Cambridge

Cambridge is approximately an hour North of London. Home to many prestigous universities and some beautiful outdoor areas. Some of the schools include Trinity College, King's College, Queens College, University of Cambridge. You heard of any? Alyse, her coworker Jena and I met there to spend the day exploring. Luckily it was warm and sunny all day.


Recognize this piece of land? If you have watched the Harry Potter movies it should be familiar - this grassy area was where Harry Potter learned to fly his broom.

King's College and Chapel

The next few photos are of King's College Chapel in Cambridge. It was founded by Henry VI in 1441 and is home to the largest fan vaulted chapel in the world. It is decorated with carved wood and stone featuring heraldic beasts, coats of arms, and a carved screen bearing the initials of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Sorry, no photos allowed inside.







Side of the Chapel. During the World War II, there was concern the Chapel may be bombed, so all the stain glass windows were taken down and stored underground around Cambridge. All the pieces survived the war. When it was time to put the stained glass back in the windows the realized no one kept track of where the pieces went. Essentially they had the largest puzzle to put together. They eventually figured it out by putting the puzzle together on the courtyard outside the chapel.



Bridge of Sighs
Modeled after the bridge of sighs in Venice that prisoners walked across to be executed. Don't know why they would choose to name the bridge after something so sad. I guess because students walk from the dormitories on one side to take exams on the other.




We spent part of the afternoon enjoying the fine art of punting. If you are like me, then you will have no idea what punting is. If I were in the US I would call it canoeing with a designated driver. It looks like the boating in Venice with the men who stand at the back and push the canoe with a big stick. Unfortunately our guide was not keen on singing.







American Cemetary Ground just outside of Cambridge. You're looking at American soil in this picture on it the site of approximately 4000 graves of pilots, sailors, and other American soldiers who died in the World Wars. There is also one grave of an unknown soldier.


A protest on the street in Cambridge. There were some signs like this one and some people sitting at a table. I did ask them what it was about but I gathered it had something to do with the Chinese Government. Any of you Chinese readers know what this says?

The rest of the photos are just some photos from around town of nothing in particular, just thought they were nice.










Farm and windmill outside Cambridge.

If you wondered what the British countryside looks like, here it is. Not much different than a country drive in Kansas.


Mathmatical bridge or Queen's Bridge at Queen's College. Apparently legend is Sir Newton designed the bridge without supports, then after his death professors at Queens College took the bridge apart to figure out how it worked. But they were unable to put it back together without supports. Today it is held together with big metal bolts. I don't know about you, but I would not be walking across the bridge if it didn't have them. Nice story though.