Historical Cambridge

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Well, it was just a day’s trip to Cambridge in October. My parents were visiting me in Nottingham and we planned to hop over to Cambridge for a day. We took a train from Nottingham to Cambridge. At Cambridge, we got on to a Hop-On Hop-Off local sightseeing bus. It did pass by many historical monuments. We did not get down at most of these places as we would get late for the Punting tour on River Cam. While on the Hop On-Hop Off, we passed by Trinity College , Cambridge American Cemetery Memorial ( in memory of American soldiers killed in WW2) , the Mathematical bridge and a host of colleges.

Then after lunch, we went on Punting tour ( boat tour) on river Cam. It was a lady who was our guide and also rowing the boat. Rowing was not as the usual one with paddles, but here on the punting tours, the boatman/boat woman had a long sleek metal rod (about 15 ft) . And since the river was not very deep, they would insert the rod vertically into the river until it hit the ground below the water and taking that as a support, they pushed the boat forward. While we kept sailing, she narrated the history of Cambridge. We passed by King’s College Chapel, King’s College , St.John’s College and Queen’s college. We also sailed under the Mathematical bridge – so called because it is built using straight wooden planks but the bridge appears to have an arc shape and this is so because of the mathematical formulae used.

All in all, the short trip to Cambridge was very enriching. But I recommend to at least set aside 2 days to experience this beautiful historical city.

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