hats and gloves as well! You may want to bring a package of those “hothands” which self activate and mine even have adhesive. I have ones for hands, feet and whole body but I’m afraid we might use them up before you get here ~ I’m such a cold weather wimp. Not sure if I can buy the warmers here.
There’s so much to see and do ~ hope you don’t plan on sleeping too much while you’re here 😉
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