Source - http://www.hindu.com/mp/2008/12/15/stories/2008121551030200.htm
Cambridge diary
| Whether it is the hallowed colleges with their famous students, or the architecture and art, Cambridge is definitely in the ‘places- to- see-before-I-die’ list, writes PANKAJA SRINIVASAN |
FULL OF HISTORY Bridge over the River Cam
Cambridge is awe-inspiring. But, naturally. People such as Srinivasa Ramanujan, Charles Darwin, Samuel Pepys, John Milton, Christopher Marlowe, Coleridge and Ted Hughes have walked about here. Eighty three Nobel Prize winners have passed through the portals of Cambridge colleges, and god knows how many more are in-waiting.
There are some 31 colleges in Cambridge, many of them over 700 years old. Gonville and Caius, Corpus Christi, Magdalene, Trinity Hall and Christ’s are some of them.
And, it is thrilling how bits of history come alive every where you turn. Such as the mulberry tree, the very same one that provided shade to John Milton as he wrote his poetry!
You feel the presence of Henry the VIII, especially in the spectacular King’s chapel. The oak screen he presented still stands. And, above the doorway the elaborately entwined letters “H” and “A” for Henry and Anne Boleyn, obviously carved before she fell out of favour and was beheaded.
Trinity College, the colours of Autumn on Cambridge Roads, and Michaelhouse Cafe
Ancient and fabulous
The chapel’s fan vaulted ceiling, intricately carved and fashioned, and the stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Old and New Testament, said to be crafted by English and Flemish craftsmen, are fabulous. As is Ruben’s ‘Adoration of the Magi’ that hangs there in all its splendour. Henry VIII reappears at Trinity College on the Great Gate, clutching a wooden chair leg instead of the sceptre (students swapped it more than a hundred years ago).
This college has produced 31 Noble prize winners, and it was right here in Nevile Court that Issac Newton calculated the speed of sound. And, the famous chariot race scene in Ben Hur, was shot here too.
Not only in the colleges. Every gateway, spire, bridge and building you walk past has a history or an interesting story attached to it. Take the Cambridge University Press booksellers. The building in which it is housed is said to be on the site of the oldest bookshop in Britain (1581).
To market, to market
Follow your nose, and it will lead you to the marketplace. A huge square, this area is said to be the focal point of the city every since the Romans departed in 400 A.D. You can treat yourself to an amazing variety of breads, fruits, vegetables, flowers, wine and any number of keepsakes. Pick up hooded sweatshirts, with Cambridge University emblazoned across the chest, to impress folks back home!
And, whatever you do, don’t forget to peep into Michaelhouse Café.
A former Trinity College student of History, Bill Sewell, runs the café that is set inside a 14th Century church! Along with home-made scones, scrambled eggs, hazelnut muesli and cream tea, admire a stained glass window, a boat at the altar and, if you can, a gravestone in the gents toilet!
Student fare
The café, quite appropriately, has a “hungry student” cheap lunch offer too, that is described in the menu as ‘A plateful of fresh food for just three pounds, ninety five’. It also doubles up as an art gallery. What is extraordinary is that Sewell runs three other cafes around England and they are all located in working churches!
The Eagles pub, with messages scribbled on the ceiling by airmen during the Second World War, the world famous Fitzwilliam and the Kettle’s Yard museum, the Backs, (the area behind the colleges) at one time rudely referred to as ‘the backsides’, the old bridges and, of course, punting down the river Cam are some of the other ‘must dos’.
And, take your children along. It may inspire them to study there, and if they do, you can go back for another visit!
THE THIRD AGE
A wonderful, wonderful institution is the U3AC. It is the University of the Third Age in Cambridge. It is for those ‘no longer in full-time employment’ and there are, as such, no age-restrictions. The U3AC provides educational and social activities to all those who want to study subjects of their choice and at their own pace. The choice of subjects is large — art, art appreciation, computing, fitness, history, self management, philosophy and psychology, craft, linguistics, literature, mathematics, music, environment, economics, travel, writing and so on. Lectures are held regularly, and visits to museums, concerts, film screenings and travel within the country and abroad are regular features.
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