Postcards from Cambridge

So one of the great things about living in Leicester is how close it is to other places. Now I realise that could be interpreted as, "one of the great things about Leicester is that you can leave it." It's not quite what I intended, but, if I'm perfectly honest, I haven't really warmed to my new city yet. Partly this is due to being thrown into the proverbial deep end with my PhD. It's difficult to explore a new place when you're fighting off impostor syndrome and getting to grips with the inner workings of the university library. Another reason I haven't really seen the sights is that it has been bitterly cold over here. We had a couple of light snows, but it is always freezing here, especially on the gray days which is pretty much always. So, I decided to escape some of the stresses (if not the cold) and visit some friends who had relatively recently moved to Cambridge. I disguised this as a research trip to attend a conference but I should say, I only attended the first half of the first day of the conference. What can I say? The lure of Cambridge was too powerful a force!

On my way to Leicester Rail Station, I happened to pass this. Now either the Doctor has fixed the chameleon circuit or someone was having fun with their company name. (I think the former is the most plausible).

I arrived in Cambridge Thursday night and met Emily and Jeremy at Cambridge Rail Station. We went out for a nice Italian dinner and some drinks at a local pub. It was wonderful catching up with them. I had seen Jeremy a month ago at congregation, but it had been six months since I had last seen Emily. She was graciously putting me up for the weekend so we had ample time to get up to speed with each other's lives. When we left the pub it was dark, I couldn't really get a sense for Cambridge that night (and photographs weren't a possibility). It wasn't until the next morning on my way to the conference that I got to see the city in all its glory.

One of the best things about my time in Cambridge was the blue sky. Leicester has been so gray lately that seeing the gorgeous morning sky on my walk put me in a great mood. This is St. Luke's Church which I passed to get to the city centre.

I cannot describe the thrill I experienced when I rounded the corner and was met with this amazing view. This is King's College and (in my humble opinion) it is easily the most impressive of the 31 colleges in Cambridge. The enormous cathedral-like building is King's College Chapel. (Yes, it's a chapel not a cathedral), while the gate to the college is sort of behind and next to it. I think the morning sun made the stonework even more beautiful than it already was.

This little post-it space invader was in one of the windows of the Alison Richard Building where the conference was being held. Not only was this little guy exciting, but the Stephen Hawking Building was just next door. I must admit to having an intense wave of fangirl excitement when I passed it. Unfortunately, there were no actual Stephen Hawking sightings on this visit. 

After the morning session had concluded, I took the scenic route back to the city centre to meet Emily for lunch. I got some more lovely views of the backs of some of the colleges and even cut through Clare College. I must say that I had been starved for beautiful architecture and green lawns living in Leicester. Cambridge had plenty of both to make up the difference.

Here is the back of King's College. You can see the other side of the Chapel and the lovely green lawn. It was all I could do not to remove my shoes and frolic about on it. I'm sure one of the porters would have intervened (or possibly joined in).

Punting. Nothing is more Cambridge than punting on the River Cam. I'll talk more about that a little later on.

I wish the River Soar back in Leicester looked as picturesque as the River Cam does here. This looks out on the Garret Hostel Bridge affectionately referred to as Orgasm Bridge by some of the students. This is apparently due to how steep it is. Cyclists pedaling up to the top often let out a sigh of exhausted relief when they reach the summit. This is heard often (so they say) by students working in the Jerwood Library. (That's the angular brick building just next to the bridge). 

Here is Market Square just off of King's Parade. That's one of the things I missed about the UK: the indoor/outdoor markets. They really are quite fun to visit and a great place to get local produce as well as some tourist trap souvenirs. Seeing the one in Cambridge reminded me that I have yet to check out the Leicester Market. I really must do that!

Emily and I had a lovely lunch at a little Thai place in the city. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon exploring some of the museums around the area before meeting her at her department in the zoology building for happy hour and game night. I should say that I had did have the best of intentions to return to the conference, but the siren call of cobblestones, rich architecture, and hidden wonders had me crashing on the shores of Hooky-ville in no time.


The first museum I visited was the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. For some reason, I neglected to take any photos here! (I really must get better at this whole photo-blog thing.) It was a fairly typical university museum, not unlike the Oriental Museum in Durham or Palace Green Library. Already I could tell that the PhD studies had begun to take hold. I was looking at the exhibits and analysing them based on my research. I was delighted to stumble across a video installation about refugees who had come to East Anglia over the past fifty years. One on one interviews about their experiences of coming to a new country, being accepted (or not) but their new neighbours and trying to start a new life captivated me. I wished there had been more projects like that one evidenced in the galleries. The screen was so hidden in a corner, I wondered how many people had noticed it and had taken the time to watch it. I wondered if it had given people something to think about and whether it had made a difference to their views on immigrants and refugees.

