Peckish Travels

Awhile back I had picked up a Cambridge Concert Calendat pamphlet in one of the souvenir shops. This appears to list all of the concerts held in the various colleges that are open to the public for the Michaelmas term of October through December. Some of the concerts require a paid admission, but many are free. We thought this might be a great way to see a new campus as well as listen to music that we might not normally listen to.

We dipped our toe in the water today and made the short walk to Homerton College for a 40 minute free lunch jazz piano recital by Gabriel Margolis, who we assume is a student at one of the colleges. There were a total of 10 people there to watch, which was almost as many chairs as they had set up.

He played a total of seven songs, some of his own and some of friends, mentors, or people he is inspired by. It was a great outing. We enjoyed seeing some of the campus as well as his music.

Bob and I took advantage of a much rarer sunny day yesterday to head to the nearby community of St. Ives. We wanted to visit the town anyway, but it also gave us an opportunity to actually ride on a guided bus to get there.

We caught the bus near the Cambridge rail station, and it was about a 55 minute journey both off rail (through town) and on rail/guided between the Cambridge North rail station and St. Ives.

Last night we were surprised with fireworks for Guy Fawkes Day (the celebration of a failed bomb attempt on King James in 1605). We knew there was a Bonfire Night today but didn’t realize there would be fireworks in the neighborhood on Friday. Pretty cool to be able to see them from the house.

Can’t believe we are already in November. Bob and I have been out a bit over the past couple of days but haven’t blogged. Monday morning we had a late breakfast at a lovely bakery near the train station, called Gail’s, before heading off to explore the many international groceries (and restaurants too) on Mill Street and do some shopping. Last night, we had a great night out with dinner at Al Pomodoro before going across the street to see “Nothing Compares,” a documentary about Sinead O’Connor.

Today, we headed to another Free Cambridge University museum, the Whipple Museum on the history of science. Not surprisingly, the museum is not named for the Mr. Whipple of “Don’t squeeze the Charmin” commercials fame from our childhood but rather Robert S. Whipple, a former Director of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company.

In 1944, he presented 1,000 scientific instruments and related rare books to the University of Cambridge. That collection continues to grow and now has 7,000 objects. The items shown were spread among five galleries. Below are some pics from the visit.

After a soggy start to the morning (first time I’ve been rained on during a run since I’ve been here) and a leisurely read of the big Saturday paper, (it’s the Saturday rather than the Sunday issue here that is the big one), I set off for Castle Hill to see what the views would be. The weather had cleared, and we’re headed for 70 F today before the day is through! Bob’s hip was acting up a bit, so he stayed home.

Castle hill (Wikipedia calls it a knoll, which might be more appropriate) is the site of the original settlement in Cambridge and was also the site of a Norman castle at one time.

I walked the back way to try to avoid the crowds that flock to the city center on the weekends.

After the long slog up and a bit of a rest 😁, I descended back to earth and made my way up Bridge Street to face the crowds and pop in a couple shops.

One of the walks recommended to us was in Grantchester and through Grantchester Meadows. Since biking is kinder to Bob’s hip than a longer walk, we decided to bike to the nearby community and then swing back to Waitrose, a larger grocery, to check that out as well.

It is a quick bike ride to Grantchester, about 15 minutes taking the more scenic route. I had run through a bit of the community, but since I run in the dark, I really hadn’t seen much. We biked through Grantchester Meadows and then by some pubs and churches as well. On the way back, we brought the Guided Busway trail.

The only negative of the little excursion was Bob forgot the bike lock keys, so we took turns shopping while the other stayed with the bikes. Below, are pics from the outing.

Today, we visited the Fitzwilliam Museum. We had heard about this museum from our homeowners as having an impressive collection that might require a visit or two. According to its website, the museum was started in 1816, when Richard, the Seventh Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion, bequeathed his works of art and library to the university along with £100,000. It currently houses over 500,000 works of art. The building itself is beautiful too.

The museum was a short walk from our house, just under a mile away. Along with many of the other museums associated with Cambridge University, it is free to visit, although we did give a donation when we reserved our timed entry tickets online. The museum has collections exhibited in approximately 25 rooms over two floors. We just perused the exhibits on the upper level today and hope to get back for a second visit.

