November 2018
Ben and I both wanted to see family before we headed off to Spain for three weeks for our next housesit, so we split up, he to Bristol, and I to Cambridge. I had only visited Cambridge once before, almost living there in fact when I took a barista job for all of a day before being offered a teaching job in Spain starting the following week and having to quit (but that's a story for another time).
The last time I had been there, just before Christmas in 2014, had been rather dismal. Completely alone, and with no plan and no family in the country, I wandered around feeling rather sorry for myself, and was unable to even see any of the universities properly as they had all closed for the holidays.
This time couldn't have been more different, and Cambridge is always somewhere I will hold rather dear. Not only is it the quintessential English town you might dream up from The Wind in the Willows or Narnia, but having someone awesome and practically local show me around was priceless.
Playing the good tour guide, my brother first showed me around the adorable, somewhat hidden away St Peter's church.
Charmingly, it is sometimes known as St Peter by the Castle, to distinguish it from another St. Peter's (though this one's name has now changed, so I suppose the cause for confusion is over).
Dating back to the 12th century, apparently the church is now redundant (harsh Wikipedia).
Taking full advantage of my brother's access, I was soon smugly jumping queues of tourists to pop inside beautiful buildings, starting with my brother's college, St. Johns. I was excited to learn this college was founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort in Tudor times - not because I knew who she was, but because of my love for french Beaufort cheese!
Cheese dreams aside, I was pretty excited for us to get access to climbing the chapel tower, accessed by an old door (like something straight out of Narnia, I was fangirling all over the place) and by climbing many (many, many) steps. The views were worth it!
It was through my googling of this climb (considering I am writing this post over 2 years late, one can't remember everything) that I came across the interesting term 'night climbing'. Which was the sport of students in Cambridge and Oxford climbing walls to explore the rooftops, done at night as it was not well looked upon for some strange reason.
A number of books on the subject have been published, dating back to 1895, however my favourite was titled 'The night climbers of Cambridge' by an undergraduate, published under the pseudonym 'Whipplesnaith'. Ahh England.
The Bridge of Sighs was another port of call. Officially titled 'New Bridge' (stunningly original) when it was built in 1831 it soon became known as the Bridge of Sighs, in reference to the bridge in Venice (and here I was thinking it was because of stressed students - or longing tourists!)
As a side note, I was very excited to learn we were also on the site of the medieval hospital of St John, which had in fact featured briefly in my thesis, as a comparative case study. Small world when studying medieval English hospitals I suppose!
One of my favourite places we visited was the old St. John's Library, no longer the main library used by students, this one was built in the 1600s and houses old and rare books - and boy was it cool!
I was also lucky enough to get to experience an Evensong at St John's chapel thanks to my awesome brother. Held traditionally around sunset, it was beautiful and just what I needed to work up an appetite.
And speaking of dinner, I was lucky enough to get to go to a formal dinner in the hall, as my brother's guest. Formal clothing, the students in robes (IT WAS LIKE HOGWARTS) and a three course dinner with wine. It was one of my favourite parts of my visit, and did I mention it was like Hogwarts!?? Unfortunately the hall was beautifully dimly lit, which my phone camera didn't like at all, so photos were rather lacking - here's the least blurry one I took.
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