Wait.

I had come here to relax, not to do more work and thinking! I finished my wander through the gallery, my head still buzzing with questions despite my best efforts to turn off my work brain. Emily had mentioned that there were dinosaurs in the building next to the MAA. She knew just how to hook me and I headed toward the Sedgwick Museum. I had no trouble taking photos in this museum. (I blame the dinos.)

Metal Skeleton of a T-Rex! This place is going to be great! 

Dino Skull! Alright, I'll try to be more descriptive. The Sedwick is really interesting because it has some really outdated displays. Displays were a whole bunch of bones, fossils, shells, or rocks are thrown together in typologies with very little explanation for visitors. Those sort of displays are really meant for experts in the field to come and do research. The cool thing about it is that there are a few spaces where they have turned the old cabinets into more modern visitor-friendly displays. Fewer specimens and more explanation. It's a really tiny museum, and despite some of its short comings, I really loved it. Also....DINOSAURS!

Here's the other cool thing about the Sedgwick. They have some of the objects collected by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the HMS Beagle. That section of the museum is done very nicely and takes the visitor through Darwin's early years right on up to his impact on scientists today. I think I was most intrigued to find his signature on the inside cover of a book on display. 

Also....VELOCIRAPTOR! (Okay, full disclosure, I'm not sure if this is a velociraptor or another kind of raptor. It's still cool though.)

After purchasing a few goodies from the Sedgwick gift shop which may or may not have included a little soapstone T-Rex carving, I decided to end my tour of Cambridge museums with a brief stop at the Fitzwilliam. The Fitz is a very well known art museum. They have a range of exhibitions featuring artefacts from ancient Egypt to decorative porcelain figurines (an entire gallery of them). I arrived about thirty minutes before closing so I had very little time to take it all in. Walking through the Ancient Rome and Egyptian galleries reminded me so much of the Philadelphia Art Museum. I've always felt something odd about art galleries and museums like these. It's like the objects have been divorced from their natural settings, placed within glass cases against minimalist white walls, and suddenly they don't speak anymore. It's a very personal thing that kind of reaction and museum folk differ in their responses to it. On the one hand, I do understand that all museums even those in historic places have an element of un-naturalness. And sometimes, I do find that some of the objects stand out when placed in that kind of setting. But sometimes I look at those Egyptian bronze figurines, like the one I worked on for my artefact report last year and I wonder if it wouldn't be better displayed in a heap of a hundred other bronze figurines as maybe it would have appeared at an offering site. I do apologise, I'm getting all museum professional again.

So right now the Fitz has been in the news because of the discovery of two possible Michelangelo bronzes in their collections. This is a pretty big deal as it was thought that none of his bronzes existed anymore. I had just five minutes before the museum closed to get a look at them. To be honest, I sort of stumbled across them in the Italian gallery while I was trying to find the exit. I'm so glad I did get to see them though. They are really beautiful.

I apologise for the low quality of this image but I was using my phone to take the picture and I was in a bit of a rush. So here is one of the bronzes I was talking about. There is a second similar (but not identical) one displayed right next to it. It would be amazing if the research is confirmed and these are the only two Micelangelo bronzes. It would be even more amazing if we discover more of his bronzes laying in other museum collections somewhere else.

After I was kicked out of the Fitz, I walked through the darkening streets of Cambridge toward the department of zoology. Emily was working as a conservator there and she had invited Jeremy and I to the department's happy hour and games night. It was really amazing to see all of the work she has been doing and to have a wonder around the lab. In some ways I envied her. She had some pretty cool projects and they were so tangible. Meanwhile, I'd been grappling with elusive ideas of activist museums since I had gotten to England. She introduced me to folks who worked in the lab and at the museums (some of which I had been to only that afternoon).

Happy hour was held in the tea room on the New Museum Site. There were a variety of beers, ciders, and wine coolers for purchase as well as some snacks. We all sat around a table and then someone produced Cards Against Humanity. I had heard tell of this game and have been anticipating its appearance on this season of Wil Wheaton's Tabletop. I was happy I would finally get to play it, although playing it with folks you don't know is a bit tricky. Jeremy showed up after work when we were about halfway through the deck and already two drinks ahead. I managed to win three rounds though I was no where near as successful as some of the others. We went through the entire deck and had a tie breaker round between the two highest scorers.