First, let’s start with the building.

During our visit today, we started with the current exhibit, Defaced! Money, Conflict, Protest, which focused on how the defacement of money (coins and paper) has been used through the ages as a form of protest. I can honestly say this had never crossed my mind, so it was an interesting exhibit to go through. There was a short video playing at the end of the exhibit which stated that physical money (coins and paper) currently only accounts for about 8% of the word’s money with the rest being stocks, bonds, bitcoin, etc.

Then we moved on to check out Dutch, European, and Italian art as well as a room with flower paintings, inlaid furniture, and clocks.

Today we went (on the recommendation of our homeowners) to a second farm market. It is called Burwash Manor and is near the community of Barton. We biked the short 4-mile route out into the country, and the trail was 95% off-road.

Burwash Manor had a great mix of shops including a grocery with bakery items and prepared foods, wine shop, cafe/tearoom, flower shop, rug shop, gift shop, and a couple others. And oh, on Tuesdays a mobile fish monger sells out of his van. We did some damage in the grocery and will likely return for a picnic lunch and gift shopping, as Beth found some items of interest.

After a few days of intermittent and sometimes heavy rain, the weather was fine — high 50s. We have definitely had a great fall here.

We haven’t gone out for dinner since we’ve been here since we’ve had good grocery shops and great cooking situation at the house — space to work, great oven and stovetop, etc. But we have decided to treat ourselves tonight and are going to a restaurant called Brown’s, which is on the way into town headed towards King’s College or Great St. Mary’s Church.

Last week we called to reserve a couple spots for today to do a self-guided tour of the King’s College Grounds and Chapel. We should note that during the time when students are in session access to the 31 colleges associated with Cambridge University is generally limited or not open to the public.

The tour cost 10£ online for each of us, and if space was available, 11£ at the door. The college and chapel was about a 25 minute walk from the house.

King’s College has been in existence for over 550 years and was established by King Henry VI, who also established Eton College. Both colleges were originally intended to admit a maximum of 70 scholars from poor backgrounds. The chapel, which was the only building we could enter, took over a century to complete. Below are pics from our tour.

Bob and I had tickets today for an 11:00 am tour of the Pepys Library at Magdalene College (pronounced maudlin, so I’m glad we didn’t have to ask for directions). This college is located just on the other side of the River Cam, so it was about a 35-40 minute walk from the house.

The library comprises the personal collection of Samuel Pepys (pronounced peeps, that one I knew, and now, so does Bob) that he left to his alma mater at his death in 1703. Apparently, Mr. Pepys was a Member of Parliament and worked as an Administrator for the Royal Navy. He also served as Secretary to the Admiralty under King Charles II and King James II. However, I was only familiar with him because of his diary which was published after his death. We read parts of it in my English Lit class, as it provides a good overview of the times in which he lived, not only of everyday life but also descriptions of the great London fire and the Black Plague.

No photos were allowed in the library, but we ended up as the only guests so had a personal tour. There are 3,000 books displayed in 12 lovely bookcases, and per his wishes, his collection has not been added to. It was great to see the old volumes and admire some handwritten ones as well as some beautifully typeset ones. Apparently, at that time when you bought a book, you only bought the printed pages and then paid to have it bound with a cover. Mr. Pepys always chose to place his seal on the front cover, the title on the spine, and his photo on the inside cover.

Today’s excursion was made even more interesting as it turns out it was Graduation Day for some of the graduate students. A few pics from the day.

Today has been a rainy day, so we thought it might be a good day to check out one of Cambridge University’s free museums. The Polar Museum is fairly close to the house, so we headed there about mid-day for a visit. The museum presents information on the history of arctic and Antarctic exploration as well as polar artefacts, photographs, and written materials.

We weren’t the only ones who had the idea to spend a rainy day in a museum as the relatively small site was fairly busy.

The Scott Polar Institute, where the museum is based was formed in memory of Robert Scott who led two expeditions to Antarctica. On the first one, he set a record for going as far south as anyone had until that time. On the 2nd one, he missed being the first team to reach the South Pole by 35 days to Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian. He and his men never made it back.