Cambridge Time
Posted on | August 4, 2010 | 4 Comments |
The girls and I went to Cambridge today. I drove in to the outskirt of the city and then took the Park and Ride bus. The cost was excellent: £2.30/rt for the three of us. One adult ticket can include six children under 11. This is a great deal if there’s no huge shopping involved AND it’s more than an hour. Parking garages are expensive in Cambridge. For a whole day of browsing for example it can cost £22! The two big things for me besides the cost are the amount of bikes roaming around the streets and I can’t park backwards. The parking garages are small in comparison to the US ones. It’s best if you can back in instead of driving in which I am terrible at doing. So there are a lot of savings on my part!
Anyhoot, I just want to share some pics today of our little adventure…
That’s the type of bus we were on (sorry for the bad picture… dirty windshield). We were on top, front row, M’s choice. The girls LOVED it. Jovie held on to the pole before the windshield and looked out throughout the 15 minute ride. She was not happy when I told her the ride was all done. I had to pry her fingers from the bar.
The first thing we did after we got to the city center was grab some ice cream and watched people punting. There are all sorts of boat types and punting types. You can have somebody do it or do it yourself. Besides punting one can also hire just a boat/canoe. Check out the first photo, the boat at the very back had a punting + picnic deal. They had real dinnerware, glassware, and silverware on the boat! I want to do a romantic punt for two in the evening with the hubster. That’ll probably have to wait though until cling-on is older. I think most of the people working these companies are college students. Some do the actual punting while others man the ticket booth or hold signs on the streets trying to entice tourists to go on these rides. I should have taken a picture but some of the girls punting had dresses/skirts on. You’d think they’d all be wearing pants/shorts!!
Here’s the self-catered one. That dude was so ready for me to take his photo!!! He saw me with a camera and smiled.
After the river we walked around. It was a perfect day for walking in Cambridge. The city was quieter than usual and it might be because it’s August. The locals holidaying elsewhere and students away on summer holiday. The weather was perfect too and we went into various shops and galleries. There are many nice galleries in the downtown area and Miss M had to visit each one we passed by. This kid LOVES art. She can look at different pieces for hours. It’s me who’d be dragging her away. Weird, huh? She said she wants to be a doctor and artist when she grows up. Artist in the morning and doctor in the afternoon {::SMILES}. The below is King’s college. I can’t imagine being a full-time student in any of the old colleges/universities in Cambridge (there are tons of them, many part a part of the big University of Cambridge but there are many other colleges and universities in Cambridge), must be so glorious. I told M that if she ever wants to go to school in Cambridge I’d let her.
Then we went into this church. It’s the Great St. Mary’s church across from King’s College. It was open and we heard music so we walked in. You can’t see the person but there’s somebody playing that old pipe organ on the right (there are two of them in this church). That’s what the people were sitting down for. BEAUTIFUL music! Wish I had something to record it with!!
It was past noon by the time we got to Cambridge and at this time it was probably close to 2 p.m. and I told M that she needed to decide on lunch. We did have a late breakfast (I mean we didn’t get up until 10 a.m. — yes the kids sleep in!) and so 2 p.m. wasn’t super late but I was getting hungry. She wanted fish and chips so we walked around trying to locate one. On the way we passed by this pub. Hubby’s been wanting to go to it. It’s called The Eagles and this was where the first discovery of the DNA structure was announced. This pub has fish and chips but I was looking for something less crowded, less of a pub and less expensive. We ended up eating at Tatties. It’s suppose to be the place to get jacket potatoes but M ended up getting a pizza instead of fish and chips. Since it’s a big fat 12″ one we shared. For £7.50 it was a deal! The pizza was delicious too!! We also found out that Jovie LOVES pizza. My itty bitty eater ate almost half a piece — a good size piece!
Just one of the streets in downtown Cambridge. Shops, shops, shops and more shops… oh galleries and restaurants here and there. There are a couple of malls within walking distance of each other. Two are even attached to one another. There were a couple very cute shops that we went in to.
Just a little street view. More shops in very old and magnificent buildings. If you ever the chance to visit England I think it’ll be worth your time to visit this big town. There are many neat and beautiful places to see jammed packed into a very walkable area.
Last but not least, my M eating her second ice cream. I scoop in the downtown Cambridge area, from ice cream carts, run £1.30-£1.60. Her ice cream is more expensive the cost of our park and ride! Oh well, it’s her day {::SMILE}.
Ok, that’s it. Have a great one and more later!!
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Sounds like a wonderful day. Two thoughts, 1. I can’t imagine any kid NOT liking pizza. 2. Miss M can easily be both doctor and artist (maybe even together as a plastic surgeon). My sister’s what ‘I wanna be’ list was a bit more impossible as in included, “Part time nun”
Add a CommentThanks so much for sharing your lifestyle over there, it’s really fascinating to read about the similarities as well as the differences, love the photos!
Add a CommentAhh, Savitri – I am loving these photos! I traveled to Europe in March and Cambridge was our last stop in the UK before we went to the Netherlands. So much history in this city! Loved King’s College Chapel. And we did have fish & chips at The Eagle! :) Thank you for sharing these!
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