Afterwards, Emily, Jeremy and I went to the Castle Inn for a late dinner and some pints. I felt a perfect wave of happiness as we sat chatting about who could even remember. If there was one thing I had learned last year it was how important my friendships were to me. Spending the weekend with friends who know you so well is probably the best antiseptic to stress and loneliness there is.



The next morning, Emily and I decided to go into the city centre and visit some of the colleges and perhaps go punting. As we walked over the Magdalene Bridge, we were accosted by a man selling punting trips down the river. Between us, Emily and I managed to haggle a good price. Alright, he offered us a discount which we jumped on like a pair of American tourists. As we headed towards the coffee van parked on the plaza we wondered if we could have talked him down further.


Now, punting. I have a very specific image of punting in Cambridge which has been seared into my memory since I was a child. I think I may have mentioned I'm a fan of Doctor Who. Before visiting, every time someone mentioned Cambridge I always thought of Tom Backer in his scarf, punting down the River Cam with Lala Ward as Romana reclining in the boat. It has always been something I've wanted to do.

Emily and I were met by a fresh-faced sixth-former called Matt. He was to be our guide and we were to have the boat to ourselves and, as it turned out, the river to ourselves, at least for most of the trip.

Looking down the River Cam toward the dock where we set off. 

We had the entire boat to ourselves which was pretty fantastic. Matt took his time and we got to ask a bunch of questions and generally had a very nice time indeed. One of the most exciting things about our voyage was when I plucked an abandoned pole from the river that was a positive hazard to navigation. We returned to the dock heroes.

This is my favourite bridge. It's called the Bridge of Sighs as it resembles a bridge of the same name in Venice. That particular crossing was given its name because it links to a prison and so convicts on their way to the clink would sigh as they took their last look on the free world. This one links parts of St. John's College. I can well imagine students sighing in a similar fashion on their way to pick up exam results.

I'm afraid I didn't get a fantastic picture of Mathematical Bridge, but here it is anyway. It wasn't designed by Isaac Newton as it is popularly believed but by William Etheridge. You can also see a kayaker here enjoying a morning...kayak. 

Ah....this is the life!

Emily and I next went to St. John's College. On our tour, Matt had told us of the immense rivalry between Trinity College and St. John's and as I can't help but root for the underdog (if a highly respected and wealthy university college could in anyway be considered an underdog) I began to favour St. John's. This also meant I got to cross the Bridge of Sighs.

We started our tour of St. John's in the chapel. We were lucky enough to have an organist rehearsing while we were in there. It's a really lovely space.

See what I mean?

This eagle is the only part of St. John's that is not symmetrical. Matt told us that the architect suffered from such severe OCD that when a student opened a window on one side of the building, he insisted that the corresponding window on the other side was opened in order to maintain his perfect symmetry. This eagle was apparently added after his death.

An intrepid adventurer on the Bridge of Sighs.

That evening I met up with Jeremy in town. Emily was meeting some friends for a birthday dinner so the two of us grabbed some pizzas before heading to The Eagle. It quickly became my favourite pub in Cambridge. It's one of the oldest public houses in the city and boasts that you can sit in the exact spot where Watson and Crick announced the discovery of DNA as well as the RAF ceiling where pilots signed their names during WWII. I think we managed to find the best seats in the house. We sat in a fireplace. That's right, a fireplace. Obviously it's no longer a working fireplace, but it was cozy and warm and offered a great view of the room. It felt a bit Hogwartian to be honest.


The next morning, I packed up my little rolling suitcase and Emily and I walked back into town. We had an amazing crepe breakfast at Benets right across from King's College.

Just look at that view! No! Not that one!

Yes. That one! Mmmmmm.

We walked past Mill Pond before heading to the rail station.

It had been a fantastic weekend. As the train pulled out of the station, I settled back in my seat and looked through all the photos I had taken, reliving each moment again. I was grinning stupidly when the ticket inspector came to punch my ticket.

When the train pulled into Leicester two hours later, I had the strangest sensation. I was home. When I wasn't looking, Leicester had become my home and even better, the sun was out as I walked down New Walk towards my flat. Sometimes, you have to leave a place to really understand what it means to you.