It was a beautiful crisp sunny morning with a slight autumn chill when we ventured out on our second day in Cambridge. I researched on what what to do in this town if you are not here to apply for entrance. Biking - is the next most popular reason to be here. So off we go to meet our group leader - Chris. Chris was a townie (means you work in the town) and his girlfriend is a gownie (means you are here to study) studing medical science.
We push off on a bike trail right along the river Cam where most if not all the water sports are learned, practiced and raced. Chris tells us his favourite thing to do is watch (not enter) "Bump Racing" every May between Cambridge and Oxford. Teams of students paddle boats that line up along the river the tries to bump each other out of the way to the finish line. Then the winning team parades around town with their lucky paddles getting drunk.
One of the mandate of The university is to learn a century old tradition - Rowing - both the men and women. There are no special privileges or option to bail, every one must participate and the best of the best go on to compete with guess who? Yip - Oxford in April. Here is the Rowing club building.
You cannot come to Cambridge without visiting the Trinity College centrally located in the heart of the university. Founded by King Henry VIII ( that's why he's standing at the front) in 1547, Alumni include Issac Newton, Prince Charles and six British Prime Ministers. Very impressive indeed.
The next important land mark is the King's College Chapel one of the most beautiful late English gothic architecture example of its time. The plans for the chapel was disrupted due to the war of the roses and it took almost 100 years from start to finish. Chris informs us the grounds in front of the Chapel is used to raise royal cattles. (No more than 3) When ever any member of the royal family have dinner in Cambridge, a special cow would be selected for the main course. Here's Henry guarding the front door.
After a quick lunch, Gary and I went punting - well we hired a punter to be exact. A punt is a flat-bottomed boat with a square-cut bow, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. Punting refers to boating in a punt. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole.
The punting tour on this section is really only a couple of miles but it's a strenuous workout for 45 mins. Our experienced punter is Celab - a recent graduate in philosophy and soon to continue in law school at Cambridge. He's been punting since he was 16 and boy he makes it look easy.
The scenery - well, judge for yourself.
After a full day of riding, punting, shopping, now it's time for drinking. We got a hot tip from our guide about a watering hole name The Green Dragon. The writer Tolkien was inspired for the setting of the Hobbit right from this place. I too was inspired by a 10oz ribeye waiting for me there.
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