Cambridge - Part 1

It took six year but I finally made it to Cambridge and met Mya!  Not only is she beautiful and smart but very sweet!  Not a surprise as she has wonderful parents!  Apparently she gave Aman and I nicknames - Almond and Yogurt!  I like it. Healthy and delicious.  That's us.

 

Aman and I wasted no time making ourselves comfortable in Judy and Pete's beautiful house.  I didn't take a picture but I have kitchen envy.

 

In the morning we made our way to  Cambridge town.  It's exactly what I pictured a quaint English village to be.

First order of business was a cup of tea (how very British and Sri Lankan of us!)  Finally a cafe that knew how to make a cup of tea!

I had to choose one (ONE!!!) treat from this display.  Had to set a good example for the child.  I shared a eclair with Aman.  Yum I say.

After we moseyed again.  I love these cobbled twisty streets. I remember these kind of neighbourhoods from Paris.

We walked by a store called Hotel Chocolate.  I, surprisingly did not stop.  I am saving my chocolate for Belgium. 

What quaint isn't complete with out a farmer's market?!

Next stop was one of Mya's favourite places - a stationary store called "Tinc."  She is girl after our hearts!  I badly wanted to buy a cute notebook, but they didn't' have a mini and the one there was too big as I just stated traveling.

Cambridge is famous for it's colleges and churches.  We walked by this one called...wait for it...the round church. 

We were actually making our way King's College...appropriately named eh?

and went inside to check out the church.  It had an incredible ceiling, architectural marvel!

Plus beautiful stained glass window. 

Church was covered by these. 

I am sure it tells a story I just don't know what it is. But cool fact I heard while eavesdropping on a guide (is that a sin especially since I was in church?!) is that during the World War (II assume) they were afraid Cambridge would be a target.  So Yale University offered to store the glass.  All the windows were taken down and replaced with black covering and eventually returned and replaced post war.

Next we walked by the Millennium clock.  The face is a 24 carat gold plated stainless steel disc.  It doesn’t have any  hands or numerals, but displays the time by opening individual slits in the clock face backlit with blue LEDs; these slits are arranged in three concentric rings displaying hours, minutes, and seconds.  We didn't really see this during the day.


The biggest visual feature of the clock is a grim-looking metal sculpture of an insect similar to a grasshopper or locust. As it moves its mouth, appears to "eat up" the seconds as they pass, and occasionally it "blinks". The creature is in constant motion.  The hour is tolled by the sound of a chain clanking into a small wooden coffin hidden in the back of the clock.

Below the clock is an inscription: mundus transit et concupiscentia eius  - "the world pastseth away, and the lust thereof".

The clock is accurate only once every five minutes.  The rest of the time, the pendulum may seem to catch or stop, and the lights may lag or, then, race to get ahead. According to the designer, this erratic motion reflects life's "irregularity".

The clock was deliberately designed it to be "terrifying"  He had said that he views time as not on your side. It will eat up every minute of your life, and as soon as one has gone he's salivating for the next."   Cheerful eh?

After all the walking, we stopped for lunch.  At a pub of course.  We went to a pub called "the Eagle."  Check out the fighter pilot mask in the corner.  But this pub is known due to a scientific discovery.

The Cavendish Laboratory of Cambridge University used to be near this pub and it was a  popular lunch destination for lab's staff.  This is said to be the the place where Francis Crick interrupted the patrons' lunchtime on 28 February 1953 to announce that he and James Watson had "discovered the secret of life" after they had come up with their proposal for the structure of DNA - the double Helix. There is a plaque to commemorated the event and apparently today the pub serves a special ale to commemorate the discovery, dubbed "Eagle's DNA". 

Being beer I of course did not have it.  but the food was amazing!  I had the beef pie made with ale.  Best thing I had in a while and even the mash potatoes were to die for!

Next off to Punt!