City of Perspiring Dreams

Cambridge is located on the Cam River and, with Oxford, has formed one of the bedrocks of Western Civilization for centuries. Men like Isaac Newton and a bunch of other smart people have gone there. It's not as vibrant or visually rewarding as Oxford, in my opinion (although the Cam is way superior to the Thames running through Oxford). Also, the train station is approximately 2,000 miles away from the main colleges...although there is a Wagamama's on the way, so a wash.



Like Oxford, Cambridge is a collection of individual colleges. The most famous, and best-looking, are Trinity and King's College. I couldn't get into Trinity today, which was a shame, because it's said that at noon, the tradition is to run the perimeter of the Trinity quad, not touching the cobblestones, before the 12 dongs of the clock sound. This has been done once by that dude from Chariots of Fire, even though that was filmed somewhere else. A pretty nice place to step off for some cold sparkling water in the harsh heat. (Wasn't it supposed to rain today?)

However, I did get to see the famous entryway to Trinity College. The story goes that in the 19th century, a group of mountain-climbing students, finding themselves in a land with very few things to climb, decided to practice on the gate of Trinity, and as a prank, they stole Henry VIII's scepter and replaced it with a table leg. If you look closely, you can see it.

The two cool things about Cambridge were the students who offered to punt you down the River Cam for 15 pounds a go. Had I the oojah-cum-spif, I would have done it, because the river is by far the prettiest part of the campus. I also made sure to visit the Christopher Wren-designed library of Trinity College, which featured a very cool statue of George Gordon, Lord Byron. Typically, these statues would be in the chapel, where the exalted ex-students' statues go, but because he was such a rake, he was relegated to the library.

[I didn't take the picture. Trinity has an extremely strict no-photography rule in the library, as it has a first folio Shakespeare, and some original letters by Lord Byron...who has exquisite handwriting, by the way.]