England - Sep18 - Cambridge

We drove from the Coal Mine Museum down to the famous university town of Cambridge, which along with Oxford, are the two elite higher education institutions in England.    Cambridge had eight colleges as early as AD 1350.  Now there are 31 colleges, all with a monastic-type courtyard, chapel, library, dining hall and dorms.  The colleges house, feed, and parent the students, while the university does the formal teaching, for the approximately 12,000 undergrads in Cambridge. 

Here is the entrance to a typical college.  Through the door you can see a sliver of the manicured lawn in the courtyard.
   
You just can't walk in -- some of them have tours you can go on -- so we just quickly looked through the door.
   
St. Botolph's Church.   The church is dedicated to Botolph, a seventh-century abbot in East Anglia, who is a patron saint of travellers. The church was by the south gate of medieval Cambridge, through which travellers from the south and west entered the town.   The present building mostly dates from the fourteenth century and is built of flint and rubble with Barnack stone dressing.
   
Walking the streets of Cambridge.
   
The dark red ivoy on the side of that tower was kind of interesting.
   
The magnificent King's College Chapel, built from 1446 to 1515 by Henrys VI through VIII.
   
Great St Mary's Church, built in the late 15th century.   It is the university church for the University of Cambridge. Stephen Hawking, the great theoretical physicist, funeral was held here on 31 March 2018 prior to his cremation and interring of his ashes in Westminster Abbey.
   
Typical college town:  lots of young people riding around on bikes and running.
   
 
   
The River Cam runs on the east side of Cambridge.
   
 
   
We had an early dinner at the Anchor Pub -- famous as the setting of Pink Floyd's first gig --  overlooking the river.  You can go "punting" on the river -- boat rides -- with college students using long poles to push the boat along.
   
 
   
We pretty much just walked up and down the main drag:  King's Parade.  That's King College to the right.
   
The impressive exterior of the Fitzwilliam Museum.
   
I was stunned when we went in by this incredible main lobby.
   
The Fitzwilliam Museum is basically a small British Museum with ancient and classic art and artifacts.
   
A bronze bust of the great Napoleon.
   
   
I always enjoy checking out the Assyrian carvings which are from the Assyrian Empire of 911 to 612 BC, which ruled modern Iraq, Syria, and much of Iran.
   
P30
   
Queen Victoria
   
Some big swords.
   
   
Egyptian sarcophagus.
 
We definately needed more Cambridge properly; at least a full day.  High on the list of things we missed as Trinity College and its 1695 Wren Library where Sir Isaac Newton clapped his hands and timed the echo to measure the speed of sound.  Also the Eagle Pub, Cambridge's oldest, and where US Army Air Corps pilots hung out during WWII.  The two scientists who first described the structure of DNA -- Francis Crick and James Watson -- announced their finding at the pub in 1953!  One of the beers they serve is called "DNA".  Next time.
   
 
   
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