CAMBRIDGE...Not Ohio, Not Wisconsin...UK

Spent Wednesday traveling to Cambridge...UK. Adi Humphrey went along and we truly had a perfect day.  We started by purchasing "concessions" tickets, a fancy name for people older than 60, always looking for bargains. We hopped on the bus with the intention of getting off to go punting and then completing the circular route.   That plan didn't work out but we did go punting down the River Cam. I had done this back in 2005 when I was going to school in London and was truly drawn back to Cambridge to try it again.   

On one side of the river it was peaceful and quiet but the punting dock was very different.  Our tour included a punter to steer our boat; however there was a large group of students who set off on their own.  I don't believe they had experience with punting.  It is a delicate balance to pole down the river while standing on the back of the boat.

The amatures made were fun to watch. I didn't see anyone fall in!As we went down the river, we actually did "run" into some of these boats.  I felt like we were playing bumper boats.  Very relaxing experience.  Adi tried her hand at punting but knowing my boating skills, I decided to stay seated.  Those of you who've seen me on Lake Kegonsa know what I mean.

 Of course there were lots of ducks and geese along the river, many of them were in hot pursuit of the boats.  Others were not very happy about sharing their river with all of the boats.  I think we were out on the river for about an hour but could have continued for much longer!  Idyllic setting, ultra relaxing...

Along the way we heard many stories about former Cambridge students, from Christopher Wren to Prince Charles.  When Prince Charles arrived at Cambridge, he asked that her be treated like every other student.  That didn't turn out to be the case.  Instead of one student room, he had the entire top floor of his dorm!  Students were not allowed to have cars on campus. Charles didn't.  Instead he kept his helicopter in the field right across the river.  So much for being a normal student. Our guide also said that Charles set records for having bad grades...

Probably the most famous of the buildings on campus is the King's College Chapel. They have had to take precautions because students in the past have scaled the towers to adorn the crosses with Santa hats and the like.

  The bridge in the background is beautiful, my favorite of the ones we went under.  It is called Bridge of Sighs.  Later in the day I found a watercolor print of this bridge to add to my collection of bridge pictures.