Blogs from Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 14

Yesterday I went to Cambridge!! It was freezing yesterday (as in it didn't get above 15 degrees apparently) and I was not at all appropriately dressed for such weather.. and because of this it put a damper on (no pun intended) my Cambridge experience. I got in there at around 11 and made my way to the city centre. I went into Kings College Chapel (Kings college was built around the same time as Eton College) and had a look at a few other colleges, all beautiful and very old. I had finished seeing everything I wanted to see by around 1pm though but had to use up over 5 hours as I had bought a train ticket for a 6:30 train... I did lots of window shopping and just walking aroud the town. At about ... read more

Before I left New Zealand, I had promised my British flatmate Alex that I would pay him a visit in Cambridge while I was over here and his birthday party presented the perfect opportunity to do exactly that. I haven't seen much of England, so this weekend, I was looking forward to seeing what England was like outside London. The train ride was just under an hour from King's Cross, so it was nice and easy to get to, and it was good to see Alex again as I walked out of the train station. After meeting up with his mates and getting a few bits and pieces together from Sainsbury's, we then made our way into town. The first thing I noticed while driving around town was the quietness of the suburban streets - I ... read more

After only one week of work, it is a three-day Bank Holiday weekend! Bank Holidays are public holidays akin to Memorial Day and Labor Day in the US, however, they are generally granted with the sole intent of giving everyone a day off and not in celebration of anything in particular. On Saturday, my friend Carolyn Donohue (who is currently on a week-long layover in Norwich on her way to a summer job in Berlin) came down to explore Cambridge with me for the afternoon. Carolyn and I have visited both Cambridge and Norwich together previously on a Church youth group trip that we went on in 2002--so we set off to see the not-so-stereotypical sites that Cambridge has to offer. First, we visited what we thought was the site of the Cavendish laboratories (the site ... read more

After flight changes, flight delays, exceeding the weight requirement on luggage, and navigating through London and to Cambridge with said luggage in tow, I finally made it to Fitzwilliam College of Cambridge University in tact, though extremely exhausted, last Saturday. The weather has been stereotypically British, not rainy (yet), but cold, dreary and overcast. So to catch you up on what I have been up to so far: -Sunday: lunch with my new boss and his wife. Evensong at Trinity College Chapel. Dinner and a drink with Mog (an old school friend of mine) -Monday: lots of paperwork/safety training/tours of the building and lab I am working in. -Tuesday: more paperwork/getting my computer checked out by the tech guys/rented a bike for the week. In between, there has been lots of sleeping and lots of not ... read more

The Famous Five are four decidedly upper-class middle aged adventurers with a mongrel Sherpa who go to Philosophy together and take part other similar antics in the city of Cambridge. They want nothing more than to have a great time strolling and biking around the countryside having picnics, discussing the meaning of life, and generally having jolly good fun. Unlike the Secret Seven and the Five Find-Outers, the Famous Five get about a bit—usually to places like The Kingston Pub, Grantchester, Punting, the countryside and the like. The most remarkable thing about them is possibly that they're allowed to go all over the country on their own despite being aged between thirty eight and fifty six!! We like to adopt a theme for our team when cycling and this year we are going to masquerade as ... read more