Walking Tour & King's College

This past weekend, the weather was gorgeous! We spent nearly all day on Saturday and Sunday outside. It was sunny and warm...just perfect. Sunday after church we purchased tickets for a walking tour and also a punting tour/ride. We wanted to share some of our pictures with you.

Our walking tour, which was two hours long, was great. Our tour guide, Stephen, was excellent...knowledgeable yet humorous. Our first stop was King's College, at which we spent about an hour or more.

The "Fellows" building at King's College

Close-up of the fountain in front of the Fellows building, which is in the courtyard of King's College.

This is the main entrance into King's College. It is across the courtyard, opposite the Fellows Building.

Close-up of the artwork and clock above the main entrance.

Our tour guide took our picture in front of the Fellows Building & Fountain.

King's College Chapel

Next we saw the famous King's College Chapel. Unfortunately, they are doing some work on one portion of the outside of the building, which didn't make for a perfect "Kodak Moment."

The outside of the Chapel.

The inside of the Chapel, looking towards "the screen," which separates this section from the "choir" section.

A view of the walls and ceiling...all the upper walls are stained glass windows.

Here is a view of the "choir" section, looking towards the "screen."

This is a famous painting by Ruben that is nearly 400 years old and was donated to the Chapel in the 60's.

Trinity College

Next we went to Trinity College. We did not get to go inside the college, but still got some great pictures.

Here is the walkway to one of Trinity College's entrances.

Wren Library at Trinity College, which holds the "Winnie the Pooh" manuscript.

The next three pictures are of the inside courtyard at Trinity College. Although we didn't go inside, we were able to take some pictures from a roped off entrance area. An interesting face is that in the movie "Chariots of Fire," they run the courtyard of Trinity College, trying to "beat the clock." Unfortunately, the movie was filmed in Oxford, not Cambridge.

Other Sights in Cambridge

During our walking tour we also saw some other interesting things & buildings.

This is a set of stone steps that were used to get into carriage during the Victorian period, probably about 150 years old!

This was the last stop on the tour. Our guide told us students climbed this building at night to get back into their rooms after curfew, hopefully without being caught. He showed us pictures...one student was in his bare feet!

The next three pictures are of the same building. We saw this building the first day we walked into Cambridge. Since it wasn't part of the tour, we don't know what the building actually is, but is sure has some amazing statues built into the corners and a nice carving above the door.

Punting on the Cam

Punting on the River Cam is very popular, especially on a beautiful day like it was on Saturday. Here are some pictures of punting. The first one was taken from a bridge during our walking tour and the rest are pictures we took from the boat during our ride on the Cam!

View of punting from one of the bridges that cross the River Cam.

Here we are at the start of our trip...a little close since John took it.

This is St. John's College, part of the University of Cambridge.

Close-up of St. John's College.

One of the bridges on the tour, which I believe is called "The Sigh Bridge."

England

It has been a busy few months leading up to our time in England. We are here for John's "Study Leave" for the next three months. We left the USA on Saturday, August 30th and flew from Columbus, Ohio to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania onto Paris, France and then to Newcastle, United Kingdom. We stayed for a week with dear friends in the town of Spennymoor where we lived from October 1999 to August 2003 while John completed his Ph.D. at the University of Durham. It was wonderful to visit with so many friends in the area as well as see what has (and hasn't) changed in Durham & Spennymoor.

On Monday, September 8th our friends drove us from Spennymoor to Cambridge. We will be staying here until the end of November. We are at Tyndale House, which is a place where scholars can research & study. We have a nice 1-bedroom apartment in the main building, which is connected to the Library. I am doing my job "from a distance" and work here in the apartment during the day. John has a small office in the Library where he does his work/research.


Here are some pictures of our apartment (called a "flat" in England):

Entrance to our apartment

Hallway looking right towards bathroom and bedroom

Hallway looking left. Closet on right & bedroom on left (not in pic).

Entrance to apartment is on the left just right of our coats.

Bedroom (looking in from door)

Bedroom (looking out into hallway)

Apartment-1

Here are more pics of our apartment:

Bathroom (that is a heated towel rack in the background)

Bathroom (shower on right)

Bathroom Sink

Kitchen (looking in from doorway)

Kitchen (looking towards doorway)

Apartment-2

More pics of our apartment:

Living Room (from doorway, looking left)

Living Room (looking towards doorway)

Dining Area (in living room)