Thursday, July 23, 2009

July 20, 2009

***WARNING*** THIS IS A LONG ONE!!!

So Monday, I was on my own. The Hubs was at work, and I had to entertain myself. Time to put in my big girl panties, and get out there and explore Cambridge.

First stop: The Cambridge Botanical Garden. It was a beautiful spot of 40 acres of gardens. I thought this flower was very interesting.


Here's me sitting in the rock garden by a little pond filled with water lily (thank the good Lord for self-timer mode!). It was very tranquil and I quite enjoyed it.

I ate some lunch in the garden cafe and was quite happy the weather was overcast but not raining, and that I was surrounded by natural beauty.I would say my favorite exhibit was the glasshouse full of carnivore plants. How often do you see a sign like this?


I took lots of gorgeous flower pictures, but too many to post.

I have a thing for old churches and stained glass. I just love them. So I decided to head up in the directions of the colleges (University of Cambridge is made up of 32 colleges, and is also 800 years old).

First Stop: Little Saint Mary's, which appeared to be Catholic. It was this tiny little building, with great windows, a small overgrown garden that curled around the building and had old tombstones in it. There was beautifully carved woodwork, that sadly didn't come out too well in pictures.



From Little St. Mary's, it was on to St. Bolotph's. A church that has been in use since 1320, and was dedicate to St. Bolotph, the patron saint of travellers (all according to the sign out front).



Moving on down the road, I decided to visit King's College. Fr. Michael, from the church in London, mentioned that the chapel was quite exquisite, and I should go see. He was right it was absolutely amazing. I tried to capture it with the picture I have posted here, but they really do no justice.

The front of the college:


Inside the chapel:




The back door to the chapel:


The view across the courtyard:


After exiting King's College, this was the view down Trinity Street (which leads to Trinity College). I love the old architecture and the small width of the streets.


Next church: Great St. Mary's, the official church of the university. It is used to dictate how far off campus freshman can live (2 miles from the church), and was once used for all official meetings.


Inside Great St. Mary's:



And then for some unknown reason I decided it would be a good idea to go up in the tower. 123 steps, so small even my tiny feet were too long for them, in a spiraling staircase made for one person. To the top.... where truly the view of Cambridge was amazing.



One more stop.. into the courtyard of Corpus Christi College


And so I ended my tour of Cambridge for the day. The Hubs and I had a nice dinner, and I basically collapsed afterward!

3 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Makes me want to go that much more!

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  2. Oh my goodness what beautiful pictures! I have a dear friend that I know from a mommy message board that lives in England that I would love to meet...and you've made me miss her.

    and it might be my third glass of wine talking but that flower looks a little dirty to me. :)

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  3. You know Connie, now that you mention it... they do look dirty! LOL :)

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