Punting through Cambridge

It is a cliche tourist thing to do, so we did it. In all honesty though, punting is a great way to see a lot of the iconic parts of Cambridge in a short amount of time whilst learning some fascinating history/statistics as you go. We booked a private tour which lasted about 45-50 minutes and took in all the bridges along the river Cam that are associated with the university colleges, all the big name colleges, as well as the Wren Library and the King's College Chapel.

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The Bridge of Sighs connects the accommodation of St John's College (left) with the lecture/exam rooms (right), hence the 'sighs'.

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This Virginia Creeper has totally taken over one entire side of this accommodation wing.

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In the accommodation quadrangle of St John's.

St John's College's main rival is Trinity College, next door. Trinity is the largest, wealthiest and most awarded of the colleges. Amongst it's alumni it boasts:

32 Nobel prize winners, 

25 Olympians, 

6 British Prime Ministers, 

4 Oscar winners,

just to list a few. 

It's wealth is estimated at somewhere around 700-800 million pounds plus!

I have very few photos of Trinity College, we didn't tour inside it apart from going into the Wren Library which is every bit as amazing as you would imagine a Christopher Wren designed building to be. Unfortunately, but understandably, photographs inside the library aren't permitted. Inside we saw the 1926 hand written manuscript for Winnie the Pooh and a first edition Shakespeare.

King's College is perhaps one of the most iconic of the colleges, and it's chapel one of the most recognisable buildings in Cambridge.

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The ceiling is breathtaking at 24 metres high, taking only three years to construct the fan vaults.

Come Christmas it will be all the more special to tune into the King's College Choir carols having been there this year.

As lovely and historic as Cambridge is though, I was very glad to escape the swarm of tourists and students for the peace and quiet of nearby Grantchester in the afternoon. We wandered the meadows along the Cam, poked about the vicarage, then had dinner at The Green Man.

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Grantchester Meadows.

Kate  x