Punting on the Cam: Oxford or Cambridge?

 England 2015 Travel Journal
Monday, April 6

     After Easter Kid's Club we went to Cambridge! We used the Park and Ride bus service here, as we did in Oxford. It kept us from going to tea at the Orchard Tea Gardens, since they're in Grantchester (and this bus doesn't stop there), but then we had more time for other things we wanted to do – the first of which was King's College Chapel!


     On our way to the Chapel from the shopping mall where our bus dropped us we were - ah - detained by a punting tour guide, and were quite easily persuaded into booking a couple of spots for ourselves – fortunately we were already inclined. (And maybe because he was really nice and had just been to California. And he gave me the student price because I had "recently been a student.") :) It was £20 for Mom and £15 for me, but now we can say we've done it and never need to do it again – although it was so lovely that I wouldn't mind doing it again if I had the chance!

     Then we dropped £16 on tickets for the Chapel in the ticket office across the street from King's College, and grabbed a mocha at Caffé Nero (that we had to drink rather quickly by taking continuous alternating sips before we could go inside).


     The Chapel was magnificent! It's patrons were equally magnificent, seeing how it was begun by Henry VI, added to by Richard III and finished by Henry VIII. The elaborate fan-vaulted ceiling soars above you, before you pass through the elaborate wooden "quire" built by Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn, and finally to the east end that was built in a simpler style by Henry VI.

     And we could take pictures!

The entrance to King's College Chapel.
(With a very convenient rubbish bin just outside for people with recently emptied Caffe Nero cups...)

A look at the east end. The walls were added by Richard III, except for the lower bit which was part of the original building by Henry VI.

The fan-vaulted ceiling soaring over the 'quire' built by Henry VIII.

     The "quire" has Henry's and Anne's initials carved all over it. But in only one place are they carved together, as one of the volunteers pointed out to us. So I got photo documentation of that. :)

Henry VIII's and Anne Boleyn's initials.
(I apologize for the slightly blurry quality of this picture.)

We tried getting a selfie, but a nice lady took pity on us and offered to snap a photo in the usual way. :)

     Then it was time for our punting! We met our tour company guide and fellow punters in front of King's College, then walked and walked over the river to a little dock where our group of thirteen was divided into two boats. We were awfully low in the water, maybe six inches above the river in the middle of the boat. But there is something exciting about being able to dip your fingers in the water if you felt so inclined.

     We had a student-aged tour guide, who had some very definite opinions against the modern architecture added to the colleges. :) (We appreciated that, being inclined to more traditional styles ourselves.) We also ran into a friendly swan who took a moment to swim over to the other boat and greet the passengers. He did not, however, deign to grace our boat with his notice...

     The sun came out and gave us an even lovelier ride! We passed a number of other boats being punted all-too-clearly (that is to say, waywardly) by novices who had decided to punt themselves, as evidenced by our getting couple of knocks from them along the way.

     It was a most relaxing experience floating along under a blue sky and surrounded by historic buildings that have lined that river for centuries. It would be the ideal spot for a picnic, and I could just imagine how many people over the years (in the 1920s, specifically) had taken out a basket for a nice, leisurely trip down the Cam. :)

Spanning both sides of the river is Trinity College built by Henry VIII

Trinity College is supposedly perfectly symmetrical (from the front, of course).

A sunny King's College Chapel.

Cambridge's Bridge of Sighs

The beautiful part of the river Cam where our boat was docked.

     By the time we returned from our jaunt on the river everything was closed, so we walked up through the colleges to the top of the town, before looking for a place to eat. After walking all the way down and around and back to King's, we tried being decisive by eating at a pub we liked the look of – The Green Man, a quiet place just off the road and around the corner from King's.

King's Parade/Trumpington Road, the main drag in Cambridge.

Looking down the road toward King's.

St. John's College

The chapel of St. John's College

      The only problem with our day's plans is that it was a bank holiday and everything closed early – including the Park and Ride bus service. So after finding a normal bus and getting some directions from an eccentric bus driver, we walked for 40 minutes back to the car park... in the dark. Not an ideal scenario, but it was one of those memorable adventures where you learn something that seems to befall us on every trip. Thankfully, two ladies pulled up to ask us for directions, who were also happy to drive us to the creepily empty car park just as Mom was acknowledging that God would take care of us. :) It's funny how often that happens...
     

The Round Church, built in about 1100 AD

      So what is my opinion of Cambridge? Being built around a river definitely adds a pleasant atmosphere – the sort that Oxford doesn't have – although the streets and buildings have the same eclectic, charming look of a bookshelf. There is less of a deep scholarly feel in it than in Oxford, and it instead feels as if it's more a part of the relaxed countryside that surrounds it. It's all really a matter of preference whether a person enjoys Oxford or Cambridge more. I loved them both, and I'm afraid that I must be lamely non-committal by saying that my preference depends solely on my mood. :)

© Anna Morton 2016