Cambridge

Enjoying an outdoor market

Cambridge is by a landslide my favourite town in England.  I was not expecting to like it so much!  It is honestly the only place I'd consider living in Eland;  However, I do write this all prematurely, because tomorrow I am going to Brighton which is supposed to be wonderful and artsy.  So let's just say that up until today Cambridge is my favorite.  I thought it would feel really pretentious and snobby but it didn't at all!  It was actually quite funky, even a bit reminiscent of Santa Cruz!  The narrow brick roads were lined with coffee shops and cool buildings.  There was green space and trees too!

University dorms! Look at that green lawn that
can only be enjoyed by the eyes!

The famous
King's College

Now for my detailed account of my day.  Cambridge is only about a 55-minuted train ride from London and then a very easy 10-minute bus ride into the center of town from the train station.  Upon arrival, I did a bit of shopping (bought some very cute flower hair clips-my favourite) and then met up with a CouchSurfing friend Lyndsay (if you are a new reader and not sure what a "CouchSurfing friend" is, please refer to my Edinburgh posts).  Lyndsay is a 23-year-old Canadian spending the year in Cambridge.  She took me to her favorite coffee house called Indigo.  It was really funky and cute.  I had a hummus sandwich that only further reinforced my opinion that the UK has the best hummus I have ever tasted.  We looked over my Cambridge map together; as a side note, I am really starting to love maps.  She suggested I go punting, so we walked down the street and I signed up for it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_(boat). Turns out I was the only one to sign up for the tour, so my punting guide offered to take Lyndsay on the boat free of charge.  Our tour guide's friend who is also a tour guide wanted to help lead the tour so the two of us had two guides.  One was South African, the other a Brit, and then there was the Canadian and the American.  The punt floats down a beautiful river behind a few of Cambridge's colleges.  The river had great views of the colleges' architecture and green lawns on the opposite side.  There is a thousand-something pound fine for sitting on any of the grassy areas!  So much perfect studying and picnicking space wasted!

Pictures taken from the river:

Gorgeous bridges

My punting guides

After punting, Lyndsay left for work and I continued on to see Kettle's Yard, http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/index.html.  Kettle's Yard is a unique cottage containing a private art collection.  The house used to be lived in by the collection's owners, who would open their house to the public on weekends.  To get into the cottage, one must walk down a shaded archway and ring a doorbell!  Once I rang it, a lady holding a cup of tea opened the door and invited me in to sit on any of the original furniture.  The cottage has been kept in its original form.  The collection's owners wanted their art to be viewed in a relaxed, home atmosphere. 

Mmmm fudge!

A couple blocks away I walked into an old church now turned into a coffee shop.  I enjoyed a brownie and a cider before looking at the special exhibit on the cafe's walls: "Anne Frank and Family: Photography by Otto Frank".  The walls were adorned with black and white photos taken by Otto of his children.  It was very touching and sentimental.  Candles were lit in honor of the Franks at the back of the church/cafe.

I walked around Cambridge a bit more before settling down for dinner at The Rainbow, an award-winning vegetarian restaurant.  It was so unbelievably good that I tried to finish the whole thing even though I was full halfway through, which resulted in a full belly for the train ride home.

I think my favourite days are those where I am wandering by myself; they seem to be some of the most fulfilling and fun days.